Annual performance goals that feel purposeful and attainable to employees can be a great motivator. But too often, goals set at the start of the year become obsolete by midyear. "No one wants to work on a goal that is no longer relevant," said Lisa Chui, vice president of people at San Francisco life sciences company Dascena.
Here are six ways managers can help employees set meaningful goals for 2022.
Show employees how they can have an impact.
Present the company's key objectives for the next six months and ask your team members how their expertise and interests can help the company reach these goals, Chui said. "Without tying goals to the company's overall strategy, it can feel like employees are just doing something for the sake of doing something," she said.
Managers should refrain from creating goals for employees, Chui added. "You can dictate the objective but not the goal," she said. "It's best if the employees come up with the goals themselves."
Find common ground between employee and company goals.
Encourage employees to talk about their personal goals, and help them see how working toward these goals can also support the company in achieving its objectives, said Jennifer Tardy, CEO of Jennifer Tardy Consulting LLC, in Bowie, Md. During an end-of-year, one-on-one conversation, ask employees to consider how they can use an interest or a skill they're trying to develop to fill a gap on the team. "Give them the freedom to brainstorm where their interests might fit in at work," Tardy advised.
Managers can help by finding where the employee's personal goals intersect with the company's goals, said Anne Shoemaker, a women's executive coach in Greensboro, N.C. Invite employees to talk about their unique skills, what they are good at and what is challenging to them, and then set goals that allow them to optimize the skills they have and develop new talents, Shoemaker said.
Consider new possibilities.
Use experiences from 2021 to help employees consider what they could have done differently at work, and then develop goals to address those issues, said Kym Harris-Lee, an executive coach in Atlanta. Ask each employee, "If you were able to make changes, what would you have done differently?
Harris-Lee also suggests helping employees set goals that will get them to collaborate with colleagues in other departments. "This will give them the opportunity to learn something new, increase their visibility and help them form new relationships that have the potential to advance their careers," she said.
Give goal setting a new name.
Two years ago, leaders at Grant Thornton began calling goal setting "expectation setting" to put more emphasis on the conversation and less focus on the process, said Wendy Wright, senior director of learning and organizational effectiveness at the accounting firm. "The process of goal setting had gotten a negative slant because of the focus on documenting goals," she said.
Under this new concept, managers talk to employees about what is expected from them based on their role, job level and projects from three angles—what the firm expects, what the team expects and, finally, how the employee hopes to grow in the coming year, Wright said. The employee's personal expectations become the goal, she said. It might be a promotion or a lateral move, or it could be becoming an industry expert or mastering a new technology.
Help employees achieve their goals.
Give employees time to reach their goals. Perhaps employees take a half-day every Thursday to work on their goals, whether that means taking online training, meeting with a mentor or thinking through a stretch project, Harris said.
Work with employees to break their goals into bite-sized achievements that can be celebrated, she added. "Building in milestones is a win-win. If you don't achieve the entire goal, at least you hit a milestone and we're still more ahead than we were before."
If a goal isn't achieved, don't just add it to next year's to-do list. It's important to understand why a goal wasn't met and talk about how to adapt the goal so it becomes realistic, Chui noted.
Show employees the benefit of reaching a goal.
Ask employees to think about how attaining that goal would improve their lives, Shoemaker said. For instance, perhaps they would become more confident, learn a new skill or earn a bonus. "Help your employees to see the goal as not just an end, but as the beginning of something else that could be new and improved in their lives," she said.
Lisa Rabasca Roepe is a freelance writer based in Arlington, Va.
This article was originally published on the SHRM website
The level of employee engagement could determine your organization’s success this year.
Whether employees are together all the time, some of the time or none of the time, HR needs to keep them engaged. That’s because engaged employees do more than like their work and workplace. They care about both things, plus their co-workers and team performance.
That spells success for any organization.
But only about 35% of employees say they’re engaged, according to research from Gallup.
Naturally, HR leaders and front-line managers want to increase that number. When employees care, they’re more productive, create higher quality work and are loyal to their employer, Gallup researchers also found.
So here are five ways to increase employee engagement in 2022.
Set better goals
When employees don’t understand goals and priorities, they can’t be engaged.
But employees who are fully aware of clear goals and expectations are almost three times more likely to be engaged than those who aren’t, according to research from Quantum
Everyone from the company executives to front-line managers needs to keep goals in sight and top of mind. Then employees can prioritize their work and stay engaged.
