Lean Tip #2731 – Clearly Communicate Company
Goals
Communication is an important part of any
business. Effective communication helps managers engage their employees and
manage individual performance expectations.
To improve goal alignment, company goals should
be clear to everyone in your organization. This includes executives and senior
leadership all the way down to front-line employees. There should be no
question about what the organization is trying to achieve and when.
Goals and their progress should be accessible
to anyone at any time. Consider utilizing a goals software to make your
development more visible. Keep these objectives top of mind and gently nudge
employees to continue driving focus.
Lean Tip #2732 – Link Individual Goals to
Strategic Company Objectives
Communicating your strategic vision is only the
first step. Employees are motivated by purpose. When employees understand how
their work impacts organizational goals, they are more engaged and tend to
stick around.
Company goals should inspire team goals, and
team goals should inspire individual goals. Showcasing the connection between
each level gives employees a clear sense of how they are supporting those
goals.
When employees have input on their individual
and team goals, buy-in is likely to increase. Managers should collaborate with
employees during the goal-setting process. This helps inspire commitment and
creates a sense of ownership. But collaboration shouldn’t stop there.
Lean Tip #2733 – Don't Set and Forget Goals
Goals aren’t crockpots. You can’t just set ‘em
and forget ‘em. Goals, like our favorite recipes, take time to develop. Because
of this, individual and team goals shouldn’t only be discussed once a year.
Managers and employees should make a point to
discuss, examine, and adjust goals year-round. I recommend discussing goals and
their progress at least quarterly—though monthly is better.
Creating, communicating, and aligning goals
across the organization is the best way to build a successful performance
management process. When employees, managers, and teams feel connected to the
company’s vision for success, they will be successful too.
Lean Tip #2734 – Focus on What You Can Control
and Have a Plan For the Rest
For every workplace goal, there are factors you
can control and factors that are out of your hands. Be clear on the
distinction, and have a plan for what to do if the out-of-your-control factors
don't line up.
Imagine that you are a supervisor within an accounting
department in a hospital. Let's say you set a goal to shorten the month-end
close timeline by two business days. Success will depend on the skill and
collaboration of your accounting department (something you can contribute to
and control), and on the ability of other departments to deliver critical data
on time (something that is out of your control). It is smart to have a plan to
coordinate the month-end close with other departments, remind them of the
deadline and keep the communication lines open — but you must have a plan and
an accountability agreement in the event they fail to deliver.
Lean Tip #2735 – Everyone Gets Recognized
Engagement is essential to keep a company
growing and reaching for its vision. When employees aren’t recognized, they
lose track of their purpose. But in contrast, when wins are celebrated,
employees want to win more.
A simple expression of gratitude, such as a
thank-you note or gift, shows employees that management is paying attention and
notices that they are consistently working hard and succeeding at their
individual goals.
When recognizing top talent, explain how
employees' efforts are pushing the company toward large-scale goals. Show how
their performance is meeting and exceeding expectations to encourage more hard
work and dedication.
Lean
Tip #2736 – Look at the Big Picture
When you’re in the weeds, stressed, and
juggling a million things, it’s easy to get annoyed by things that “just aren’t
changing.” You can talk to your team
about things until you’re blue in the face, and sometimes nothing happens.
Typically, when you look at the big picture
you’ll see that there’s a common set of reasons why you’re struggling to get
team buy in and action:
·
Blame:
No one wants to take it on, because if it doesn’t work, they take the L.
·
Authority:
You may want to assign the problem to someone (or a team) to solve, but are
they empowered to actually make the necessary changes?
·
Agreement:
Does your team agree it’s an important problem? Do they see why it’s a big
problem now and will only get worse?
·
Pressure:
If your team has other major projects and tasks to complete, your “pet project”
may be put off indefinitely.
·
Priority:
You may say it’s important, but do your actions show it’s the case?
Lean Tip #2737 - Show, Don’t Tell the Value of
Change
People, who act on a vision are those, who
believe in that change. It is important to support people’s believe by making
the outlook of the results of that change tangible and realistic. Depending on
what the given vision is, practical ways to do so are by sharing a case study
of another company that has achieved something similar before, or by including
screenshots or images. Depending on the vision, a vivid story about the aspired
state for the business can also lead people to visualize this aspired state.
