Whether it’s losing a couple of pounds, getting back in shape or simply waking up earlier each morning – all of us have some sort of goal – of course, if you want to improve yourself, you have to have a specific goal in mind. But the problem is – goals don’t always work.
You see, according to a recent survey conducted by Static Brain Research Institute only around 9% of contributors said that they have successfully achieved their New Year’s resolution so far this year.
These numbers are indeed frustrating for us, but the bigger issue here is – this unfortunately isn’t just a personal problem. As a matter of fact, goal-setting is also fundamental in building business team to meet certain, specific results.
Since so many people are struggling to attain their personal goals, you as a business leader probably have a hard time inspiring them to attain the organization’s professional objectives.
However, this needs to be your main objective. Just look at this – according to a recent Workboard survey, almost 70% of top companies say that organization-wide communication of business goals is their number one tool for gathering and motivating best employees.
What You’re Working With
Before we start discussing ways you can help your employees feel more motivated and subsequently concentrated on company’s goals, we need to tell you one important thing – most employees don’t actually want to be superstars.
You see, different people define success differently. According to statistics provided by Right Management, only around 10% of employees define it as “being a top performer” within the organization. In fact, this is how most people define workplace success:
- Good work/life balance (45%)
- Employment/happiness balance (26%)
- High earnings (19%)
- Doing their best work (18%)
- Achieving recognition (15%)
As you can see, only a fraction of your workforce wants to be among the top employees. Now, if you’re a part of a small organization with only a handful of employees, average employees definitely have a huge effect on the performance.
So the question now is – what can you actually do with all of those employees who don’t have aspirations of becoming star performers but are doing an average job? In order to help you deal with this problem, here are four steps you should follow to set your business goals…
How to Improve Your Team in Four Steps
· Step #1: Start Setting Short Term Goals
At the start of the year, looking at annual company goals is intimidating for many employees – especially if you set those goals high. So in order to combat this, you should take a page from Acceleration Partner’s book and set the annual goals with the intention of breaking them into smaller chunks and assigning them to individual employees.
Furthermore, you should start reviewing these goals every 60 to 90 days to see how your employees are progressing and to see if these goals need any adjustments. This will help your employees at the bottom of the totem pole start climbing to the metaphorical top together. And once you manage to find out what truly motivates them, you’ll be truly able to function as a team leader and guide them.
· Step #2: Establish a Common Objective
Before you start directing your employees to the top, you need to show them the destination. This means, you need to establish some common goals every member of your staff can work toward. Moreover, every member of your team has unique set of skills so you also need to teach them to leverage each other’s skills, share ideas and learn one from another.
Basically, you need to establish a positive company culture in which employees could feel comfortable contributing fresh ideas and trying out new things. According to a recent Google study, employees who feel mentally safe in their work environment are more likely to leverage their skills and be more successful overall.
· Step #3: You Have to Keep Each of Them Accountable
You’re the ultimate decision-maker in your organization – so you need to provide the right guidance, tools and training as much as possible. Furthermore, you need to delegate to instill a sense of ownership in your organization. Just take a look at Spotify, as this Harvard Business Review article explains it, the company has found success with its workforce by organizing the people into self-structured small teams.
Spotify’s teams are also linked together, as the article puts “as a tribe” supervised by an additional layer of management. This can be easily accomplished with an effective online collaboration platform like Active Collab, which will allow them communicate within the “tribe without any difficulties. These smaller teams will thus be accountable and have the authority to remain innovative as well.
· Step #4: Keep Your Team Members Well-Informed at All Times
And we finally come to the most crucial part of being a leader – clearly communicating your company’s vision and goals from the top-down. And if you want to keep your employees on track at all times, you need to improve not only your communication skills, but also encourage your team members to cultivate theirs. In addition, you need to start giving your employees feedback on regular occasions.
According to HBR’s Analytic Service Report, only around 50% companies actually measure the progress of their employees regularly and give them feedback on it. You definitely should do the opposite – try to set up meetings often, not only to discuss the current goals, but also to measure the long-term success of your team. These meetings should be held at least once a month, but if you’re dealing with a younger staff, you probably won’t go wrong with weekly meetings…
The Bottom Line
If you don’t get everyone on the same page, your business will undoubtedly start suffering after a while. On one hand, your top employees might start looking for better opportunities that provide more chances for growth, more challenges and of course, more rewards.
And if they leave, you’ll be stuck with a team of average workers, which will drag the productivity of your organization down considerably. According to a 2012 study published in the Journal of Personnel Psychology, top performers deliver around 400% more productivity than your average employees.
Therefore, you need to set diverse goals for your employees, which will give them enough room for improvement and allow them to move forward in their careers. By helping employees at the base of your organization move upwards, you’ll teach them to pull one another to the top…
