One of the key drivers of employee engagement is developing your employees so they achieve their potential. Employee development is one of the top five drivers of engagement, and creating achievable challenges is one of the most crucial elements of this important component to creating a highly engaged workforce.
Creating achievable challenges for your employees is a difficult task for any leader. Set the bar too low and your employees never really stretch to test the limits of their performance. Set the bar too high and your incentive plan actually dis-incentivizes. How do you find the sweet spot that improves outcomes while motivating your team?
By now I am sure you’ve read about SMART goals. Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time oriented. Today’s post is about the achievable part, setting attainable goals which move the organization forward. Here’s what I suggest you consider as a leader to create achievable challenges for your team.
Create the “bigger picture” vision…by allowing your team to visualize the desired outcome and why it is important for them and the company. Too often goal setting is top down and driven by earnings requirements or market share growth. Employees feel like they have no skin in the game. Make the vision clear, positive, and personal (for more details on this, click here). Be sure your folks walk away with a clear understanding of why it is important for them and not just the company.
Have a discussion of how you can all work together to accomplish the vision…and what are some meaningful “things” i.e. tactics your employees can do to move everyone closer to the vision. Break down the vision and make it meaningful to their daily lives at work. Be it collecting the receivables, creating the financial statements on time, or answering the phone with a smile…everyone needs to understand their part in the process.
Ask your employees to set the goal…and make sure they understand the parameters. If it is a “year over year goal,” then be sure everyone knows the past performance of the team. If it is a new goal, then collect the data in advance so you can be prepared to discuss it thoroughly. My experience has been when you ask your employees to set the goal, they frequently push harder than you would have pushed. What if they don’t push hard enough? I’d thank them for their input and get back to them with your decision and WHY you chose a more challenging goal. Explain it to them, don’t just hand it down. At a minimum, you will have involved them in the process and you showed them respect.
Caution is warranted: goals have to be attainable to be motivating. I once worked with a guy who set the budget so high every year it created a “dis-incentive”plan. Sure, people worked hard and tried to achieve the budget, but towards the end of the year, the team had a “why bother” attitude. The gap between budget and actual was so large, only divine intervention could provide the solution. Leadership meetings became a meaningless chore to come up with even more meaningless action plans to close the gap.
Creating a highly engaged workforce takes time and consistency; creating achievable challenges can push your team to new heights of performance and move you one step closer to becoming the employer of choice.