Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing — Vince Lombardi
Ensure your organization is built on these 5 principles and reap the rewards of a high-performance workforce.
1. The goal
What’s the quarterly goal? What’s the team goal? What’s my goal?
Transform a lethargic workforce by simply communicating what the goal is.
At Quartermaster, we have a high-level goal to achieve $xx revenue by the end of the quarter. This goal is broken down by department. Sales now has a goal to grow sign-ups by x%. This gets broken down to a personal goal to grow website traffic by y%.
The transparent breakdown of goals allows team members to rally around their personal mission, while understanding how it aligns with their teammates’ and ultimately ladders up to the BIG company objective.
Resources:
Seeking Wisdom Ep13: How to set goals for your startup and the power of focus [podcast]
The Alliance by Reid Hoffman [win this book below]
What Motivates Employees To ‘Go The Extra Mile? [article]
2. Game stats
How did we do? Are we working as a team? Are we getting better?
Weekly check-ins and real-time stats keep everyone accountable and aligned.
One-on-ones are becoming the gold standard for employee engagement; however, these check-ins often lack structure and tangible action items.
Supercharge your meetings with a survey sent to participants the day before their one-on-one. Survey questions should encourage reflection and accountability. Examples: ‘What did you learn last week?’ ‘Did you get closer to accomplishing your personal goal?’ ‘What do you hope to learn next week?’
The survey brings a structured scorecard to the one-on-one meetings. Now discussions revolve around growth, and next week’s objectives, driving weekly improvements and results.
Resources:
Tracking and evaluating OKRs [article]
Startup Lab workshop: How Google sets goals: OKRs [youtube]
3. Support team
Who’s got your back?
Turn your managers into coaches and encourage team members to become team mentors.
Make it clear who your team can reach out to for specific support.
Remember that goals are not tasks. It is not a manager’s responsibility to assign tasks. Instead, a manager needs to ensure their team understands where or what the goal is and how each team member plays a crucial role in getting closer to the end zone.
Because managers are not in the thick of granular tasks, they can have a higher level view on what’s working and what isn’t. Instead of handing down proposed solutions, use these insights to encourage collaborative problem solving; allowing teams to own the proposed way forward.
To increase the chance of accomplishing personal goals, make it clear what resources are available to each individual.
Resources can be learning credits and internal or external mentors.
Resources:
You Can’t Be a Great Manager If You’re Not a Good Coach [article]
The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever [win this book below]
6 Management Styles and When to Use Them [article]
4. Growth opportunities
Allow your players to run for the ball and make that highlight catch.
Understand employee ambitions and assign them challenging work that helps to accomplish both company and personal goals.
The best quarterbacks pass the ball to where their receivers are going to be. Top performing companies operate in the same way.
When breaking down a team goal into personal goals, ask team members to document what they hope to achieve. Employee ambitions can range from management opportunities, salary bonuses, speaking opportunities, or even a few extra days off to spend with the family.
Once employee ambitions are uncovered, you’re able to build an incentive structure that aligns with both company and employee objectives; driving results from highly energized and focused team members.
1-on-1s at Quartermaster always touch on company and employee objectives; ensuring both are met in unison.
Resources:
How Company Culture Shapes Employee Motivation [article]
Modernizing Employee Development for Today’s Workforce [article]
Top 11 Throws (Week 6) | 2016 NFL Highlights [youtube]
5. Celebrate
Show the team, and the world, what it feels like to be on the winning team.
Bonus resource:
Kool & The Gang — Celebration [youtube]
Now what?
We’re building a platform that makes it easy to incorporate these 5 principles into any organization. Learn more about the operating system for high-performance teams.
