8 Strategies to Support Achieving Targets (Public shaming not included)

“Sales execs who missed targets forced to kneel on public bridge and chant 'We are sorry' ” is the title of a news article from last year. These Japanese sales execs were punished with public shaming for failing to reach sales goals.

While I don’t advocate public shaming, what are you doing to help employees reach their goals?

Great leaders use all 8 of these strategies to ensure employees reach their goals:

1. Clear expectations – You cannot expect your staff to reach something they do not understand. It is your job to spend time educating, coaching, motivating and driving accountability towards the goals.

2. Specific targets – Employees can’t hit a target that doesn’t really exist. Are the targets quantifiable? Are there dates tied to each target?

3. Understood actions – Employees sometimes don’t know the steps to take towards the targets. As a leader, ensure they know the actions they should take to move forward - especially the first few steps.

4. Motivation – Sometimes your team knows the targets but don’t care about reaching them. Are they motivated to reach the targets? Do they want to achieve the goals? Do they know the rewards & are the rewards worth the effort? Do they understand the “downside” of not reach targets? Is the pain enough to make them motivate themselves? Your job as a leader is to ensure they have all this information so that they can motivate themselves.

5. Ability – I have known people who “pretend” they can do all the behaviors required to reach the targets, when they actually do not have all the skills and knowledge necessary to reach the goals. Your job is to ensure they have the training and coaching to develop the skills they need.

6. Environment – The environment should support the achievement of goals. Do your staff have the tools, information, processes, policies, space, reminders and time to complete the goals?

7. Consistent communications – Are all your messages to your employees in alignment? Do you tell them to complete their assigned projects, then you give them other work & invite them to meetings that don’t impact their goals? Look at the messages you are sending. Make sure you give ongoing feedback to help your people stay on the right path.

8. Social influences – Do other employees support the achievement of the target through encouragement, coaching, sharing information, and praise? Are other staff a detriment to reaching goals through their actions and words?

As a leader, use all eight strategies to ensure your team members will reach their targets. They will appreciate the clarity you give. It also makes your job much easier!

Want to be a better leader? My leadership coaching can help you “step up” to the next level of leadership. Let’s talk: Valerie.MacLeod@HainesCentre.com

Just in case you don’t believe me about the public shaming read "Sales execs who missed targets"