A few keys to better goal setting:
Companies and leadership will want to show a new level of care to keep employees engaged this year.
“What we’re seeing is that care is rising to the forefront and becoming the center of decision-making, reducing burnout and boosting happiness at work,” said Mark Lobosco, VP of Talent Solutions at LinkedIn.
In fact, employees who feel they’re cared about at work are three times more likely to be happy working for their company, LinkedIn research found.
“This means that managers will need to continue to adapt their styles and build soft skills to attract and retain talent in the future of work,” said Lobosco.
And many managers may need some refresher training on soft skills after not working side-by-side with employees for nearly two years. A few tips:
Show some vulnerability. Leaders who share struggles give employees a comfortable space to open up and feel like their emotions matter, too. But beware: There’s a line between showing vulnerability and complaining or condescending. You don’t want to make your struggle bigger than employees’ struggles. And you don’t want to take a “you have to toughen up” approach. Say what’s wrong and why. For instance, “I’m stuck on a problem, and I feel frustrated and stressed.”
Talk, connect intentionally. When you talk informally with employees, be fully present: Put aside screens, ignore alerts and listen closely. For formal one-on-ones, note priorities and key questions you want to ask before you meet.
Re-think well-being
HR pros and company leaders have discussed, and we’ve covered, mental well-being more than ever since the pandemic started.
Now that it’s an important topic – if not “the” topic – HR will want to be far more proactive about overall well-being to improve employee engagement.
“As many seek to grow and evolve with the new perspective that the pandemic has brought, they will look with renewed vigor to enhance their physical, mental and spiritual health,” said Adam Perlman, MD, Chief Medical Officer and co-founder at meQuilibrium.
One key, Perlman said: “Work-life integration,” which used to be called work-life balance. Now we need to re-imagine what it can be, he said.
How can HR do that? First, recognize the scale tips toward life one day and work the next day. That’s why it’s about integration – bringing them closer together rather than drawing a line between work and life. Very seldom is there an even balance nowadays.
That’s why flexibility is a critical element to employee engagement. Even if hybrid or remote work – which offer the most flexibility – don’t work for your culture, you can weave more flexibility into employees’ experiences. Give front-line managers tools and authority to bend schedules when employees must tend to other demands.
Train managers to intervene
Beyond giving front-line managers tools and power to build engagement, train them to step in with tact and grace.
Employees are busier than ever and overwhelmed. Fewer people were tasked with more work when colleagues quit, were laid off or chose not to come back to on-site work.
A yoga class or meditation session can’t fix that kind of pressure. But managers who know when to talk to employees about important subjects can.
Team interventions help, according to Erin Kelly, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, whose research appears in the book Overload: How Good Jobs Went Bad and What We Can Do About It.
Kelly found employees whose managers were trained to check in on personal and professional well-being were significantly less burned out and stressed. The training also helped those managers understand how to be more flexible. So the employees were also 40% less likely to quit than their colleagues whose managers didn’t know how to help.
Another elixir: well-being workshops. Employees could talk about what stressed them, discover common stressors in the workplace and then work together to find superfluous practices and policies to let go.
The key is to train hands-on managers to recognize early signs of burnout and how to intervene.
Double down on culture initiatives
In a remote or hybrid work environment, many company cultures have become diluted. That’s especially true (and complicated) for new employees hired during or right before the pandemic.
“In a remote-first working environment, employees may begin to feel dissociated from their organization’s mission and values,” said Ken Schnee, General Manager of Sterling’s Technology, Media, Entertainment, and Hospitality Group.
You’ll want to continue – or ramp up – culture initiatives. Send a regular cadence of messages, including reminders of your values, where they came from and why they’re important.
In addition, work to build or improve a culture of collaboration. Create opportunities for employees to work across job functions and with different groups.
“In this day and age, we are lucky enough to have technological advancements that can enable us to communicate and connect in unique ways,” said Schnee. “Using these tools to interact with different people across your organization can create a sense of togetherness and help people feel more connected to your mission and values.”
This article was originally published in HR Morning.
These start-ups have not only accelerated the pace of innovation in providing solutions but have also offered alternative career-growth paths to a lot of people. The efficiency in the functioning of organisations, however, depends on a workforce that’s driven and engaged.