Lean Tip #2738 - Identify And Manage Risks
Nothing pushes away interested parties as fast
as risks. While you can’t entirely eliminate them from a business venture, they
can definitely be reduced to an acceptable level. To improve the success
chances of a project, it’s crucial to take necessary risk mitigation steps to
limit worrying potential threats. Prepare a summary of identified key risk
factors, and document your premeditated plans to respond to them, should they
occur. This shows responsible management behavior and will display a positive
image to the senior management members. Demonstrating your professionalism in
risk management makes it much easier to attain buy-ins from influential
parties, especially sponsors and lenders.
Lean Tip #2739 – Stay Connected and Follow up.
Stay connected to ensure that everyone is clear
about the mission that they are working toward. Keep an open-door policy as
much as possible. If that's not feasible, consider making yourself available
via email or during certain hours of the day. It's important that employees let
you know when challenges arise. That's not to say you should listen to every
gripe and complaint, but you can let everyone know you are empathetic to their
concerns and are willing to work with them to find solutions. Further,
encourage employees to bring a solution with them when making you aware of a
problem.
Lean Tip #2740 - Be Prepared to Change the
Change.
Just as employees resist change, sometimes we
fail to realize that our own changes aren't working the way we want them to.
Assuming you have the right workers on the right task, solicit their feedback.
You have to be prepared to take the advice they give and adjust your own game
plan. Sometimes that means midcourse corrections. Other times, it means
scrapping the plan and starting from scratch. That's not defeat -- it's the
ultimate sign that you value the buy-in your employees have for your ideas.
Lean Tip #2741 – Show Your Employees You Care
When you care about your employees, they tend
to work harder and aim to exceed your expectations. Employees want to be led by those who
genuinely care about who they are and what they represent to the team and organization
at-large. Don’t just view your
employees as tools and resources for your own success – but as people and
valuable assets who bring unique capabilities and aptitudes not necessarily
limited to their job functions. Employees want leaders who care about their
general well-being and who can be depended upon during times of professional
and personal hardships.
Lean Tip #2742 - Engage Yourself
Beyond caring, engage yourself in matters
important to your employees. When they
share their opinions, ask questions and encourage them to elaborate and expand
upon their perspectives. When you engage yourself more actively, hold yourself
accountable and follow-up with your employees, they will know that you are
listening, paying attention and attempting to understand what matters most to
them.
Lean Tip #2743 - Ask for Innovation
Almost everything we do can be done better,
faster, and smarter. Even the most routine tasks are open to innovation. A best
practice to hone your listening skills is to ask for ideas. Managers often
worry when they ask for ideas, they’ll get silly or impractical answers. But
even these are an opportunity to help workers stretch their critical thinking
skills.
When a staffer makes a suggestion that won’t
work, rather than dismissing it out of hand, talk them through the process. In
addition to actively listening, you’re helping them develop problem-solving
skills that might lead to practical innovations in the future.
Lean Tip #2744 – Be Mindful
Great leaders are extremely mindful of their
surroundings. They know how to actively
listen beyond the obvious via both verbal and non-verbal communication. They
acknowledge others via body language, facial expressions and nods.
Leaders that are mindful are not just hearing
conversations; they are listening to them and engaging in the dialogue. They don’t fake it, they are taking note of
what is being said and how people are saying it
and are making continuous eye-contact and gestures.
As the leader, everyone is watching your every
move and action. If you appear
disconnected, you are perceived as disinterested and not listening. Never stop being expansively mindful.
Lean
Tip #2745 – Be an Empathetic Listener
The workplace is fueled with the stress and
pressure of each day. Because every
employee manages stress and pressure differently, it is important that you are
empathetic to how these distractors impact employee performance.
Empathy is a powerful display of
listening. I realize that many leaders
avoid emotional interactions, but the best leaders know how to empathize and
make themselves approachable to those who need attention.
