Hold regular Performance Appraisals

Performance appraisals represent the most appropriate forum for giving feedback to your team members.   Aim to sit down with each of your key people once a year to:

• Acknowledge areas of good performance over the previous twelve months as well as identifying areas for improvement
• To evaluate the individual’s training and development needs over the ensuing twelve months
• To map out a career progression within your organisation
• To review the remuneration  and other conditions of employment
• The annual appraisals affords your colleague an opportunity to discuss non-routine issues

Some do’s and dont’s of Performance Appraisals:

• Ask your team member to complete and submit an appraisal template in advance of the review.  This facilitates better time management while ensuring  that both parties are prepared.  Likewise any non-routine issues that are to be raised by the appraiser should be flagged in advance
• Allow sufficient time for the appraisal at a time which  is convenient for both parties
• Performance appraisals should never be used to store-up criticism.  There is no substitute for more informal meetings if there are issues to be ironed-out
• Treat the appraisal as a two-way process.  Remember it’s equally important to your colleague as it is to you

How can you improve each of these areas within your own business?  If you want to sustain and grow your business, it’s imperative to address these issues before they limit your chances of long term success.

Hold regular team meetings

Effective team meetings will improve your team performance.  A number of things need to happen in order to hold good meetings:

• Hold meetings at times when your people are alert and most productive.  Early in the morning is usually better than late in the afternoon when participants may be tired and distracted
• Circulate an agenda to all participants in advance of the meeting
• Specify the objectives of the meeting right at the start
• Record action points specifically detailing who is responsible for each action and by what deadline
• Issue a summary of the action points, ideally at the end of the meeting
• Keep meetings short.  Meetings which drag on too long are unproductive and drain enthusiasm.

Set Targets

A good target-setting process is critical to the success of any business.  Targets demand focus from your team members whether they are in Sales or Service and they can be applied to almost any aspect of your business.  The Sales target is typically the most important target for any organisation.  Do you have a Sales Targeting process for your team-members who sell your products or services?   Have you weekly or monthly sales targets in place?  A sound accounting system should facilitate sales data transparency for all team members.  Ideally your sales people should know how their actual performance compares versus their target at any point within the sales period.

Successful Sales targeting systems will have a number of elements:

• Sales members should have a significant input into the target being set.  There is nothing more de-motivating than a salesperson feeling that he or she has no chance of meeting a target because it is unattainable
• Targets should be stretching so that the members of your sales team have to work hard to meet their target right up to the end of the sales period.  A good indicator of a system working well is when 75% of all targets are being attained.
• A reward or incentive will enhance your targeting process.  It might be extra sales commission, a bonus or perhaps just extra time off.  Regular praise and acknowledgment do wonders for the morale of sales people.

What gets Measured gets Done

It’s imperative that you track the key variables that are most important to your business.  These are known as your Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).  Typically KPI’s include Sales Revenue, Profit Margins, Purchase Input Costs, the number of Debtor Days, your Employee Head Count, the number of days taken to deliver a customer order etc.  KPI’s can vary between businesses and industries.   For instance the speed of customer service is very important to McDonalds as their customers demand fast service.   For other restaurants, the number of covers done every day will be an important KPI.  Every business has a number of KPI’s.

You need to identify your KPI’s and they must be measured and recorded whether daily, weekly or monthly.  It’s also useful to have comparisons such as the data for the same week or month last year.  Month-to-date and year-to-date information can also be very useful as it can assist you to identify important business trends.

Improving Team Performance

Improving Team Performance is a theme that keeps recurring when I speak with the owners of small and medium businesses.  This is of paramount importance in the current economic climate when gloom and doom pervades us.  It’s too easy to accept the status quo which can contribute to low morale.  Our job as leaders is to stay positive, to keep our team focussed and to generate energy throughout our organisation...

Set clear Goals

Set clear goals for your team so that everyone is clear on what it is we want to achieve and how we intend to do it.  Involve key team members in your goal-setting process - it’s important that they buy into the process.   Everyone should have a clear understanding of their role.  The goals you set for your organisation must be realistic but stretching.  Set clear goals on a monthly basis, reviewing progress at regular intervals throughout the month.