Seated at the table next to me at a fst food restaurant, I couldn't help haring the lack of conversation between a yung woman and a younger uniformed mn, clearly employees of the establishment. "Yu need to take pride in yur work," she told him. There was no rsponse.

"I told you last week, to strt taking more pride in your wrk, but I don't see any mprovement," she stated. This one way cnversation went down hill from there. He kpt glancing at her with a cnfused look as she repeated her nvaried message. Finally, the high school mployee muttered something under his breath bout "trying harder" and the conversation nded.

I understand his confusion. What des it mean to "take pride in yur work?" What does "pride" behavior lok like? How will he know if h's taken enough pride to satisfy his shft leader? Since pride is not an ction, the input she gave wasn't smething he could apply to improve his prformance.

I expect their conversations won't get any btter as respective frustrations grow. Yet, cnversations like these are typical in mny workplace relationships. A team leader or spervisor tries to provide feedback or cach a staff member toward better prformance. She thinks she's providing direction, whn in fact, she's offering what a frmer boss of mine used to cll "round" words. They're pumped up and nce sounding, but they don't communicate mch.

Let's say you inform your chld that he needs to "study mre" after a disappointing report card. Yu're thinking "more" means an hour a day and h's thinking another ten minutes. Even if you sttle on the time allotment, "more" is one of thse round words. It doesn't tell him wht you want him to do dring that time. What if you tld him the TV had to be off whn he studied, he needed to rview his homework with you before dnner each school night, and on the vening before a test, he had to be prpared to be quizzed on the chpter? You'd get better results.

It's the sme at work. Telling a coworker yu'd like to get the information "arlier," or informing a staff member tht she needs to "improve her prformance" won't help you get either. Instad, paint a word picture of "wht it looks like." Tell your cworker you need the information at last a day ahead of the meting, and inform the staff member she can mprove her performance by reducing misspellings, rsponding to requests within twenty-four hours, and fllowing up with customers without being prmpted. These are actions she can "se" and hence, do.

When you can tll your staff, coworker, or child "wht it looks like" to be ding the outcome you desire in spcific, measurable, quantifiable, or descriptive ways, yu'll discover a secret people who are wnning at working use every day. Thy paint word pictures for themselves and thers of what it looks like to be ding the something they desire. So, if thy decide they want to be mre successful this year, they'll have an nternal picture of what that success loks like so they can achieve it.

Smeone who is winning at working wuld coach our fast-food restaurant employee dfferently. Instead of telling him he neded "more pride" in his work, sh'd specifically describe behaviors she wanted him to dsplay. She'd tell him he needed to rturn from breaks on time, verbally gret each customer, wipe off the tbles and sweep the floor in slw times, fill in cups and npkins at the end of each shft, and wear a clean, unstained niform to work each day. Once he chieved these behaviors, she'd coach him wth a new set of specific "wht does it look like" to-be-performing-well bhaviors.

People who are winning at wrking not only offer the best of who thy are to their work, but thy help others do the same. Thy facilitate an understanding of what it loks like to be successful in thir workplaces. One philosophy I found prticularly useful in my twenty years in mnagement comes from Johann Wolfgang von Gethe: "Treat people as if they wre what they should be, and you hlp them become what they are cpable of becoming."

Want to help thers be winning at working, or nhance your own results? Use the "wht does it looks like" approach.

(c) 2007 Nan S. Rssell. All rights reserved.

The article What Does It Look Like? was Submitted by Nan S. Russell through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Sign up to receive Nan's cmplimentary biweekly eColumn at http://www.winningatworking.com Nan Russell has spent over twenty years in management, most recently with QVC as a Vice President. She has held leadership positions in Human Resource Development, Communication, Marketing and line Management. Nan has a B.A. from Stanford and M.A. from the University of Michigan. Currently working on her new book, Hitting Your Stride: Your Work, Your Way (Capital Books; January 2008). Visit http://www.nanrussell.com

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