Measuring Success in a People-First Organization

An Article by Brandyn Jacob, People First Leadership Strategist

Which ever way the wind blows, today's hair on fire moment, the walls are caving in! Unfortunetly how success is measured is all too often the flavor of the week and whatever leaders choose to hang their hat on for the day. Maybe that isn't true organizationally for you, but it is happening in the departments in which your managers and leaders are working.

Supporting todays workforce requires leaders to take a consistent approach, clear communication around expectations, then they must turn their focus to being the leaders that remove barriers, support the team, and solve problems so that the team can reach their highest potential.

We can measure the success of our leaders, hold them accountable to a set of clear expectations as well.

Employee Engagement: Engaged employees are move empowered, productive, creative, and carry a willingness to invest in the organization even when its hard. Large organizations should take advantage of tools such as a Net Promoter Program or Score and surveys to support data driven approach. However, I will caution any organization with the true validity of the data, are you getting the real unbiased truth. Your leaders should have a pulse on their individual teams, and contributors and be able to add context and clarity.

I worked with an organization that invited us, an outside independent organization to host stay interviews with members of their team. Everyone remained anonymous in the process, and so was the feedback. While reluctant at first, many of the talent opened up, sharing their personal challenges and triumphs, while also helping us to illuminate a path forward for the organization. The results were mostly favorable, giving us some great data and talking points for the organization to celebrate. We were also able to help the client develop an actionable plan to enhance the employee experience through better communication, coaching opportunities, and a reinforcement of expectations and the culture at every level. Enhancements to their onboarding programs that create a clearer path forward for their new and emerging talent to reach their stride faster.

Workplace Well Being: This can mean something very different to each individual. A balanced but flexible offering can create a space for a positive culture, a productive but relaxed environment, work-life balance. The ultimate goal here is to create a benefit offering that is a talent attractor, as well as one that meets the ever changing needs of their team to support their lifestyle, their family and support them through life's challenges.

It is imperative that leaders are empowered and implored to evaluate and bubble up any concerns to senior leaders if members of their team are struggling in any way. While some leaders will do their best to bare the burden and support their team alone, workplace well being needs to fall on the collective, and the leadership team needs to prioritize these matters.

How organizations respond in the time of crisis, no matter how minor, creates a new level of appreciation and engagement for your talent.

Customer Satisfaction: I am sure most of us can point to an organization that gets customer service right. Measuring customer satisfaction is key to evaluating the health of the organization and your team.

I have watched failures in service happen repeatedly in one area or sector of a business, and leaders ignore the problem, in most cases providing a list of excuses. When in reality the team was broken, as was the leadership. Senior leaders need to carve out time for customers, after all without your customer you don't need employees.

Here is the challenge I have for leaders, you travel to a market to meet with a customer, most likely the team is going to set a meeting with their favorite customer, or a high growth opportunity, something they're excited about. Take a look at the TTM (trailing twelve months) report and pick out a handful of customers that are spending less, or with lagging performance. Go see them... That will give you a better sense of how the business is performing.

If we keep measuring the same things and expect the better results were misguided to think that is a successful path forward. If we take a broader stroke with our brush to truly evaluate our teams engagement and well being, and compare and contract that with the feedback from our customers we will have a greater ability to solution for the organizations challenges, and drive talent retention.