Link To Results            

You probably have goals for your office.  And most likely your employees all know what they are.  But do you really use those goals on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to motivate employees to do their best?  If not, you may be missing a great opportunity to use available information to encourage positive contributions. Begin with these three approaches:

1. Emphasize Reductions:  Think about the kind of things that might be reduced if goals are achieved.  This might include a reduction in errors, complaints, or mandatory overtime.  Then use this information to explain the value of positive performance.
2. Highlight Increases:  On the positive side, some things might be increased if goals are achieved.  These could range from an increase in pay to more compliments.  Consider the things that might be added or expanded and use those items when discussing the importance of excellent performance.
3. Focus on the Future:  How might the timely achievement of goals affect your office in the future?  Perhaps there might be opportunities for performance increases, workload changes, or budget adjustments.  Use this information to discuss the positive impact of doing a great job.

Motivation Is a Continuous Process

Whether you are talking about achieving goals or some other performance outcome, keeping employees motivated is a continuous process.  Fortunately, your daily interactions with employees provide many opportunities for you to explain the value of performing well.  The goals you have set for your office offer much information you can use during those interactions.  All you have to do is develop your list of “reasons” why achieving goals is important, then incorporate those “reasons” into your daily discussions.  Start with these three.

How can you distinguish between the good, better, and best managers?  One way is to examine how effective other managers (or you) are at Planning and Organizing.  Here are six skills you can use to make that determination:

1. Formulating Short-Term Plans:  This involves identifying strategies for handling the more immediate projects, problems, or issues. It requires an ability to look at a situation and determine an approach for handling it.
2. Carrying Out Projects:  This is more than just putting a plan into place.  It is the actual completion of what was started.  There is an ability to follow-through and bring closure.
3. Developing Budgets:  Whether the purchase involves office supplies or an office building, the emphasis is on the degree to which there is a logical approach to spending.  There is an ability to anticipate and plan for expenditures.
4. Allocating and Utilizing Resources:  Here, the main thrust involves matching resources to requirements.  Critical importance is also placed on the ability to use resources wisely.
5. Translating Long-Range Plans into Short-Term Operational Goals:  In this instance, the focus is on transforming future intents into present results.  There is a clear and direct link between organizational expectations and individual achievements.
6. Recommending and Developing Policies and Procedures:  The focus here covers effectiveness in looking at what is working or not working; then establishing requirements for improvements.

Why Planning and Organizing Matters

It is often said that management is about getting things done through others.  If that is the case, then managers must be able to tell others where to go as well as how to get there.  That is where the management skills of planning and organizing come in.  These skills are critical because they provide managers with a framework for guiding and directing others.  The key is to know what specific skills are represented under the categories of planning and organizing.  Use these six skills as a start.

From the CEO to the Project Manager, all leaders supervise someone.  That is, all leaders need to ensure that their subordinates have the capabilities and opportunities to do a good job. But how do you measure whether someone is effective at supervising others?  Here are five supervisory skills you can use:

1. Ability to Analyze Strengths and Weaknesses:  Have you had a situation where the leader needed to recommend someone for a job?  What about assigning tasks to subordinates?  Consider how effective the leader was in these instances. 
2. Effectiveness at Identifying and Providing Training:  Whether the job is technical or not, there will most likely be instances where all employees need some training.  So consider whether the leader gives everyone an opportunity to participate in training. 
3. Success in Developing and Enhancing Skills:  It is one thing to provide training.  It is quite another to create opportunities for employees to apply what they have learned.  That is what development is all about.  Consider what the leader does in this area.  Does he or she provide opportunities for transfer-of-learning or cross-training?  What about allowing employees to try out new tasks or maybe even train others?  These are all areas for consideration.
4. Effectiveness in Scheduling and Coordinating Work:  Do the right employees receive the right work at the right time?  This is a basic question that can go a long way in determining how effective your leader is at assigning work to employees. 
5. Capabilities in Identifying and Setting Performance Goals:  Do employees know what they are expected to do and when?  Are employee performance goals linked to organizational performance goals?  These are just two questions that can provide insight about the leader’s ability to manage priorities and achieve results. 

Leaders Must Possess Supervisory Skills

Leadership is not just about telling others to do a good job.  It is about ensuring that subordinates have the capabilities and opportunities to do a good job.  This means that, among other leadership qualities, leaders must also possess supervisory skills.  So the next time you have to evaluate a leader (or critique your own performance), add these five skills to the list.

So you want your employees to take greater responsibility for correcting mistakes.  Why not explain how doing so might lead to greater autonomy and/or less micro-management.  How?  Start by focusing on the particulars of the problem or solution.  Here are four ideas.

