Choose your coaching moment carefully

Having served as a CIO in higher ed and government, and as I engage with organizations today through the Leaders Program and Managers Program at Hallmentum, I find that most people and organizations fall in one of five levels of performance:

1. Unconsciously under-performing. Not performing at an acceptable level. At the same time, there is no awareness that they are not meeting expectations. They don't know that they aren't doing well.
2. Consciously under-performing. Not performing well, but are aware of the problem. They know they aren't doing well, but don't know how to fix it.
3. Consciously performing. They are performing at an acceptable level and hitting their goals. They are doing well and they know it.
4. Unconsciously performing. They are accomplishing goals, but without a general awareness of their superior performance level. They are working well, but they don't realize it.
5. Super-performing. They are performing at the highest level, delivering their "A" game without thinking about it. They are "in the zone."

That's an important scale to use to help your team members and your organization as a whole to improve. But just as we can use the five levels of performance to help an organization or a team member improve, we can just as easily (perhaps mistakenly) bring that team member down.

For example, you might have someone on your team who is "Unconsciously performing;" they are doing an excellent job without realizing that they are at a higher level than others. You might be fortunate to have someone who is "Super-performing," they are in the zone," like a baseball pitcher throwing a no-hit game.

And that's where well-meaning people can do harm. When a pitcher is throwing that no-hit game, if you recognize the pitcher for the great game, and talk specifically about their unhittable slider or how their curveball really does seem to move on its own, then you knock the pitcher "out of the zone."

The pitcher is still throwing a good game, but now the pitcher is thinking about what they are doing, how they are selecting their pitches, how they are throwing the ball. The pitcher becomes consciously aware of their performance, and shifts from "Super-performing" or "Unconsciously performing" to "Consciously performing." That's a lower performance level. And at this lower performance level, the pitcher is more likely to over-think their performance and make mistakes. Maybe the pitcher will start to second guess themselves, wondering "Am I doing this right?" This can shift the pitcher further from "Consciously performing" to "Consciously under-performing."

By politely calling out all the great things the pitcher is doing in that no-hit game, you have changed the behavior.

Use this as a warning for how you apply the five levels of performance. When you have someone on your team who is at "Unconsciously performing" or "Super-performing," be careful about how and when you recognize them. With the "baseball pitcher" scenario in mind, do you really want to interrupt your star performer who is "in the zone" to tell them what a great job they are doing? Will your well-intentioned on-the-spot recognition take that person out of the moment, so they start to think about what they are doing and how they are doing it?

Choose your moment carefully so you don't accidentally take your super-performer down to a lower performance level simply by telling them what a great job they are doing. Find a way to thank them indirectly, then wait until they don't need to be "in the zone" to properly recognize them and highlight their superlative performance. You don't always need to recognize excellent performance when you see it. Instead, say "thank you" then circle back at the end of the day for a more specific appreciation of their work.