Employee Performance – 7 Questions To Ensure Results In Your Business

Introduction

Management isn’t just about getting the “right” answers. It’s also about asking the “right” questions. That’s the only way you’ll get “right” answers. So much management advice and development is concerned about getting better results. I agree entirely. But unless you do what’s essential to get better results, you won’t get them. And “what’s essential” includes high quality questions.

1. The Management Only Question

There’s one question that tells who’s managing whom. It’s this. “How’s it going?” Note who asks this. Who ever it is, senior or junior, boss or slave, expert or novice, please understand this. The person asking “How’s it going?” is the boss. Do people other than your boss often ask you “How’s it going?” If they do, those people are managing you. No employee should ever have reason to ask you is “How’s it going?” That’s the management question. It ought to be owned exclusively by managers.

2. The Expectation Question

We spend lots of time clarifying what we expect from our staff. How much time do we spend examining what they expect from us. “What do my staff expect from me?” is a question every manager should ask of him or herself. Do you know? Are you sure? Have you asked your people recently? It’s a worthwhile exercise.

3. The Performance Improvement Question

This is so simple we forget about it. “How can we do it better?” is a wonderful question. It should be on the tip of every manager’s tongue. It has positive consequences too. If you’re asking all the time your staff will start to ask it of themselves. They’ll see part of their normal work as seeking and suggesting better ways to do things.

4. The Time Management Question

Lots of managers find themselves constantly under time pressures. There’s a question for this too. “Is this what my business needs from me now?” Another way of asking is “Is this the best use of my time right now?” You’re paid to manage. Employees are paid to “operate”. Most managers will have to do some “operating” work. Some managers simply like to “keep their hand in”. If you’re such a manager remember this. Your people will only do what they’re paid for when you stop doing it for them.

5. The Delegation Question

Delegation and time management are closely related. The more routine work – I don’t mean boring – your staff do, the more time you’ll have to do management work.  You need a question to help make this happen. This is it. “What do you think we should do?” Ask this often. Ask it every time an employee says, “What should we do about this, boss?” You may say, “”But Leon, they don’t know.” I’d reply that it’s about time they found out. As long as staff are dumping their problems on your desk, they’ll never discover what to do.

6. The Focus Question

“What are we trying to achieve?” Before you say something like “everyone knows that” or “I’ve told them a thousand times”, stop and think. Your staff should know your business focus and target market. But everything you do should have a clearly defined goal. That goal should support your business focus. It’s important that employees are guided by that focus. Even apparently minor projects and procedures should have clear goals.

7. The Measurement Question

How often do you ask this very important question? “How will we know we’re successful?” It’s the other side of the focus question. It’s one thing to know where you’re going. It’s another to know that you’ve arrived. And your staff need to know too so that they enjoy the sense of achievement associated with successful goal achievement. This question also enables you to establish performance standards: the scoreboard that tell you of your progress towards your goals as well as goal achievement.

Conclusion

These are simple questions. They are easy to ask. But they provide wonderfully valuable information. Each of them should be part of the communications repertoire of the small-medium business manager. The answers you receive will help create

• more time for you to manage more effectively
• a clear focus for your staff to ensure that you have the information you need for better management

That’s a great return for using 7 short questions.