Get Rock Solid Performance Amid A Tough Environment

Tuesday 18 August, 2009

by Karla Brandau

High heat plus intense pressure turns carbon into diamonds. What if you could take the "intense pressure" and the "high heat" of our economic environment and mould a resilient diamond team instead of letting stress turn your employees into soft graphite?

What we are looking for is rock solid performance amid cutthroat competition. Competition used to be relatively friendly, but in today's world, competition is aggressive.
Let's look at some of the physical properties of a diamond that can help your employees withstand the pressures of the cutthroat world economy while giving rock solid work performances: 

• Hardness
  
  Diamond is a perfect "10" in hardness, defining the top of the hardness scale
  
  Your employees need "hardness" in order to avoid fracturing and breaking from the economic pressures faced in most organisations worldwide. This hardness or hardiness comes from a belief in their inner powers to triumph in hard times. It comes from a determination to succeed and a commitment to find new, innovative answers to nagging problems and stumbling blocks.
  
  By valuing and respecting each employee you can increase their self-esteem and their "hardness" in the face of adversity.
  
• Clarity
  
  Diamond is more transparent than any other solid or liquid substance - nothing else even comes close
  
  The current economic times demand transparency in leadership with clarity on what the organisation stands for, where the organisation is going, and whether or not the organisation is keeping its commitments. Translated to you as a leader, transparency enhances the credibility and trustworthiness of your businesss, thus providing stability in the organisation and integrity with your customers.   
  
  As you become more transparent, transparency will steadily permeate throughout the employees you manage. Honest dialogue that clarifies questions and gives straightforward answers in non-combative ways will become the norm, thus facilitating productivity and thrusting you and your people forward.
  
• Thermal conductivity
  
  Diamond conducts heat better than anything - five times better than the second best element, silver!
  
  In physics, thermal conductivity is the property of a material that indicates its ability to conduct heat. For us, the "heat" that we want to conduct is positive energy and belief in the future.
  
  As your employees become "harder" or "hardy" and as transparency seeps through the ranks, I challenge you to add "thermal conductivity" to your arsenal of leadership tools. Become a conductor of positive energy, transferring optimism and encouragement to everyone you interface with in any given day. You'll witness doom and gloom transforming into solid growth.
  
• Melting point
  
  Diamond has the highest melting point at 6416 degrees fahrenheit
  
  Wouldn't it be nice if everyone in your organisation had as high a melting point as a diamond? If it were so, employees would maintain their cool and composure in tough discussions. "Meltdowns" would be few and far between, reserved for extremely important issues. During any given day, most meltdowns between employees are over somewhat trivial matters.
  
  By teaching emotional intelligence, stress principles, and communication techniques, you can help your employees replace "meltdowns" with dialogue. Conflict becomes a catalyst for change, as differences in opinion are explored with an eye toward making organisational products and services better.
  

Apply these diamond properties to your work environment and employees who may be diamonds in the rough will be cut to shine with exquisite brilliance giving you an edge in global cutthroat competition.

Address disruption

Rock solid performance takes concentrated effort and the ability to remain focused in a disruptive workplace. Be aware of, and work to address, these common disruptive elements:

1. Ambiguity
   
   Workers may see an uncertain future, and with uncertainty comes fear.
   
2. Loss of face-to-face contact
   
   Thanks to the Internet, staff interface more and more with people they have not met and may never meet. In a strange way, this loss of face-to-face time brings alienation and a feeling of being alone.
   
3. Unfamiliar territory
   
   Staff are often in unfamiliar terrain trying to find their way through a melting pot of lifestyles. They encounter unfamiliar cultures, races, and religions which may cause them to question how to proceed.
   
4. Stretched every day
   
   Not only do they have to stretch to understand new cultures, but they have to stretch their mind with new concepts, new software packages, new marketing techniques, and new ways to stay competitive every day. In today's world, little stays the same week in and week out.
   
5. New co-workers
   
   In all of the re-organisations taking place, staff will undoubtedly have new co-workers. Some may be less capable or less co-operative. Others may be a welcome change and a breath of fresh air.
   
6. Balance
   
   In addition to the above factors causing disruption in your work environment, staff may feel they are being squeezed by work demands and need to maintain a semblance of a personal life.

Source:ceoonline.com