1. More control over the TYPE of solution:  Consider instances when employees have been required to implement solutions they disagreed with.  Explain how situations like this might be decreased if employees corrected mistakes in a timely and accurate manner.
2. Ability to decide WHEN the solution is implemented:  Think about how the timing of implementing certain solutions impacted employees’ ability to manage priorities, time, and workloads.  Emphasize the possibility of fewer such interruptions in these areas.
3. Opportunity to decide HOW the solution is implemented:  Focus on situations where employees were given specific directions on the approach that would be used to solve a problem or implement a solution.  Clarify how taking more initiative for correcting mistakes might result in less intrusion regarding approach or process.
4. Decision on WHO might be involved in helping to correct the problem:  Recall times when making corrections resulted in a loss of control due to some other employees or offices being “assigned” to help solve the problem.  Explain how being proactive in correcting problems could lead to more choice when a third-party is needed.

Greater Responsibility Equals Greater Control

One way to encourage improved performance for correcting mistakes is to focus on the positive reasons for doing so.  One positive reason involves greater control.  That’s what this approach is all about.  In other words, you explain to employees that when they don’t take personal responsibility for correcting mistakes, you or someone else has to be the initiator for making sure the correction is made.  This means that employees lose control over their ability to decide on a solution or on its implementation.  

So the next time you have employees who want to let someone else “fix the problem,” explain the connection between correcting mistakes and greater control (or less micro-management).

As a manager, you know that positive feedback is supposed to be specific rather than general.   But it is also important to make sure positive feedback is meaningful.  What’s the difference? 

Specific feedback involves a two-step process.  Step 1, you tell employees what they did.  Step 2, you tell employees that you like what they did (thanks, keep up the good work, etc.).  For example, “You always let customers know approximately how long it will take to solve their computer problems as well as where you are in the process.  Thanks!”

Meaningful feedback involves a three-step process.  Step 1, you tell employees what they did.  Step 2, you tell employees the positive impact of what they did.  Step 3, you tell employees that you like what they did (thanks, keep up the good work, etc.).  For example, “You always let customers know approximately how long it will take to solve their computer problems as well as where you are in the process.  Because of this, they rarely complain about delays.  Thanks!”

To make your feedback meaningful, talk about the impact of employees’ performance.  Some areas to consider include, impact on:

1. Reducing customer complaints or increasing customer compliments.
2. Meeting deadlines or reducing number of deadlines that are not met.
3. Achieving goals or reducing number of goals that are not achieved.
4. Increasing productivity or decreasing backlogs.
5. Improving quality or decreasing errors.
6. Enhancing team relationships or reducing team tensions.
7. Decreasing safety violations or improving safety compliance.

Meaningful Feedback Reinforces Value

Positive feedback is a powerful way to reinforce and encourage positive performance.  When you make positive feedback “meaningful,” you increase the likelihood of getting a repeat performance.  That’s because you connect performance to some type of outcome; thereby, letting employees know that they add value and that you value their contributions.  So the next time you give positive feedback, make it meaningful!

If you want to increase your chance of success when implementing changes among your immediate staff, try linking those changes to what’s important to your employees.  In other words, don’t just focus on the benefits to the overall company.  Instead, focus on the benefits to what your specific staff does.  How?  Start by asking these three questions:

1. What does my staff want to keep doing?  Think about the things that employees find desirable when it comes to managing workloads, working with people, or working in your staff.  You will find many things that employees see as positive; or at the very least, that employees do not want eliminated.  Explain how the change will allow for the continuation of these desirables.
2. What does my staff want eliminated?  This could involve undesirable tasks, dreaded workloads, or distasteful people interactions.  Consider complaints about excessive meetings, unmanageable workloads, or uncooperative colleagues.  Discuss ways the change will lead to the reduction or elimination of these items.
3. What does my staff want to start doing?  Think about the times your employees have said, “I wish we could do that.”   You will undoubtedly come up with several things they want to begin.  These might involve something involving more time off, going someplace special, or handling an assignment in a certain way.  Talk about how the change will lead to the start of something new.

The Way You Talk About Change Does Matter

Sure, if a change is coming, employees can either accept it or leave.  But that kind of attitude does not garner high levels of commitment or performance; at least not in the long run.  The better strategy is to introduce the change by letting employees know there is something in it for them (other than a job).  Connecting the change to positive outcomes at the staff level is one way to do that.  Start with these three ideas.

When talking to employees about performance improvement, try connecting the improvements you want to a reduction in something they want. 

For example, you might explain how improvement in a certain area might reduce:

1. The amount of stress they feel in completing assignments.
2. The number or kind of complaints they receive from customers.
3. The number of times they have to redo an assignment.
4. The kind of assignments they have to redo.
5. The number or kind of undesirable assignments they receive.
6. The number or kind of meetings they have to attend.
7. The number or kind of explanations they have to provide to explain delays.
8. The length of time they have to work on undesirable assignments.
9. The amount of work they have to put into completing an assignment.
10. The length of time they have to work with people whom they don’t want to work with.