Once considered the turf of experienced and seasoned professionals, the corporate world is now metamorphosing. Entrepreneurs with their diverse out-of-the-box business ideas are driving this change and the explosion in the start-up ecosystem has been great to see. These start-ups have not only accelerated the pace of innovation in providing solutions but have also offered alternative career-growth paths to a lot of people. The efficiency in the functioning of organisations, however, depends on a workforce that’s driven and engaged.
Sometimes, workforce engagement gets neglected due to factors such as limited cash flow, crazy work hours, investor pressure and high stress.. A large part of the resources is deployed into research and development, besides marketing, for the start-up to maintain a competitive edge. This race often leads to employee wellbeing initiatives getting short shrift, in turn causing disengagement, burnout and high attrition.
Employee retention is not only contingent upon, but also closely knit with, employee engagement. Start-ups, understandably, have a lot on their plate right from the start, but actively engaging the workforce should also be a big part of it. Employees are the main resources of any organisation. The success of any organisation depends upon the mindset of its employees.
A well-engaged workforce boosts operational efficiency, which drives results. The responsibility of nurturing a motivated and meaningfully-engaged workforce lies with the leadership. Employee engagement does not end with offering monetary benefits or perks to the employees, but involves the deployment of various methods through which employees remain satisfied and happy.
Here’s where the challenges arise. As mentioned earlier, a lot of the funds are diverted towards product development and marketing, after which resources for employee engagement activities become scarce. However, neglect of the same isn’t a smart move either. The larger picture becomes pleasing only if investments are made towards ensuring employee welfare and job satisfaction.
Engagement programs are of paramount importance to the sustainability of businesses in the long run. They save employees from the toxic feelings of dissatisfaction, demotivation and burnout.
Original Article: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employee-engagement/why-employee-engagement-and-employee-retention-are-crucial-in-a-start-up-31353
All those days watching sports and playing video or computer games are finally about to pay off because some of the elements you learned there, is what you’ll find in the concept of ‘gamification’.
Gamification: a definition:
Gamification can be described as the application of typical elements of game playing such as point scoring, competition with others and rules of play to other areas of activity.
For Olympia Engage, gamification covers 4 core elements that you’ll find in sport and gaming and they include leaderboards, points, rewards and teams.
So why would you want to bring gamification into your work environment? Well gamification has been proven to help employees feel more engaged, motivated and more driven to succeed, while staying as productive as possible.
Here are just 10 of the benefits of gamification in the work environment:
1. Improves productivity
2. Enhances employee engagement
3. Boosts motivation
4. Encourages creativity
5. Strengthens communication
6. Enables innovation
7. Improves team dynamics
8. Entrenches corporate identity
9. Increases efficiency
10. Raises morale
Let’s take a look at those 4 core elements of gamification according to Olympia Engage…
Firstly, why are these core elements so important? Simply put, they form the foundation of a successful employee engagement and productivity approach in your company.
You need to be able to feature either employees or teams on a terminal or TV that is visible to everyone in the company. However, unlike in the sport or gaming world, you will require multiple leaderboards to manage your teams efficiently. It is not possible to compare the delivery team with the sales team. Within a team, a leaderboard reveals who is flying ahead in achieving their tasks and goals and this creates healthy competition among team members.
Employees and in turn the teams that they belong to, earn points by achieving a goal that is specific to their department or the company as a whole. For example: show up on time and you earn 5 points, show up on time the whole week and you earn an extra 10 points.
At the end of the day, month or year, you may want to hand out an award at the general meeting. This could be a medal, a name on the honours list, a trophy… and sometimes just being recognised on a daily basis is a great way to spur teams into action. Understanding the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards is vital for management as this helps drive how they plan meaningful goals and objectives for both teams and individuals.
When you divide your organisation into clear-cut teams and reward them when they achieve their team goals and objectives, you entrench all the benefits of a fully engaged and productive workforce.
A platform like Olympia Engage is essential for any company wanting to benefit from the rewards that a concept like gamification offers. If done incorrectly, gamifying your workplace can have a negative impact on teams and individuals. When planned well and done right in a structured, measured way, gamification can have an exceptionally positive impact on your ongoing success.
We offer a 14-day trial of Olympia Engage for companies or departments that want to take gamification for a test-drive. Sign up and see how Olympia Engage can help you.
