Raising your employees’ performance is an important change strategy to achieve
your business goals. Training isn’t always the best or only solution. Here are a few
items to help you choose the best solution. We recommend that you do this with
a team.
- Look at your business strategy and list the skills you need or will need
- Observe and/or interview your top performers and see what they are doing
and replicate it
- Collect data on desired job outcomes from employees and other important
stakeholders
- Look at how the work environment influences performance: ergonomics, sound,
lighting, disruptions, technology frustrations, etc.
A few tips to consider:
Resist the temptation to use gut-level conclusions to identify solutions to
improve performance. At minimum, know the answer to these questions:
- Does your attraction and selection practices hire the “right” people?
- Do employees have the right skills and knowledge to produce the outcomes
you want? (Warning: This is where bias easily misguides managers.)
- Does the environment help employees do their job?
- Do motivators and incentives align with desired performance levels?
(Warning: Investigate the answers to this last. Motivation is complex.
The previous three questions will give you insights into motivation without
investigating it directly.) |
