Train and Incent to Ensure Maximum Performance
People are the primary asset of your business. If they were machines, you would regularly maintain and from time to time upgrade them. You need to approach your people with that philosophy in mind. They need attention, maintenance, and upgrading from time to time.
Provide training. This must be an essential part of your overall plan. Ill trained employees cost you far more than the investment in training. Improving value in your organization will often depend on how well your employees work your system. Properly trained employees can be your best contribution to profitability.
In order to provide training, make sure you have clearly identified the objectives for that training. Start simple and grow from there. Identify metrics that will allow you to know if you are succeeding with your training program.
Have a clearly defined and obtainable incentive program. Pay for growth if you want growth. Establish a compensation plan that rewards all for growth in your business. I have seen companies transformed just by changing the compensation structure of the employees.
Don’t be afraid of star performers who could ultimately make more money than you. Reward star performers and recognize success behaviors on a regular and frequent basis. This can change the morale and the performance of your company overnight, if done right. Incentives can be used not only for sales improvement and revenue growth, but also for productivity improvement and profitability growth. Don’t be shy about incenting your employees, as long as it is measurable and real.
Deal with employees performance problems head on. Do not wait, do it now. The biggest problems in business generally result from poor employee performance. Do not be afraid to get rid of poor performers, it is best for you and best for the employee. Most managers would say that they have almost never had a situation when they fired an employee that the employee did not end up in a better situation for themselves.
Performance issues usually come down to three areas
- Lack of training
- Lack of clear expectations
- Lack of capability
You, as the manager, can effect training and expectations. But capability has to be brought by the employee. If the employee is not capable for the job there is no amount of training and expectations that will change that. They will either need to be put into a position more suited to their capability or they will need to leave the company.
Where managers need to focus is in providing the right amount of training and giving employees clearly defined expectations for their job. Ninety percent of employee performance problems can be solved with the right training and expectations.
If you believe that individual employee’s performance can be improved, then deal with that immediately. Many poor performing employees are untrained good performers and just need some coaching and attention in order to transform their performance. Deal with these right now and place them on a performance improvement plan.
