Talbit Best Practices

“The introduction and implementation of Talbit is a strong message from our management to us employees,” one talbitter told us after Talbit was implemented into their organization.

“Our management and the company clearly want to invest in us, employees, enable development of individual skills and participate in taking the business forward,” she continued.

This is the core of Talbit. Allowing each employee to develop personal skills while participating in business development and creating a stronger competitive edge. This is how purpose and meaning are created in the workforce, which result in better employee experience and customer experience. And better customer experience usually means better revenue.

So, how should Talbit be used? What are the best practices? Below I have listed some Best Practices, which are a mix of own, our customers’ and users’ experiences and findings.

Create a shared vision by creating company-level goals for Talbit.

Create 1–3 company-level goals from your company’s strategy or vision, from the grand plan. Of course, you can have more but for a successful implementation, we recommend starting with less. Make sure the goals are clear and easy to understand. If you are unsure, test them with your employees. Introduce the goal and ask what role the employee would have in taking it forward. The employee’s response tells you whether the message still needs to be sharpened, dialogue with employees continued, or if it works as is.

An example of a company level goal

OBJECTIVE: We help our customers build a better competitive advantage.
DESCRIPTION: We identify our customers’ challenges, their customers and offer them the best technological solutions

Create a common goal for your team.

The next step is to break the company-level goal into team-level goals. In other words, how will each team contribute to the bigger picture. We recommend dialogue in teams; discuss the company-level goals, the plan and strategy and how the team can ensure achievement. Together, create 1–3 team-level goals. Less is more is recommended here also.

An example of the goals of a software development team

OBJECTIVE: We ensure the best technological solutions for our customers’ needs
DESCRIPTION: We understand the needs of our customers and ensure that the solutions we offer meet those needs.

Personal development path

The most important phase starts now; creating the plan how each employee will contribute to the team and company success through their personal work. The individual development plan is created from 1–3 personal goals (because we still believe in less is more), answering the question WHAT and linked to team- and company-level goals. Each goal is broken into concrete and measurable actions creating the steps to reach the goal. The recommendation is again 1–3 goals, broken down into 3–5 tasks but if you feel that your way is something else, do it. We know that testing and learning is a great way to find your personal rhythm.

Those goals that are directly linked to your work, developing in that position or growing career wise should be created into the business stream. Those topics supporting you, the work you do, ensuring wellbeing etc, should be created into the personal stream.

An example of a software developer’s development path

• GOAL: I build high-quality and functional functionalities for our customers
• TASK: Collect 20 software errors by dd.mm.yyyy
• TASK: I will create a better testing and quality process
• TASK: I will introduce and implement the testing and quality process to the team
• TASK: I will make sure that the next new functionality has max 2 errors

Feedback

You can collect on-time and valid feedback after each completed task, from both internal and external customers. Feedback is a great way to learn where you have succeeded and where there’s still room for improvement.

If your feedback culture is still young, practice with a trusted partner. Ask each other for feedback and answer as honestly as possible. When this starts to work, extend it to teammates, your supervisor, your teammates, colleagues, etc. Practice makes perfect!

1-on-1

The meeting between the supervisor and employee is the most important encounter at work. In these personal development discussions, 1-on-1s, Talbit is a great support tool. Each can open Talbit but with a different view; the employee opens the development path view, the supervisor/coach the employee’s 1-on-1 memo -view. Focus on the future in your conversations and ensure that the employee has means and tools for developing personal skills, the business and by doing so ensuring strategy success.

As a supervisor or coach, you should also converse in do’s and don’ts that may stand in the way of the employee’s successful development.

Make sure you create an understanding on the rhythm of meeting each other; is it weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly. Reserve the next time from each other’s calendars after each meeting.

Weekly and monthly meetings

Keep the focus on ongoing development by including status conversations on the team and company level goals in your weekly and monthly meetings. The data in Talbit’s Dashboard will support you in these discussions and in creating understanding of any potential barriers blocking each individual’s progress.

Townhall meetings

As Talbit is a transparent and companywide tool, the data in the Dashboard allows a good snapshot to be shared and conversed in townhall meetings. When the company and team level goals, progress and any potential barriers for progress are shared with everyone, the strategy and direction become more and more clear, common, and shared throughout the organization.

Handling Changes

When Talbit and the process described above becomes the new normal, implementing any changes becomes much more accessible. If there are adjustments needed to be done to the strategy or vision, the transparency supports the communication and changes can be implemented more rapidly.

No tool is a substitute for communication, dialogue, and interaction between employees, top down and down up. They are essential elements to success, so keep them up!

With any questions or comments, I would be happy to talk! Let’s reserve a meeting and go through it together. Please check and choose the best time suitable for you from my calendar and let’s continue the discussion there:

https://meetings.hubspot.com/kaisa-savola

Best regards,

Kaisa & Talbit’s team

Help your people excel and grow.

Talbit is a visual goal setting and progress planning tool for companies seeking growth through the development of employees.

Use it to help your employees develop their skills and perform better autonomously, aligned with company strategy and objectives.

Boost your team’s motivation by making teamwork transparent and with ongoing feedback. Follow the progress from Talbit dashboard.

Read more about Talbit at: www.talbit.fi