Position Title: Director of Performance Excellence
Reports To: CEO or COO
Overall Purpose of this Job
This position is accountable for the development and quality of two vital and inter-related factors in a company’s sustainable success: Leadership Excellence and a solid Performance Culture. To achieve a culture of honor, innovation, and progressive profitability, this role focuses upon inspiring performance greatness in leaders, teams, and employees. This position is committed to maximizing the engagement, commitment, creativity, and satisfaction of management and staff; to unleashing each individual’s discretionary energy to surpass ordinary performance levels.
Key Responsibilities
1. Produce Leadership Excellence
- Assist CEO (and key others) in identifying current and future competencies/characteristics key for all leadership positions. Facilitate the creation of results-based job profiling and identify strategic hiring/promoting criteria.
- Elevate leadership excellence through personalized skill/character assessment, results-based coaching, tailored development, and close monitoring of individual successes and emerging expertise.
- Build leadership bench strength through the identification and grooming of high-potential candidates for immediate and/or long-term advancement.
- Coach selected and/or volunteered leaders who are struggling to reestablish trust, confidence, and motivation with teams, peers, and managers. (provide counsel on considered reassignment or release.)
- Create tailored development plans for all who have management responsibilities. Identify success criteria and measurable milestones of progress. Monitor growth. Recommend coaching or mentoring as needed.
- Match suitable senior management with identified mentoring candidates. Maintain expertise/character/experience database of all senior manager mentors.
- When advisable, work with specific leaders and his/her teams to establish a more productive alliance. Mediate conflicts/misunderstandings. Facilitate team-growth measures.
- Enhance strategic intelligence among the core leadership team. Facilitate future-thinking processes to consistently balance current realities with innovative business development.
- Provide for basic leadership development as needed (training, classes, seminars, etc.)
- Elevate leadership’s skill for assessing, developing and coaching employee growth.
2. Establish a Performance Culture
- Guide the Leadership Team in identifying a compelling company Vision, clear and actionable Mission, core behavioral Values, and company Membership Agreements to establish a culture of accountability that is created, upheld, and owned by all employees.
- Assist in embedding excellence as the uncontested cornerstone of the company culture.
- Sustain a focused awareness of the condition and dynamics of the organizational white space between departments, teams, and positions of responsibility. (This area is a notorious breeding ground for miscommunications, failed hand-offs, and uncoordinated and conflicting goals/processes/perceptions.)
- Keep the CEO consistently informed regarding any emerging dynamics within the organization that may cause damage or obstruct progress. Maintain keen awareness of the 30,000 foot and ground-level views.
- Maintain database of internal and external development resources.
- Provide counsel on anticipated initiatives which will impact the organization to ensure a seamless readiness in motivation, skill, and knowledge among affected employees.
- Continuously consult with company managers regarding personal and staff development and behavioral needs.
- Work with HR, marketing, communications, or others to coordinate a supportive system for sustaining company focus upon excellence as its driving strength.
Success Criteria/Measurements
- Sustainable culture of high performance.
- Consistently maturing workforce committed to professional/personal development.
- Increased profitability from reduced waste: time, resources, rework.
- Reduced cycle time on key processes.
- Increased innovation and appropriate risk-taking on the leading edge.
- Improved leadership effectiveness.
- Completed and updated Job Competencies (skill and character) for all leadership positions.
- Trust-based relationship with each leader.
- Reduced employee turn-over.
- Increased employee job satisfaction.
- Reduced employee absences due to sickness/stress.
- Reduced internal conflict and miscommunications.
- Respected company image and trust-based partnership with supplier and customers.
- Recognized as an employer of choice.
Budget Responsibility
Designated yearly budget for service to company leaders, teams, and individuals as needed. For travel, materials, supporting systems/processes, equipment, administrative assistant. (budget dependent upon organization size.)
Compensation
Salaried position with bonus potential. Full medical benefits, 401k, 3 weeks vacation plus holidays and personal/sick leave.
Karen Wright Qualifications
1. Knowledge, Skills, Talents
- Education in adult education and deep understanding of human behavioral and psychology.
- Certifications in learning curriculum development and assessment.
- Certifications in top training vendor programs including FranklinCovey and Blanchard; train-the-trainer certifications.
- Consummate verbal and written communicator.
- Skilled in Microsoft software, Publisher, FrontPage, internet research.
- Certified in self/group/306° assessment instruments including Myers Brings and PDI Profilor.
- Experienced in conflict resolution and innovative problem solving.
Professional Experience - 10 years as leadership trainer/coach in multi-location Fortune 500 corporation.
- 9 years as business owner and independent performance consultant to leaders in for-profit corporations, not-for-profit organizations, US government agencies, professional associations.
- 12 years as personal and professional development and leadership coach.
- 14 years as professional transformational speaker/presenter.
- 10 years as writer/publisher of personal development online newsletter.
- Published author of 5 books and countless articles on personal and professional development.
- Voice talent, audio recording editing. Graphic Design skill.
- Created, developed and led implementation of several corporate-wide performance initiatives.
- 2 years as professional facilitator for FranklinCovey organization in public programs.
- Author of dozens of learning programs.
2. Personal Characteristics
- Dedicated to continuous growth and personal excellence. Avid reader.
- Systems’ Thinker able to spot inter-causal dynamics and identify systemic solutions.
- High energy, possibility-focused, results-oriented, self-motivated.
- Innovative risk taker, responsible owner, collaborative team player.
- Impeccable integrity, professional, respectful.
- Intuitive insight into human motivation and resistance.
- Able to work under pressure, balancing conflicting demands and tight deadlines.
- Protects confidentiality, earns trust and respect from all levels of company.
