Recruitment
www.wsba.com.au
Being accountable is key to success GREG MITCHELL SUCCESS THROUGH PEOPLE SERIES In this series of articles, Greg Mitchell (Principal of HR Success) highlights their exclusive 8 Elements to Success through People© Model, designed to create and sustain engaging, productive workplaces that drive business success.
“
Accountability breeds response-ability” – Stephen Covey
n last month’s article, we covered the importance of setting clear expectations as a means to improving the performance of your team and, ultimately, your business. It’s a critical step in achieving success through your people, and one that in our experience is often not done sufficiently well in small businesses. Of course, Setting Expectations is only part of the story. The harsh reality is that there’s no point setting clear expectations if as a business owner or manager you don’t follow through and ensure that there are strategies in place to facilitate individual and collective accountability. I remember some years ago chatting with a couple who were working hard to build a successful plumbing business. At
I
the time they had a small team of 5 or so, and we were working through the Success through People© Model to identify areas of strength and potential areas for improvement. We got to Setting Expectations and they nodded to each other, saying “Yeah, I think we do that pretty well. The guys certainly know what’s expected of them.” I then asked them “So what happens when someone doesn’t quite meet those expectations?”. One of the partners let out a bit of a snigger then turned to her husband and said “He does nothing, he just let’s them get away with it.”. And that’s the challenge of this stuff, and why we consider Setting Expectations and Being Accountable to be two sides of the same coin. You just can’t have one without the other. You need both things happening in order to build a successful team/business. And it’s not just individual employees that need to be accountable. As a business, and as an owner/manager, you need to be accountable to your customers, your team, and others with an interest in the business. To get some idea as to how your business is presently positioned in relation to Being Accountable, rate each of the follow-
• Are shortfalls in expectations/performance promptly and effectively addressed?. Total your responses to calculate your score out of a potential maximum of 25. The lower your score the more opportunities there are to improve your business!
Consider these Tips:
ing items on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “not at all”, and 5 being “to a great extent”. To what extent.... • Are there established key performance indicators (KPIs) at individual, team and business levels? • Are all staff within the business subject to regular performance reviews or similar? • Are there mechanisms in place to clearly monitor and communicate overall business performance? • Are there clear processes in place to regularly monitor staff and customer satisfaction and identify opportunities for improvement?, and
• Review your business strategies and goals to ensure they are S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Timebound). You and your team need to know precisely what you are aiming for and how performance will be measured. • Regularly measure progress towards your business goals and, as appropriate, communicate results to your team. • Ensure that each business goal translates into plans and KPIs for each area of the business and, wherever possible, everyone within the business. • Develop, review and implement a performance management or coaching process as the primary means by which individual goals are established and reinforced, progress is reviewed and any development needs are identified and addressed. • Be prompt, consistent and effective in addressing performance that does not meet expectations. Curious as to how your business or team is performing in terms of the other 7 elements of the model? Check out our free, confidential diagnostic today – www.hrsuccess.com.au/diagnostic. Greg Mitchell is lead consultant at HR Success.
LOOKING FOR GREAT STAFF? PROFESSIONAL, COST-EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT SUPPORT If you haven’t the time or expertise to recruit the right people for your business, you may be looking for an external partner to support your efforts. HR Success offers a complete recruitment solution to help you attract and select the best person for your business – someone with the skills, knowledge, experience and attitude to help your business succeed. We’ll work on your behalf to: • Develop a professional position description • Draft and selectively place an appealing advertisement that attracts great candidates • Handle enquiries, screen and shortlist candidates for interview • Organise and directly support interviews (yes, we’ll be there alongside you, if that’s what you need!) • Ensure that your preferred candidate “checks out” – reference checks, profiling, licenses, skills assessments etc • Advise candidates of the result of their application. Our service is a fraction of the cost of most recruitment agencies (priced from $2,900+GST), and we’ll be with you every step of the way. All packages until end November 2020 come with complimentary advertising on Jobs Western Sydney. Mention WSBA to claim. 46
Contact us today to discuss your needs. www.hrsuccess.com.au ph. 1300 783 211 support@hrsuccess.com.au WESTERN SYDNEY BUSINESS ACCESS DECEMBER 2020
