Many of you know
the motto of the Olympics Citius,
Altius, Fortius which is Latin for faster, higher, stronger. There were 25 world records broken in the
London 2012 Olympics. I find it amazing
that at every Olympics, athletics are able to achieve improved results. 962 medals were awarded at the 2012 Summer
Olympics. 85 out of 204 nations won at
least one medal. Some medals were for
individual performance and some for team performance. Even if a World or
Olympic record was not broken, each athlete had the opportunity to beat their
“personal best”. Who was not moved
watching the emotional looks on the athlete’s faces when they heard their
country’s national anthem and the pride when they walked in the parade of
nations.
How do we
translate the Olympic spirit to work in our companies? How do we create pride in our company and in
achieving personal accomplishments? How do we inspire our employees to strive
to beat their personal best?
Continuous
improvement is how this is translated in the business world. Continuous improvement
is an ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes. Continuous improvement can be an individual
process for employees to push themselves to better their previous performance
by continuously “setting their bar higher.”
Instead of dictating goals to your employees it is much more motivating
to have your employees set their own goals based on their skills and
abilities. Here are a few tips:
- Translate Company
Goals –
Effective managers are able to take the overall goals of the company and
translate them into a “line of sight” for employees. Employees have to understand how they
can personally contribute to improving the results for their company.
- Track Performance – Teach employees to set metrics
to measure what success looks like in their job. Compare performance based on goals set as
well as the prior year, quarter, month, etc.
- Participative Goal
Setting –
Encourage employees to set realistic, challenging but achievable goals. If the bar is set too high it will cause
frustration and low motivation.
Improvements are easier to achieve when they are attempted in small
increments.
- Plus/Delta
Conversations –
After every project conduct a “plus/delta” conversation. Ask: What did we do on this project that
was effective and that we want to duplicate in future projects and what do
we want to change for the next time?
- Celebrate Successes – It is not likely that gold, silver and bronze medals can be given at your organization like the Olympics but recognition can still be given through your regular rewards, recognition, and compensation programs.
This work is licensed under a
No comments:
Post a Comment