5 Keys to a Performance Turnaround
We have a lot of good days at work — a lot of trying days, too — but yesterday was one of those extraordinary days where the team I work with overcame an obstacle and shared some special success.
What happened affected me so much I couldn’t stop thinking about it, even hours after getting home last night. It’s still on my mind, obviously. Not just for the sake of enjoying the afterglow; I’ve been analyzing what happened so we can apply the same approach going forward in hopes of repeating the performance. What was different about our execution yesterday that we can carry into other days, with other coworkers, to continue the great feeling of accomplishment we shared?
Here’s the story: a few months ago we were given a new priority, an item we are expected to sell (we are in retail). As a team, we have not been doing well meeting our goals for the new item. In fact, among our peers, we are the worst. During this week, for instance, most of our peers are exceeding their goals. Our group is one of only two that are not, and we are at the bottom.
Our daily goals are not high. Most days, we only have to get 2 or 3 to make it. Our record to date consists of several days with none sold at all, though, and this week we had only succeeded in selling 1 a day for each day.
Yesterday, we sold 3 before 1:30 in the afternoon.
This might not sound like a big deal to some; it’s not executive-level stuff, exactly. For myself and my team, it was profound. And I know there are millions of managers out there like me to whom these kinds of achievements do mean a lot. That’s why I’m sharing.
Not only did we start to know what it felt like to meet our goals, there was an obvious sense of joy among the staff as we did it. Two different coworkers made a point to tell me, separately and with no direct encouragement, that it had been a really good day. They — WE — felt successful, proud, and that what we’d done together had mad a difference for our whole group.
Considering what we did, there are five things I’ve determined contributed to the difference made yesterday.
- Focus
It was the one thing we talked about at our morning huddle. It was the one thing we mentioned to each other, encouragingly, throughout the day. As new employees clocked in throughout the day, it was the one thing we discussed. Sometimes we drown our staff with all sorts of things to be aware of and try to accomplish. Yesterday, there was certainly no doubt to anyone what was the most important priority.
Yes, we had other things to address throughout the day. Yes, running the business required handling unrelated tasks and unexpected challenges as they arose. As a team, though, everyone had a clear understanding of the one thing that mattered most.
2. Information
We started our discussions about our one thing with a wake up call: a company report which showed, graphically, our standing as the lowest achieving team — and, by contrast, all the other teams who were achieving and exceeding their goals. The picture seemed to make an impact of everyone.We were all aware we weren’t getting a lot of sales, but until seeing that graph and our standing, some of our folks didn’t realize just how poorly we were doing.
No one wants to be the worst. We certainly don’t want to be known for being last. As I shared the graph with team members, each and every one of them reacted with surprise bordering on shock. Most verbalized some variation of “we’re better than that.”
Some employees asked what the teams who were exceeding goals were doing differently. What a great question for a manager to hear! We’re already seeking ways to learn and improve!
Best practices from the top teams were shared. Specific successful approaches from people we knew were discussed.
As we talked, it became evident some of our employees weren’t even clear on details about the priority item and it’s benefits to customers. I was disappointed to learn our management team hadn’t done a great job communicating these things, but encouraged as coworkers followed “I didn’t know that” with enthusiastic “that’s a great selling point!”
3. Support
Our priority was made obvious to everyone, but it was not done with a heavy hand, with menace, or threats. As team members saw the graph, they each realized on their own the necessity of doing better. The approach, as the topic was discussed with everyone, was, “here’s where we are; now how can we do better?”
I totally loved how one of our group’s leaders addressed the information. Humbled, she pepped herself and the rest of us up by saying, with sincere conviction, “you know, there’s no way these other teams love their stores or their customers any more than we do. We have about the best group of people working anywhere right here.” If they can do it, we surely can too, she said.
Starting then, before we even opened for business, and continuing throughout the day, we encouraged each other with good humor, congratulations on achieving not only the end results but also the small steps we expected would lead to results eventually, and tips we continued to think of.
We paid attention and jumped in to take work off each other when it looked like opportunities were coming up to get our target. We assisted other customers so coworkers could have quality engagement with their own. We checked in on each other during the shift to share success stories.
We also received support from those who’d worked the previous day. Because they had completed tasks that might have otherwise occupied us, we were able to concentrate more easily on the one thing that we were all driving.
4. Honesty
Possibly the most difficult obstacle to overcome was a lack of honesty about our level of commitment and what we’d actually been doing so far. As a group, we were fooling ourselves believing we were doing everything we could, when in fact we weren’t even attempting some of the basic expectations that could lead to the results we wanted.
Objectivity and self-awareness can be challenging to manage. They also make the greatest difference in achieving goals.
As we looked at the information and our results to date, many employees initially responded with things like “well, our market is different.” Seriously, I heard one person say the reason we weren’t meeting our goal was because our customer base was too young while another person said it was because our general customers were too old.
“Customers just don’t want it.”
“They’re in too much of a hurry to hear about it.”
I didn’t challenge or address any of these statements directly. Whether they’re true or excuses doesn’t matter. What I did address with our team was that regardless of what was outside our control, if we were honest with ourselves we could all admit we were not doing everything that we could to try to sell our priority item.
Maybe it was just luck, but yesterday, the team working with me accepted the truth of that, and decided to step up and be accountable.
5. Action
The acceptance of our previous lack of commitment and poor follow through, along with our obvious support for each other and our team as a whole, plus everyone’s unquestioning focus on our one important thing inspired accountability and, most importantly, action.
We had good information — proven, specific methods to get where we wanted to be — and a determination to use it.
All the talk, all the emotions, all the knowledge we had, it might not have made any real difference if we didn’t each decide to change our behavior and use what we’d learned and felt.
I believe it’s important to note that all our actions and interactions were cheerful. Smiling and engaging happily with customers was part of what we were doing. It wasn’t any kind of an act, as far as I could tell. There was a genuine feeling of positivity in the air, which only increased with each sale we made.
Like I said, it was a special day.
