It’s that time of year when giving to others is encouraged and supported. What better gift can we give than expressing gratitude and appreciation for those who contribute their knowledge, skills and talents everyday to get things done?
When we give recognition and express appreciation for the contribution people make, we light up something inside of them. And the best thing is that we also light something within ourselves.
Giving back is highly promoted at this time of year but it does not have to end at New Years. It can go on everyday throughout the year. All that is needed is to make it top of mind and put it into practice.
If we all did this, we would completely change the world we live in for the better. It’s not that difficult. One candle can light millions and completely dispel the darkness from this planet.
As we near the end of another year many companies are having their managers conduct annual employee performance reviews.
There is usually a discussion of what has been performed well and what needs improvement. This is great and by adding my improvement tip you can really see tangible improvements in employee performance.
Set One Improvement Goal
Rather than set many goals focus on one at a time. Discuss the improvements you want to see with the employee and choose one that will bring the most gain. Explain why this is so important and how it will benefit you the manager, the department and of course the employee.
Write it Down
Take note of the improvement but better still turn it into a goal using my goal planning worksheet. Even better have the employee fill out the goal planning form and walk through it together. This way you can discuss any obstacles and the coinciding solutions and actions that are needed.
Provide Support
Once you have specified the goal and put it into writing ask what support they need if any to achieve their goal. Usually this support is what you need to provide as the manager. Write it down on the goal planning worksheet and make sure to discuss at the follow-up session.
Schedule Follow-up
Often managers get through the performance review session and do not meet the employee for another year so there is no measurement and feedback on the desired improvement. Rather, schedule a meeting in your calendars for within 90 days.
Keep Performance Records
Log performance that is positive and negative using my performance record form. This way when you meet the employee you have precise notes on situations that require praise and coaching.
Reinforcement
No need to wait until the follow-up session to give feedback. When you see the employee making improvements let them know right away. This will reinforce what the effort they are making and show you are noticing it.
Follow these simple steps and you are sure to see great improvement in the performance of each employee that reports to you.
For a successful training session, no matter what the subject, it’s important to plan the training activity well. In a recent article and video, I covered how to create a cross-training plan to ensure that productivity does not suffer when employees are absent or leave suddenly.
In this video I explain how to create a training plan using my training session planning worksheet that you can download here.
Combine this worksheet with my 7 Steps to Effective Employee Training article and worksheet and you are sure to greatly improve employee training. These tools are free to download so read those articles, watch the video and start training more effectively.
The job market is highly competitive these
days and candidates have in many cases lots of choices for work. So, its often
about attracting someone to your company as they may be presently employed but
looking for something better.
People are highly influenced by online
reviews of businesses, especially restaurants and service type businesses. I
usually do not consider a restaurant that has a rating under 4. When choosing a
groomer for my dog I am even more picky. Even doctors are dentists are getting
rated and it can impact their reputation and practice.
The same applies to potential employees
looking at your company as a possible employer. Most businesses have a listing
on Google My
Business which incorporates Google Maps and is usually one of the top
search results for your type of business or business name.
Just like a restaurant, employees can leave
a review of your business and this includes past and present staff. You can
increase your companies rating by having present employees write a review about
your company as a great place to work. If enough employees leave a five star
review you can increase your overall rating and standout as an employer of
choice.
My brother-in-law owns a restaurant and he
asked me to help him with his marketing. I suggested he engage the services of
a search optimization company and he did. Together we held meetings with the
service staff and got them to start asking satisfied customers to leave
five-star ratings on Google. Those that did so on the spot received a free
dessert as a thank you. This initiative paid off as the restaurant’s rating
went from 3.8 at the time to 4.4 today. His business has increased as a result.
Meet Employees
Meet with your employees by department or
teams and let them know you want to improve your online rating as an employer
of choice. Ask them to go onto Google and job sites like Indeed and leave a five-star review of
your company.
If they are hesitant find out why. Ask them
what you need to do to make your company worthy of a five-star review. This
could be a good exercise to find ways to work on some improvements for not only
attracting employees but keeping them as well.
If there is a lot of resistance you may
find you have a problem that needs to be fixed right away.
Take action to improve how people perceive your
company online and you will be in a better position to attract top employees.
