Have you got the right people on the bus?

Business owners are starting to think about bringing people back to the workplace – whether it be virtually or physically. So how does your business look post-Covid 19? And have you got the right resources in place to drive you forward?

It’s great to see the economic climate starting to wake up but as the dust settles after lockdown, you might be facing some tough decisions especially when it comes to your staff. The pandemic has shone a light on team strengths and weaknesses, so where do you go from here?

With this opportunity to reflect and review, I’m suggesting that you go back to basics and ask yourself two questions:

If you were to parachute your perfect team in, what locked positions would you have?
Out of the people in your team, would you re-employ them in those positions?

Think about an ideal world, forget about how things are now or have been in the past.

Have you come to the conclusion that someone who does an admin role would actually be brilliant in a customer service role because that’s what they’re good at? Or, realised that a sales director is a ‘must-have’ and not a ‘nice-to-have’?

It’s about taking that step back, taking the time while you’ve got the time, to properly look at your team and make sure that for your organisation you’ve A) got the right people on the bus, and B) the people on the bus are sitting in the right seats.

It’s not as simple as sorting the wheat from the chaff

Given all the complexities of lockdown and the challenges of remote working, make sure that you’re judging staff performance from a level playing field.

People’s home set-ups are different. Some employees are lucky to have a brilliant home office with the same tools and resources they’d find at work. A lot of these people are fine and equally happy working at home or in the office. If this suits your business and you’re getting the right results – this could be a win-win strategy for the long-term.

But then you’ve got some staff – especially younger members of the team – who might be at home with Mum and Dad setting up at the kitchen table, working round Mum making a brew or asking them to clear the table for lunch. These employees might be struggling. If their working environment hasn’t been right it’s unfair to say they’ve not been performing, and they might thrive when they’re back in the office environment.

Set a level playing field to review staff performance

Getting a handle on staff performance isn’t just good for you and your employees – it’s good for business. Putting some simple metrics in place will help you to measure team results and keep your progress on track; a monthly review works well and I’d suggest your metrics cover:

Quantity – tracking the volume of work or results that each employee has achieved
Quality – an agreed system of review points for key tasks
Development – how many development activities have been done to help them do the job better

I’d also suggest using:

BOPPs

A Business One-page Plan (BOPP) to drill down your targets. When you’re clear about your short to long-term goals and the KPIs to help you reach them, it’s easier for you to set measurable targets for your staff. Hitting targets helps you improve your business performance, which shows up as increased profits, greater cash reserves and increased capital value.

POPs

A Personal One-page Plan (POP) for each employee. This is a great tool to set out key drivers and underlying success factors and help you to measure progress. You can record all your POPs on a single spreadsheet and share with the team to give everyone a clear picture of how they’re doing. Sharing in this way and giving regular opportunities for peer-to-peer review will keep everyone motivated and focused on results.