Are you a small business owner? Are you frustrated when your employees and leadership aren’t working towards what you think are the company’s priorities? If you answered ‘yes’ to both of those questions, then reflect on your interactions, or maybe lack of cooperation, with your key people. After employees remain in their current positions for an extended time, communication within organizations often deteriorates. The thought process becomes: “they have been in their position long enough to know what needs to be done.” This way of thinking may seem right under normal operating conditions, but irregular operations and exceptional circumstances tend to creep into daily activities when frustrations mount, and misalignment creeps in.
A simple solution for small businesses and large organizations alike is a short ten to fifteen-minute meeting each day. Typical agenda items to discuss in these daily meetings include the current day’s performance or the upcoming day’s plan for a meeting held near the end of a shift or for a meeting held before, or at the beginning of, a change in the prior day’s performance and the current day’s plan. The specifics for discussion will vary by industry, but elements typically included, regardless of industry, are a comparison of the finished work versus incomplete work along with an explanation of why the company’s accomplishments either fulfilled or did not fulfill the original plan. These organizational meetings’ references are also known for discussing the plan, the actual, and the variance. The second item(s) is a discussion of two to three key performance indicators specific for each department, discipline, or person. Quick examples of key performance indicators for a sales representative include Purchase Orders received, or the Accounts Receivables collected for an Accounting Clerk.
When discussing variance to the schedule and Key Performance Indicators, the Small Business Owner provides valuable mentoring and offers clear instructions and expectations for future work. This process aides in ensuring alignment between Ownership, Management, and Key Personnel and alleviates the frustration when employees aren’t working on correct assignments.
At Cogent Analytics, we never stop looking for ways to improve your business and neither should you. So, check out some of our other posts for helpful business information:
