Employee effectiveness does not simply happen by magic. It must be managed and measured to ensure that not only are employees effective in their roles and in meeting the objectives of the organization, but also so that they are engaged and challenged.
Use a variety of tools to measure and manage employee effectiveness
Simply having goals for individual and team performance is not sufficient. Those goals must be measurable and tracked to ensure that they are being achieved. The effectiveness of achieving goals can only be determined, and improvements made, when there is an understanding of what’s working and what is not. There are a number of tools that can be used to measure and manage employees’ progress toward meeting individual and team goals.
Key Performance Indicators: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) enable for measuring progress against goals. Each KPI should be able to be tied back to an individual or a team and should be measured on a regular basis. KPIs are actionable, measurable goals that are industry specific. If we think about marketing, KPIs might include, for examples, “leads generated,” “leads converted,” ROI for marketing campaigns.”
Individual Scorecards: Individual scorecards enable for employees to stay focused on achieving the most important goals. Scorecards show progress, over time, toward reaching individual performance goals. Scorecards would be used to measure the progress of KPIs.
Team Scorecards: Similar to individual scorecards, but team scorecards are used to evaluate the progress of achieving team goals as opposed to individual goals.
Executive Dashboards: An executive dashboard provides aggregates data from all divisions and departments around employee performance so that senior leadership has a high level overview of performance across the organization. With a dashboard, senior leadership can dig deep into a particular division or department to understand specifics around performance.
360° Feedback: 360 degree feedback tools enable for evaluating how effectively employees are working up, down and across the organization. Beyond KPIs, which are measured by scorecards and dashboards, 360 degree feedback tools provide information on how effectively employees are engaged with other employees, collaborating across the organization and working to achieve team or organizational goals.
Employee Resource Database: An employee resource database enables for a directory of employees’ skills, expertise, experiences and education. Such a resource enables for more effective workforce planning, utilizing the strengths of employees as well as understanding where gaps exist that may be filled with training or new hires into the organization.
Every leader in the organization – not solely Human Resources – must be responsible and accountable for measuring and managing the effectiveness of employees. Employees who are engaged, whose performance is managed and measured, are more productive, collaborative more effectively and are more creative in their roles.
How effective is your organization in measuring and managing employee performance? Need help? Contact Abudi Consulting Group to learn how we have worked with organizations to help them better manage and engage their staff to achieve long-term organizational goals as well as retain top talent.
