Improving organisational performance is top of mind for just about every HR manager, director, and COO worth their salt. Or at least, it should be, especially at a time when the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown measures imposed a severe negative shock on the economy and cost at least 3 000 000 South Africans their jobs.
Things are pretty dire out there.
However, if there is one thing we do well as a nation…
It’s rebuild!
As such, it’s time to pull up our collective socks, don our big-boy and big-girl undies and head out into the fray once more. This all starts with improving organisational performance.
Here are three steps to improving organisational performance to engage employees and lay the groundwork for operational success:
Purpose
The first step to take when addressing organisational productivity is purpose.
You need to get to the why of what you’re doing before you make your way to the how. When there is a disconnect between what people need to do and how it stands to benefit the organisation, things tend to go awry.
As such, it helps to take a step back and address the purpose of your performance management plan by asking a few vital questions. These include:
- The issues. What hurdles are you looking to overcome? Be specific. ‘We need to be more productive’ won’t do it. You need to boil it down to actionable insights, e.g. ‘every team member needs to take accountability for deliverables that are tied to dependencies’.
- WIIFM. People dislike change. Your employees and managers will want to know ‘what’s in it for me’. By showing them the value of improving processes and changing the way work is done, it becomes easier to get buy-in from all the important stakeholders.
- KPIs. What metrics will you be using to measure improvement; how will the data be collected and who will analyse it?
- Content. What type of content will you need to create to get your plan off the ground and what language will you use to communicate to your team?
- Cultural values. Which cultural values and drivers lie at the heart of your improvement campaign? How can you leverage these values to make it more effective?
Read more: Your company’s purpose can impact your bottom line. Here’s how
People
When you get right down to the core of productivity, it all comes down to people – who does what, how well they do it and whether they have the tools to do it to the best of their ability. As such, it stands to reason that for a performance management strategy to make it off the page, the people around whom it is designed should be considered. Start by:
- Selling management on the plan
You need your company leaders to be champions of the cause straight off the bat, and not just in theory. If employees don’t see leadership walking the walk and talking the talk, they are very unlikely to do so themselves. As such, change needs to come from the top down, which means managers and team leaders need to be on board with suggested operational changes and implement it themselves.
- Getting input from employees
Employees should have a voice in the process. The view from the trenches is normally a lot different than the one from the top, which is why it’s helpful to ask employees to assess themselves and provide feedback on their productivity. This will also provide valuable insight into any hurdles they encounter, development that is needed, tools that are missing, etc.
- Relooking the notion of feedback
Providing employees with proper feedback is essential if productivity is to improve. However, performance reviews should ideally be more comprehensive than just feedback from a person’s direct manager. By involving peers and other supervisors in the process, a much better understanding can be formed of employee-specific competencies and goals.
Read more: 360 Performance review template and how to use it
Process
Finally, the third P is ‘process’, i.e. the way that things are done. When assessing processes at your place of business, and how it could be improved, consider the following:
- Efficiency. Could staff members’ days be structured better to help them achieve their goals? Are they overloaded? What could help them to operate more efficiently?
- Teamwork and delegation. Would certain processes run more smoothly if there was teamwork involved or aspects of given tasks were delegated to support staff?
- Distractions. Are there any distractions in the workspace (both digital and actual) that can be reduced in order to boost productivity?
- Tools and equipment. Your team needs access to the right tools to do their work well. Take some time to see where the equipment gaps are and invest in tools that will allow your employees to get more done with less effort.
- Positive reinforcement. Recognise and reward the type of behaviour you want to promote among your team. By highlighting the things that are being done right, you will encourage more of the same.
Following these steps will go a long way to improving organisational performance.
bountiXP can help to drive your company values and culture for increased staff performance and productivity. Simply click the button below to start a 14-day FREE trial today.