Lean Tip #2836 – Enable Your Teams To Set Their
Own Goals
Separating goal setting from the performance
evaluation and rewards process liberates your teams to set ambitious stretch
goals based on their specific knowledge of the requirements of a project. If
they aren’t tied to a specific target, they are freed from the fear of failure
and able to set more ambitious targets aligned to the stretch goals set at the
executive level.
Lean Tip #2837 – Set Aside Time Each Year to
Focus on Goal-Setting
As a Lean Leader, I’ve facilitated many annual
planning meetings.
The planning meeting begins with the team
members assessing the goals the team had established in the preceding year, and
whether those goals were realistic or not. If we failed to meet certain goals,
we’d break down why that happened. From there, we brainstormed about
possibilities for the current year.
Lean Tip #2838 – Set Goals That Align With Company
Objectives
Each employee's goals should be tied to the
company's overall growth strategy. When employees understand how their
individual role and responsibilities contribute to the bigger picture, they're
often more focused and motivated to achieve goals that result in success for
both the business and themselves. Consistently communicating strategic business
goals (and regularly emphasizing the company mission) can help keep employees
engaged in the work they do.
Businesses may choose to link their company
performance goals to key strategic objectives, and from there convert those
into team-performance goals. As a result, employees may accept increased
accountability as they recognize how their individual performance directly
impacts the company.
Lean Tip #2839 – Emphasize Attainable Goals
Burdening an employee with an out-of-reach goal
can lead to frustration with the process and a resulting lack of motivation for
further improvement. They might think, "Why should I even bother if this
is an unreasonable goal for anyone to achieve?"
Attainment is an important factor in the SMART
goal framework. As mentioned above, goal-setting can fail when the objective is
overly ambitious or unrealistic, given the employee's skill set and available
resources.
Lean Tip #2840 – Reward Employees Who Achieve Their
Goals
It's critical to recognize employees who achieve
or exceed set goals. Not only does such a recognition (reward, bonus,
certificate, or public acknowledgment at a staff meeting) honor that employee's
efforts, but it also demonstrates that the company values this type of
commitment and hard work. It may even further incentivize the rest of the
workforce to work hard on their own goals. Alternatively, when such hard work
goes unnoticed, employees can justifiably feel there's no point in working so
hard and may reduce their productivity or even begin looking for a new job
elsewhere.
Lean Tip #2841 – Work Closely With Employees Who
Fall Short
Not every employee will successfully attain
their goals, regardless of how hard they try. Ideally, their manager
periodically assesses progress and steps in to provide assistance where needed.
In a situation where the agreed-upon deadline arrives and the employee hasn't
met their goals, there should be an in-depth discussion about what went wrong,
combined with encouragement to try again and address or rework the stated
objectives. Working with your employees to set goals helps strengthen a culture
of ongoing feedback and open communication. Employees with clearly outlined
goals are also in a prime position to push themselves, meet new challenges, and
feel aligned to big-picture initiatives.
Lean Tip #2842 – Keep Objectives Simple
Focus on objectives you know you can achieve in
the given timeframe. Many employees think they need to contribute to every
department objective and end up spreading themselves too thin. Prioritize your
objectives according to what the business needs most. Remember, there’s no
magic number for how many objectives you should have—it depends how complex
they are, as well as the time and resources available.
Lean Tip #2843 – Goals Should Start at the Top
The best way to get an entire organization
rowing in unison and in the same direction is to line people up behind a common
cause. If, for example, your top-level
goal is to grow profit of the company by 5%, everyone in the organization
should be able to identify what they are doing to either help grow sales or
reduce costs. By flowing down goals and
key themes from the top of the organization, you are linking the efforts and
performance of every employee to the central mission of the entire
company. Whether you have 10 employees
or 10,000, a simple alignment of everyone’s actions to the select few strategic
objectives is essential.
Lean Tip #2844 – Employees Should Take the
First Step…
Once the key areas of focus have been outlined
for your staff, ask your employees to identify the ways in which they will each
support the mission. When employees set
their own measures, it involves them in the process and lets them set the bar
for their performance. Further, by
taking the first step in setting their own performance goals, employees can
make a direct link between their efforts and how they contribute to the
organization’s success.
Of course, you will likely want to assign
additional measures to the employee, but if you simply assign all measures to
the employee, you are eliminating them from the process. Personalized goals can have a powerful effect
on things like accountability and morale – they created them, they own them!
Lean Tip #2845 – Support Your Team
For the best results from start to finish,
support your team and help them focus on achieving their goals. This is
definitely not the time for a laissez-faire management style.
Take the time to:
Make sure they understand what they need to do
to achieve their goal
Give them the tools they need to stay
productive
Define milestones for each goal
Schedule regular individual and team reviews to
keep everyone on track
When you support your team, you give them a
better chance of being successful in all they do.
Lean Tip #2846 – Align Organizational
Purpose With Team Goals
Organizations today need to be dynamic in order to adjust
and adapt to the latest developments. Good managers don’t just tell their
employees to do tasks; they also tell them why they need to do what they are
assigned to do.
Employees who connect their work with the mission of their
organization feel their job is more important and their work holds much
significance. However, the majority of employees are still unsure about how
their work contributes to the “big picture”. Good managers help them understand
the value of their work and how it’s vital to achieve organizational goals.
Lean Tip #2847 – Demonstrate Empathy
With Their Team
A study shows that empathy is one of the main drivers of
overall performance amongst managers. Empathetic managers understand the
emotions of their team members. They understand how team members are feeling
and this quality enables them to communicate effectively and solve problems
right in the bud. As a result, their employees trust them more and managers can
build rapport, which fuels team success. Being empathic towards employees
equips good managers to form personal bonds with employees and foster long-term
relationships with them.
Lean Tip #2848 – Make Communication A
Priority
Effective communication is the key to not only maintaining
amicable relationships in the workplace but also delivering work successfully.
Good managers are the first ones to recognize this, and therefore, invest their
time and energy in ensuring a smooth flow of communication throughout the
project.
From navigating team meetings with poise to providing
people with the right direction in the project – a great project manager
ensures that things never slip through the cracks.
Lean Tip #2849 – Set Up The Team For
Success
Good managers don’t just inspire their teams to
collaborate and work efficiently, they don’t settle until the team reaches the
pinnacle of success. To ensure this, they focus on individual performances,
while aligning their efforts with the overall team goal.
By bringing together all the aspects of successful team building
like communication, collaboration, clarity and trust, they make sure that the
team knows the purpose of their efforts. They know that success comes only with
collaborative efforts, and that’s exactly what they inspire the team to
perform.
Lean Tip #2850 – Inspire At Every
Level
A good manager never fails to inspire
others. This inspiration comes at many levels; from boosting the morale of the
team when things are not going right to talking it out with individuals when
they are facing problems in their personal lives.
Good managers know that their role is not limited to only
making a productive environment. Rather they have a role to play in building a
positive work culture so that
individuals thrive, and continue to strive for betterment at every
level. When you are part of a positive work environment, innovation and
creativity come out naturally. And, that’s one of the hallmarks of a great
team, led by an equally able manager.
