A common desire among company owners is to “hold their employees accountable.” Typically this means making sure that each person is doing their job well and taking responsibility when the results are not met.
Tim Schaffer, president of Human Resources Inc., Bowie, Md., and a human resource consultant, says that therein lies the rub: The employee can't take responsibility, because he or she doesn't understand the results that are expected, and that's because the owner didn't adequately communicate those results.
“One mistake that many business owners make is that they don't step back far enough when looking at a position within their company before they hire,” he says. Owners should also question why the job exists, why they are willing to invest in this position, and what results they need, says Schaffer.
Schaffer says that too few owners really focus on what they want from the position. Instead, they simply create a job description that lists tasks and duties but doesn't detail the required results. “If the owner can't articulate the outcome they want, how can an employee know what's expected of them?” he asks.
He suggests that a first step in holding any employee accountable for results is to create a written document that spells expectations out in fairly concrete terms, focusing on the results you want from anyone in the position and not on a particular individual on your team. Think about the critical factors that must be in place in order to make your investment in this position worthwhile.
When thinking about concrete results, be specific about what you want. Following are some examples:
Productivity (How much we do)
10 calls answered each day
$X gross profit dollars produced each day
X number of windows installed per week
Quality (How well we do things)
Customer evaluations of at least 8 out of 10
100% accurate reports
Warranty work decreased by 20%
Timeliness (When we do things)
Budgets submitted by the due date
Time cards turned in daily
Be on the jobsite by 7:00 each morning
Cycle Time (How fast we do things)
Calls answered within the hour
Job packets reviewed and accepted within three days of being received
Costs
Job budget numbers are met
Marketing costs do not exceed 3% of revenue
Your goal is to take subjectivity out and create objective, measurable guidelines. Once you've developed the concrete results that you expect from the position, it's time to discuss them with your employee in depth. Then, monitor the performance of the individual as measured against these results.
With top, proven employees, the monitoring can be as simple as casual conversations, offering help when needed. But most employees need a more formal approach, typically weekly meetings with either the individual or a team.
By creating written expectations, discussing these expectations with the employee in detail, and monitoring regularly, you'll soon see employees who are living up to your expectations, adding to the company, and making your investment in them very worthwhile. —Victoria Downing is president of Remodelers Advantage, Fulton, Md. 301.490.5620.