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FACE Executive Leadership Guide

Your Role As An Executive Leader

Leaders play a critical role in creating a work culture that encourages employees and teams to perform at their best. How leaders “walk the talk” about performance significantly influences the performance culture and outcomes for Pinellas County Unified Personnel System. Leaders do this by:

  1. Communicating high-level objectives and strategy.
  2. Promoting the benefits of the FACE of Performance.
  3. Building a performance feedback environment.
  4. Integrating managing employee performance into everyday operations.
  5. Creating a learning environment.
  6. Supporting managers and supervisors.

How to ‘Walk the Talk’

1. Communicate High-Level Objectives and Strategy

  • Involve managers in strategic and business planning processes.
  • Include discussion of high-level objectives in leadership meetings.
  • Communicate the high-level objectives and strategy to all employees on a regular basis.

2. Promote the Benefits of the FACE of Performance

  • Talk about the benefits for individual employees, teams and the Pinellas County Unified Personnel System.
  • Talk positively about the FACE of Performance and the benefits. Share your personal experiences.
  • Communicate your expectations to all staff about how they participate.
  • Regularly include topics related to the management of employee performance on leadership team meeting agendas.

3. Build a Performance Feedback Environment

  • Demonstrate personal leadership and commitment to the FACE of Performance.
  • Regularly provide feedback.
  • Acknowledge performance success.
  • Support a constructive approach to responding to performance concerns.
  • Invite feedback and respond positively.

4. Integrate the Management of Employee Performance Into Everyday Operations

  • Provide feedback regularly, not just in performance discussions.
  • Make performance discussions a priority by scheduling and making time for them.
  • Talk about performance expectations and metrics when setting priorities.
  • Talk about behaviors when communicating priorities or expectations.
  • Build opportunities to review performance into meetings and strategic discussions.
  • Require that your staff make performance discussions a priority.
  • Hold yourself and your direct reports accountable by implementing a process for monitoring whether performance discussions have happened. Here are some questions you can ask to initiate those conversations:
    • How have your regular performance conversations with your direct reports been going? How many have you had since our last meeting?
    • What have you learned from your performance conversations with your direct reports?

5. Create a Learning Environment

  • Take a strategic approach to learning and development. Identify learning needs, gaps and strategies that are focused on formal training and consistent with the 70:20:10 model of learning and development.
  • Implement opportunities for review and reflection such as lessons learned and debriefs.
  • Encourage and support innovation and continuous improvement.
  • Nurture potential leaders and managers.
  • Implement coaching or mentoring arrangements.

6. Support Managers and Supervisors

  • Demonstrate high-quality management of employee performance and development.
    • Provide regular feedback to the people you lead to encourage a performance culture.
    • Develop your own skills for discussing performance.
    • Be well prepared for performance discussions.
    • Ask your staff for feedback on your performance discussions. This will facilitate meaningful two-way conversations.
  • Help supervisors and managers develop their own skills for performance discussions.
    • Encourage experienced supervisors to mentor less-experienced supervisors.
    • Provide access to training.
  • Help supervisors and managers respond to performance concerns.
    • Recognize the impact on them and their workload.
    • Provide practical advice and moral support.
  • Provide access to guidance and support.
    • Promote the FACE supporting documents and tools.
    • Encourage the utilization of your Human Resources partners who can provide guidance, especially with challenging performance issues.