It’s All About What Employees Want Reduced

The key to lasting performance improvement is to encourage employees to want to improve.  One way to start the encouragement process is to uncover specific things employees want reduced.  And there is always something that every employee wants to do or see less of.    Just think about the last conversation you overheard where employees were complaining.  There was probably some talk about a task they wished they “did not have to do.”   This is the information you can use in your discussions about performance improvement.  Explain how the improvement you want will lead to the reduction they want.  In the end, you might both get what you want.

If you are struggling with ways to motivate employees, try looking at what they “like” or “dislike” about working with people. Why? Because getting the best from your employees is not just about matching assignments with skills. It is also about matching assignments with interests. And research shows that when employees are interested in what they do, they perform better. Assigning tasks based on “people preferences” is just one way to match assignments with interests. Start with these four options:

People Option One – Working With Large Groups: First, determine what is considered a “large” group in your organization. Second, think outside-the-box when identifying opportunities for employees to work with these groups. Perhaps there is a chance to make a 5-minute introduction to a large audience. Or maybe delivering an update on a project is an option. The point is to look for opportunities in everyday work situations.  Then, whenever possible, make assignments based on the “people preferences” of your employees.

People Option Two – Working With Small Groups: For this option think about situations involving three or more employees. Look at upcoming projects or meetings. Consider situations within your immediate office or in other departments. If there is a match between the skill-set required for the assignment and the number of participants, consider “both factors” when making the assignment.

People Option Three – Working With A Partner: Here, think about instances where employees have to train someone, share information, or collaborate on an assignment. The interaction could be short, long, or something in-between. Bottom-line, when the task involves working with one other person, assign it to someone who prefers this level of people involvement.

People Option Four – Working Alone: For those who prefer a solitary experience, individual assignments provide numerous chances to work alone. But so do assignments where multiple people are involved. To uncover “working alone” options, consider specific tasks like research, analysis, or review. All projects require these or similar tasks. Look for these tasks and assign them to employees who crave them.

Use People Interests As A Motivation Tool

Finding ways to match assignments with skills as well as interests is just good management strategy. Looking at preferences when it comes to working with “numbers of people” is just one way to explore employee interests. So the next time you are trying to motivate employees, don’t just think about the number of skills they have; think about the number of people they will work with.

Finding ways to match assignments with skills as well as interests is just good management strategy. Looking at preferences when it comes to working with “numbers of people” is just one way to explore employee interests. So the next time you are trying to motivate employees, don’t just think about the number of skills they have; think about the number of people they will work with.

Are you a manager who is looking for ways to jumpstart or advance your career? If so, in addition to working hard and achieving goals, you might want to find ways to subtlety (and not so subtlety) show that you understand the BIG PICTURE.

Why?  Because the further you move up the corporate ladder, the more your responsibilities will cover a wide range of areas within your organization. So you want to demonstrate your understanding of how the achievement of goals impacts profits or customer service for your 10-person team as well as for your 100-person organization. HOW and WHEN do you do that? Consider these four  instances:

During Planning Discussions With Superiors: Think about the instances when you have to meet with your immediate boss or other powerful people to discuss future goals, strategies, etc. In those situations, find a way to link what your team or unit is doing to some broader organizational objective. For example, if the discussion concerns profits, describe how an increase in revenues in your area of responsibility might positively impact other areas. You could make the same connection with customer service, quality, or productivity. The topics are limitless.

During Progress Discussions With Superiors: There are times when you have to update senior managers on what you and your team are doing. Use these opportunities to showcase your knowledge about what is happening elsewhere in your organization. Make connections with other teams, divisions, and departments. For instance, you might show how what you are doing or what you have done will lead to the completion of an assignment somewhere else.

During Problem Solving Discussions With Superiors: Consider situations when the topic is problems rather than progress. These might involve people, processes, profits, or practices. Whatever the topic, use these encounters to demonstrate your knowledge about the synergistic impact—how failure in one area will impact another area. If the problem involves your team, explain how the resolution will affect other teams. If the problem involves another area within your organization, draw connections between improvements in that area and improvements in other areas.

During Non-Work Discussions With Superiors: Think about all the chance encounters you have with influential people. These might occur at the elevator, in the cafeteria, on the parking lot, or a charity event. Wherever the encounter, you probably start talking about the one thing you definitely have in common-WORK! So don’t just tell the other person what you do or respond to a question with a “yes” or “no” answer. Instead, pepper your remarks with comments about the strategic plan, the company vision, or the organization mission. And be sure to link what you do to outcomes in other areas within your organization.

Demonstrating Your BIG PICTURE Understanding Is Easy

The people in your organization who have power, influence, and authority can help you jumpstart or advance your career. And you are always talking to these people. So use such encounters to let them know how competent you are AND how much you know about your organization. The further you move up the ladder, the more you will need to understand the BIG PICTURE. To demonstrate that understanding, all you have to do is make a few small changes in what you say. So start today!