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Four Tips to Create Peak Performance in the Workplace

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In today’s highly competitive employment environment, with jobs moving overseas and technology that seems to be evolving every day, one thing that is often overlooked in the workplace is not only how you can hire the best possible employees, but also keep them.

Looking at the work environment from the employer’s point of view, it is important to keep your focus on developing your business culture in a way that supports long-term growth, advancement, performance and employee motivation so you can produce the best possible results for your business in the long run.

Now that we have discussed avoiding the “bad” hire and your employee development programs, let’s talk about goal-setting, retention and motivation for those great employees that you have hired.

 

Here are four ways to raise the bar in your workplace and create more engaged and productive employees:

  • Start With the End in Mind – Without a clear picture of where you’re going, it’s awfully hard to create the map to get there.  Make sure your new employees (and your current employees) know what is expected of them and how they fit into your workplace culture.  Establishing a clear goal and direction, with accountability steps along the way will help your employees to stay on track, stay motivated and know when they have hit the expected milestones. Once the goals are set…believe in your employees and their ability to achieve the goal.
  • Don’t Just “Train” Your Employees, Be a Coach – There’s a huge difference between training your employees and coaching them.  Clearly, training is a requirement in the workplace, but coaching can make all the difference.  Coaching your employees is the art of helping them to set and achieve their goals and then setting standards for accountability in your business culture.  A coach is part cheerleader and part “tough love” when it’s required.  When your employees reach their goals and perform well inside your accountability and tracking systems, don’t keep it a secret! Publicly praising a high-performing employee can go a long way to increased performance and higher retention rates.  (It’s also contagious in the workplace!)
  • Create Goal-Oriented Performance and Employee Development Systems – We discussed this in some detail in our previous article but it definitely bears repeating.  It’s easy for us as business owners or key players in our business to assume that our employees know “what’s next” for them and nothing could be further from the truth.  Knowing every detail of your business operations is second nature to you, but not to your new hires and probably not even to your seasoned employees.  Developing career maps, advancement plans and the action plans toward that end gets your employees more engaged in their own processes and provides a clear roadmap that helps them reach their career goals while it helps you reach your company’s goals.
  • Focus on Interpersonal Communications in the Workplace – “Interpersonal Communications” is just a fancy of saying that we need to develop and cultivate effective communication and social skills in the workplace.  This works both ways –between employers and employees.  Smart and savvy business owners these days are welcoming, and even encouraging, their employees to have clear, open and honest communications with management and business owners.  Clear and effective communication in both directions is a key to peak performance in the workplace.

Understanding what motivates employees and creates peak performance in the workplace is a fundamental element to creating success in your business.  Investment of time and resources in this area will pay handsome dividends in both the short- and long-term growth of your business.