Employees have a fundamental need to know how they’re doing. You’ve set clear expectations. You have the metrics. I’m sure, you know exactly where they stand, how well they’re performing, and where they could use a little guidance. Do they?
While most business owners would say, “Sure they do. We talk about it all the time.” My experience in working with hundreds of employees over the years is that, they actually don’t.
How often do you talk to your employees about their success? Once a year, at annual review time? Quarterly, in your team meetings?
By the way if you’re only meeting with your employees annually or quarterly to give them feedback on their performance and develop them, you’re missing the boat. You wouldn’t wait an entire year after your child cleaned their room every day to praise them would you? …Just a bonus.
What happens in between performance meetings? How do they measure their success until the next time you chat with them?
In today’s world of technology there really is no excuse to not give your employees one of the basic tools they need to be successful, a medium to constantly and consistently measure their success.
Do you have employees who are in sales? How do they measure their closed sales, pipeline, and book of business?
Do you have employees who are responsible for managing the company finances? How do they measure their accuracy, timeliness of receivables and payables?
Do you have employees in customer service? How do they measure the expectations of their role?
Give your employees the ability to measure their success.
There are great online platforms like SalesForce and HubSpot.
If you don’t have a budget for an online measurement system, create your own. Something as simple as an excel spreadsheet is a great place to start.
In my experience employees who have the ability to see and measure their success daily are more successful than those who don’t.
Because:
- Their focus is on success.
- They can clearly see where they shine and where they have opportunity to grow.
- There are no surprises in performance reviews.
Create a system for your employees to measure their success:
- Increase production
- Have clear expectations
- Shift company focus to success