Every year, when January 1st approaches, there’s a rush of excitement in the air. People the world over assess the twelve months behind them and then develop resolutions to guide them for the year ahead.
But did you know that only 8% of people actually end up accomplishing their New Year goals? In fact, less than 25% of people are still committed to their resolutions just 30 days after making them.
If you plan on using the start of a new year to rekindle your team members’ engagement and enthusiasm in the workplace, you’ll want to make sure you have appropriate measures in place to keep your team on track with their goals for the long-haul.
Today, we’re reviewing 3 ways to help your team stay focused on and engaged with their workplace goals so that your department grows and thrives in the year ahead.
Get Organised
Organisation is essential when it comes to ensuring your team is on track to achieve its goals.
A universal spreadsheet, for instance, is an excellent workplace tool that can be utilised to keep everyone on the same page. In need of a helpful template? Buffer.com offers a free library of ready-made tracking spreadsheets to help keep your team organised in addition to boosting your team’s workplace productivity.
These spreadsheets can be used for everything from tracking your company’s overall OKR’s (objectives and key results) to creating robust waterfall charts to monitor your progress on specific goals.
Alternatively, you might consider a comprehensive work management platform like Asana, which can help you keep track of which team members are handling which jobs, projects, or tasks at any given time.
Remember: you can’t measure what you don’t track. If you’re not regularly analyzing metrics and keeping track of your team’s progress (or lack thereof) on certain goals, you won’t be able to course-correct as needed. If you want to set your team up for success when it comes to accomplishing goals, getting organised from the start is a non-negotiable.
Check In Regularly on Goals
You shouldn’t rely on technology alone when it comes to keeping your team on track with workplace goals. Regular, face-to-face check-in’s are also essential in ensuring your employees are engaged with their projects.
Not only do in-person meetings give you an additional opportunity to check in on a specific team member’s progress, but it also provides that employee with the chance to request assistance or additional resources if they have questions or are experiencing challenges with their given project.
Group reviews should be held periodically as well. Throughout the year, especially in the first 90 days, regularly review your department/company goals together with your team. Are you on track to meet your goals? If not, how can you remedy that? Have any goals changed? If so, what adjustments need to be made to keep the company on track?
From time to time, you might even bring in experts to review your goals with your team and provide helpful strategies that can equip them with new skills, boost morale, heighten their productivity, and/or assist them with project management.
Upgrade Systems
What processes and systems need to be updated and/or improved for the team to better excel?
It’s surprising how many offices around the world still use outdated systems that are only slowing down their team members. In fact, according to a recent survey, over 50% of workers claimed that outdated technology in the workplace (slow computers, slow printers, out-of-date operating systems, inadequate security, and slow internet) had an effect on their overall productivity.
If your employees don’t have the tools they need to not only work but do their best work, you’ll find that your company goals suffer for it. Is the technology in your office in dire need of an upgrade? What you might be saving in terms of money could be costing you in employee retention and in work output.
Just as well, are there systems currently in place in the office that prevent your employees from achieving optimal performance? For instance, how much red tape does an employee need to get past in order to get a project approved? Often, when there’s too much bureaucracy in the office, it can have a damaging effect on employee morale, leaving team members to not even want to attempt going above and beyond if it means having to jump through too many hoops. In what ways can you cut back on that red tape in order to encourage your employees to take ownership of their work and rise above the mediocre?
Goal-setting is one of the most important aspects of leadership and team management. But effective goal-setting also entails keeping your team members on track so that goals can be accomplished.
By getting organised, holding regular reviews with your team, and upgrading the systems in place to help your employees perform at their best, you’ll set your team members up for success and allow them to regularly succeed at accomplishing their goals.