Tim Hebert
Management Services Committee Member
A&W Electric, Inc.
Over the past few years, the idea of employee engagement has gotten a lot of attention. How can we as employers get the maximum that each team member has to offer? How do we make sure they are all working toward the same goal? I have found that most people want to contribute to a winning team. Our challenge is to direct that team. We have found two things very helpful in that process.
- Clear expectations – It’s difficult for an employee to help if he/she doesn’t know what they should be doing. A “Same Page” meeting that is 5–7 minutes daily or 30 minutes weekly helps us identify the main objectives for each group every week. What are the “gotta haves,” and how can my actions help toward that end? That may be with respect to completing certain jobs, ordering certain parts or maintaining certain machinery. Once all people know what the group must accomplish, it helps direct their efforts toward that goal.
- Keep Score – A portion of our “Same Page” meeting focuses on our results. How did our numbers look? What were the wins? The losses? As soon as we started sharing the numbers both good and bad, people began to take ownership of those numbers! Did we complete enough jobs? Did we invoice enough?
We found implementing those two steps helped direct individual efforts toward group goals and spread out the responsibility to hit the key results we were looking to achieve. Share the information with your team; they want to help!