Today’s blog post takes us to Strategy #14 in my ongoing series of video tips outlining specific ideas to develop and grow your employees. Employee growth is a natural outcome of employee engagement, and a sure-fire way to create employee engagement is to establish and monitor performance metrics.
Establish and monitor performance targets
We’ve all heard the saying, “What gets measured gets done.” It simply means that regular measurement and reporting keeps people attentive and focused. And when people know how they’re doing, they are deliberate and thoughtful about making decisions to improve their results.
So establish metrics. What are those vital few indicators that tell you things in your department are working as intended? Make sure that this is information that can be collected easily. Because if it’s too difficult, it won’t happen.
Don’t just measure, publicize!
But it isn’t good enough to just measure. I’ve always advocated an extended version of the adage. My version is “what gets measured and publicized gets acted on”. So establish metrics – whether it is total sales, percentage of returns, invoice accuracy, customer survey scores, or safety statistics – and then make your results public, loudly and frequently. It is critical that you routinely broadcast your ongoing results and make them visible by posting them on a bulletin board or circulating them via email? If you want employee engagement, then remember that what gets measured and advertised also gets acted on!
So have you established performance metrics in your department and/or organization? Are you monitoring and reporting on them regularly? Please share your experiences by commenting below.
Previous video blogs in this series on developing and growing your employees were:
- Jointly create a tailored plan for professional development
- Establish a formal mentoring program
- Or just access the whole series in our Video Archives