Performance objectives start with the Why
Miguel Bernadez
Working with brands, distributors, resellers, and marketing agencies I've consistently driven revenue growth, increased profitability, and improved customer service metrics.
678 words, 3 minutes read
In our hyper-competitive and fast paced world it’s easy to keep moving at warp speed from text to text and email to email without pausing to think.
Why you do what you do? Why do you get frustrated or annoyed? Why are you feeling that? Why do you want to start a project or a task?
When we redact performance objectives, we are documenting why something is relevant and crucial to our constituents, systems, methodologies and processes.
We have the opportunity to invest time in making sure that we capture not only what we are going to achieve, but why we are pursuing it in the first place.
Whenever I start consulting or coaching, I invest a considerable amount of time in listening and asking open ended questions that help all the teams to clarify our WHY.
It’s painful to see how leaders tend to skip the why, the essence of why we need to do something and jump into tasks, processes, deadlines, etc. It is understandable, we live in a society that craves results and quick fixes. As a leader -in the most profound meaning, regardless of your position within the company or team, make sure to generate pauses that help you and others to think and document what is expected and WHY this is expected.
As HR professionals, managers or team leaders, we have the duty to help our people to clearly understand why, when, how, with whom and what is needed from them. It’s painfully common to encounter jobs without descriptions and performance objectives documented and updated. I’m not referring to the least effort put to just cover legal liability, having a paper signed in a folder. No, I’m talking about inspiring and ensuring that our people, our teams have a clear path on how to excel in their efforts, in working on a daily basis on mastering their crafts, learning and applying new concepts , methods, processes and systems while enriching their relationship and communication with others.
Going to the “praxis"…
1. Practice asking open ended questions that help you to capture why the project, process or enhancement is important to your customer.
2. Performance objectives have both quantitative and qualitative metrics. Include both in the conversation.
3. In software development we have something called “acceptance criteria ", or the minimum results delivered in order to consider that the solution is working. Make sure that you document acceptance criteria for your deliverable or project.
4. Use the value of performance objectives to communicate a growth potential, for example, a junior account executive will conduct weekly meetings to ensure that customer reports are on time, while an expert will detect new needs and enhancements that will accelerate progress.
5. Avoid the “silo mentality", document why this objective contributes to the success of other areas and departments.
Example of a poorly written performance objective:
>If an agent is unable to solve customer issues, she needs to escalate to the second level.
Comments: Impersonal, low engagement, no path to grow.
Look how we can enhanced it with Why:
>Our customer’s satisfaction ensures that 95% renew their subscription. Invest up to 10 minutes in documenting issues, symptoms and key parameters. If after that time the issue has not been solved, review with your customer all your notes and findings using a tone and manner that conveys interest and commitment. This will help our second level team to understand what the issue is or is not, without needing to ask again.
Comments: It’s personal, show why satisfaction is relevant and how the job helps others. Engage by offering growth opportunities: identify issues, symptoms and parameters to validate and document according to the specific problem. Master its documentation in the most concise yet clear way. Apply a tone and manner that conveys how interested and committed we are to be solving this issue.
On a final note, I invite you to enrich a current performance objective or write a new one and set a time aside with your manager, tutor or coach to review it. Your personal and professional growth is your opportunity, be positive that your work is aligned and produces valuable results to all constituencies.
Broker Owner - Loan Officer
5 年I really like the article and I agree with you, but sometimes I think sales people are trained to ask open ended questions (which is what they should be doing to uncover the clients needs) but they get so caught up in the script that they are not even listening to the answers they are getting. I love how you expand on this topic. Thank you for sharing.