As a HR/People and Productivity consultant, I quickly determine how high performing an organisation is by asking team members four simple questions.
If you AND team members can answer these four questions to start with, then I know that I’m probably walking into a high performing organisation, whose employees know exactly what they’re doing.
Let’s delve into why I feel these questions demonstrate how high performing a company is.
First, if employees are aware of company values, then that determines that they understand the behaviours that are successful within the organisation.
The second question, which asks what is the team focusing on right now, includes any team members (that means the boss too). The answer shouldn’t be just someone saying, “Everyday is different.” Sure, that’s true, but that’s not showing you know what to focus on during that week.
I look for people to answer that second question more like, “I’m working on these three things this week, which will make a difference for [fill in the blank].”
To be a highly productive and effective employee (and avoid shiny object syndrome), you need to be know what you’re focusing on to see results.
For the third question about the next 90 days, having an answer to it immediately demonstrates that you’re likely already moving towards that goal.
And, finally, the fourth question about professional development shows that if they have an answer then they are actively working an area of development—doesn’t have to be a weakness—which shows that the company has an open feedback and development focused culture.
Rather than viewing feedback as a negative, the company celebrates development and feedback is seen as something that moves you forward.
If you’re reading this as a leader/business owner and could not answer these questions then you should start with the business and yourselves first, and then you should consider implementing sprints for everyone.
To get started on planning 90-day sprints for each member, start by answering the following questions:
Think of it this way — start with 2020. Describe what you want to achieve and what that looks like. From there, you work backwards.
Regardless of what you picture as the end goal, you’ll need to work backwards by saying you need to achieve X, Y and Z by the end of this year in order to continue toward that 3 year goal.
Then you break that down even further to 90 days and what objectives do you need to check off to work towards the 12 months — do I need to set up certain automations, hire somebody, make a technology advancement or whatever else it might be.
Map out your first 2 90-day sprints with actionable goals and deliverables to get you started.
Lastly, you name what you’ll do this week to work towards your goal.
It might just be one thing that you do that week, but as long as you’re consistently doing at least one thing per week, then you’re going to have momentum towards your desired result.
Once you set up everything, then it’s time to figure out how to manage the process. I suggest the following:
Each 90 day sprint pushes you that much closer to your long-term goal, and that’s how you sell it to your team. Those 12 weeks are long enough to be able to make a change, but short enough to report back if you need to amend for any reason.
Answering 5 simple questions is all it takes:
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