After investing time and effort in recruiting, you've selected the best person for the job. All finished, right? Actually, you're just getting started… the real work begins right after you've made the hire and transitioned them into their new role.
Why is that?
Because it remains to be seen whether you've indeed chosen the right person!
But that doesn't matter anymore. The more important question is: How well is that person performing? Or perhaps: How do you motivate your employees to perform better?
As a business owner, you must be aggressive to make the most of your investment. You have to set your staff on fire. And by that I mean lighting a fire within your employees – a sense of passion, dedication, and enthusiasm for their work!
It's a simple concept: when your employees perform halfheartedly on the job, it's usually because they're not incentivized to do quality work.
So, how do you improve productivity? Tie their earnings to their performance! When employees know that they will earn more by performing better, they'll stay more engaged in their work. And even when they're not feeling particularly motivated, the risk of loss keeps them going when they might otherwise slack off.
This is a win-win solution for you and your employees…your fixed costs fall as your profits rise, because now you're paying for RESULTS — not just for someone to show up and fill space!
This exemplifies why salespeople work by commission. There's a false belief that only sales people can have their compensation dependent on their performance, but everyone can be incentivized in this way.
But how will you do it? Use KPIs and implement an incentive system that will motivate employees to perform better every time. Here's how:
1. Determine the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each job. It is critical that you identify your key activities and metrics. Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, are commonly used to measure and evaluate performance. They can be applied to your business as a whole, or to a specific area, task, or activity. You must first determine specific operational or strategic goals as a basis for evaluating performance. To identify your KPIs, define a set of values to measure against, such as the amount of output per unit of time. Choose three to five KPIs that are most important for each position.
2. Base your incentives on actual past experience. It's critical that you set goals that are challenging but achievable—erring on one side or the other can have disastrous results. I once worked with a business owner who arbitrarily assigned sales goals that were all but statistically impossible for his staff to achieve. When the new incentive system was implemented, not even his star performers could keep up. Discouraged by their dwindling paychecks, they quit en masse. He lost some great employees because he set the bar too high.
On the other hand, I know plenty of business owners who have the opposite problem: they set the bar too low, so employees don't have to work very hard at all to reach their targets and collect their bonuses. These businesses expend very high labor costs and don't motivate their employees. Finding a happy medium can be a challenge, but it could be the single most important factor in staff performance.
3. Work with employees to improve their numbers. Now that your employees are motivated by clearly defined, realistic objectives, work with them to achieve their goals. Review their efforts regularly and focus on improving their KPIs. Make sure they have the resources they need to perform at their best. Provide ongoing training to hone and sharpen their skills. The more invested you are in your employees' success, the more motivated they'll be to achieve.
What are you doing to ensure team and individual performance? Our business coaches here at The Goldhill Group are experts in all areas of your business, including team building and management. Request your FREE Profit Strategy Session, and find out how we can help you build your dream team and maximize team functioning. Click HERE to schedule your appointment.