When performance standards are not met managers know that getting to the root cause of the issue is the key to creating sustainable improvement. In the book Influencer, Kerry Patterson et.al. describe a powerful approach for analyzing the sources that influence the ability to sustain results. These principles can readily be applied to performance and help the masterful manager develop strategies for improvement. Root cause can be considered in terms of motivation and ability and viewed from three different levels: personal, social, and organizational. Employees will not perform well tasks for which they lack either the motivation or the ability. However, to truly reach root cause it is necessary to consider not just the individual's motivation and ability but also the ways in which motivation and ability are impacted by the social and organizational environment. This results in a six cell model in which motivation and ability are viewed from the personal, social, and organizational view.

Personal motivation is an element of performance that is always considered in reviews. After all it is reasonable that people will perform their best when they are most motivated to do so. However, this can also become a simplistic trap in which the employee's attitude is the only factor considered. This is the Motivational Myth which states that if only there is enough desire to reach the outcome, success becomes inevitable. Clearly communicating the rationale behind and the importance of tasks is an essential role of the manager. This lays the groundwork for motivation. Creating the tie between the task and the impact to the business and customer places the task into a meaningful context. Finally, linking the employee's values to the task and the impact provides a solid basis for sustainable motivation.

Personal ability is the most clearly understood and most basic element of performance. No one can do well at a task for which they lack the fundamental skills and knowledge. Training, coaching, and mentoring are all typical responses that mangers us to address shortfalls in this area. There is one potential pitfall in identifying ability issues of which managers should be aware. This arises in the area of self reported ability issues. Sometimes employees are reluctant to admit that they do not know how to perform a task. It may be something they think they should know or that everyone else seems to know and they may fear that admitting to the lack of ability will result in a lost of confidence in them by others. In this case, the employee may cover the lack of ability by either showing an apparent lack of motivation to do the task or by arguing that the responsibility to perform the task belongs to someone else. Masterful managers are aware of this pitfall and keep it in consideration when listening to employee's description of the issue.

Social motivation looks at the impact that the immediate relationship environment has on performance. Typically those in the immediate relationship environment include the employee's boss and work team. The attitudes and messages from these individuals can have a powerful impact on motivation. To the extent that the words and actions of this group are aligned with the organizational and business needs they will help to sustain the motivation of the individual and performance of the task. When the messages from this group are out of alignment with the organizational and business needs, these messages serve to undermine performance. The influence of the social environment is quite powerful and over time it will overcome individual motivation. In analyzing root-cause, it is important to look for disconnects in the message being sent in this area. This includes the manager taking a close look at their own messages. Are thank you and pats on the back consistent with the message about the meaning and importance of tasks?

Social ability looks at the ways in which the performance of others impacts the ability of an employee to deliver results. Activity in the workplace is often complex and interactive. Producing a meaningful result may require the actions of several members of the work team. A given employee's ability to meet performance standards can be hampered when others who contribute to the end result deliver substandard work or fail to deliver needed responses in a timely manner.