Top Tips to Improve Staff performance 1

Fiona KennedyGreenWood Mentors Ltd

Validation

Getting from A-B• Change is what everyone wants but

acceptance is what everyone needs

Accept

Change

Accept• A person’s responses make sense and are

understandable

• in the context in which they occur.

• Search for, recognise, reflect

• the validity in their responses to events

Validate (levels 1 &2)

Stay awake, look and listen, don’t judge Say back to the person what they have

said to you (reflect)

For Example

• ‘OK, so what you’re saying is you’re struggling to meet this deadline because Mike isn’t giving the support you need? (level 2)

• So when you gave the presentation you found the audience unresponsive, is that right?

Level 1 &2 have the effects of:

• Making the person feel understood, heard, listened to , valued

• Allowing you to check you have accurately understood the situation

• Making the issues clearer in the other person’s mind

• Opening up the conversation

Validate (level 3)

Guess what the person might have felt/thought/wanted to do

For Example

• You must be feeling pretty unsupported and frustrated at the moment

• Maybe you thought the audience wasn’t interested in what you had to say?

Validate (level 4)

• Normalise, it’s understandable, anyone in your situation might.... , it’s like that/has been like that for me.

For example (level 4)

• Many people working to meet deadlines have trouble getting their colleagues to come up with what’s needed in time

• I once gave a presentation and had a similar experience, it’s no fun!

All validation leads to

• Opening up of communication lines

• Increased trust

• Better understanding on both sides

• Paving the way for spontaneous and planned change

Asking for change without validation leads to

• Defensive closing down on the others’ part

• Mistrust

• Hopelessness /fatigue on the other’s part

• Frustration on your part

Yet we all forget to do it!

• We rush into problem solving to reduce our own anxiety

• We hold beliefs like ‘s/he should know this already, why should I mollycoddle him/her?’

• We claim we don’t have time for it

Practice makes perfect

• Practicing these skills feels artificial at first

• Yet with time and repetition they can become second nature

• And make a vast impact on your effectiveness in increasing staff performance

Next

• Asking for change (see next instalment)

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