Getting productivity out of your team is not as challenging as you are thinking. Often times I tell my team leaders that it is first their job to fill in the gaps from poor parenting. While I say this tongue and cheek, I know that most of the staff probably had good parents, the truth is that caring about your staff like you are a parent works well to engage them.
Getting your team to be productive requires some planning on your part. You first have to make decisions about what actually moves the needle in production. You must determine what productive looks like.
There was a property management company in St. Louis that was having difficulty getting all the staff on the same page. They were experiencing lots of back biting, they were also experiencing poor results, a low number of leases monthly, poor customer service, and poor collections results.
According to Forbes, “ True enthusiasm for a business, its products, and its mission cannot be faked. Employees can recognize insincere cheerleading from a mile away (Fries, 2018)” The first thing we did as a team was to define the mission for each position. We determined the reasons each position was in existence and the reason why we had to keep each position.
According to Forbes, “ True enthusiasm for a business, its products, and its mission cannot be faked. Employees can recognize insincere cheerleading from a mile away (Fries, 2018)” The first thing we did as a team was to define the mission for each position. We determined the reasons each position was in existence and the reason why we had to keep each position.
Next, we defined the KPI'(s) for each role. Each team member was responsible for hitting specific measurable numbers. We also defined the audience for the role, "Who did they serve."
After we defined the KPI’s for each position, and the audience, a bonus was put in place for reaching realistic goals. Next, a team wide scoreboard was created. This board helped hold every team member accountable. It helped to publicically call out low performers and reward high preformers.
After the scoreboard was created the leadership team clearly defined the top ten habits, or behaviors that drove their KPI’s and put that on a poster in the office of each team member.
After the scoreboard was created the leadership team clearly defined the top ten habits, or behaviors that drove their KPI’s and put that on a poster in the office of each team member.
We then tied each of the KPI’s to the company values in Value-Goal statements. Lastly, each team member sat with their manager and was coached one-on-one each week and the results were an explosion in productivity.
Fries, Kimberly (2018). 8 Essential Qualities That Define Great Leadership. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com
Fries, Kimberly (2018). 8 Essential Qualities That Define Great Leadership. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com