Hey, this is Meridith Elliott Powell. And this week I’m coming to you from Orlando, Florida. And I want to talk a little bit about ensuring that employees really get engaged. Do you know that 67% of discipline area issues with employees, 67% happen because employees don’t understand what’s expected of them?
Now, I know we all give our employees a job description. Right? But think about it. Can you really do your job description given everything that happens during the day, and what’s the last line of a job description? That’s right. And anything else we ask you to do. So a lot of your frustration with employees comes from the fact that every day they’re prioritizing what they can get done. And a lot of times the prioritization that they make is not exactly the same priorities that you would want them to choose.
The answer: Let them know your top five priorities.
Ensure that they understand the goals of your division, the goals of your company, and then sit down with them and let them know as long as they accomplish these five things every day, every week, every month, they’ll be on track for doing a job that supports the growth of the organization.
I really believe and I think you do too, that most people come to work wanting to be valuable to the organization. Your job as a leader is to ensure that they understand what they need to do in order to be valuable. And that begins by setting expectations and letting them know the top five things that they can do that most contribute to success.
If you do that, you’re going to wind up with a team as passionate as you are. I’m the growth of your organization, and you’ll be in a great position to turn all of this uncertainty into a major competitive advantage.
