Accountability

By Roger Bostdorff

B2B Sales Boost recently had a consulting engagement where the company wanted to increase their competitiveness and profitability. We discussed how we could determine our best options. I suggested that we identify a subset of their employees to talk with. Who to better make suggestions as to how to improve a company’s competitiveness and profitability than the employees working for the company? To the credit of the President of this company he decided to not talk with a subset of his employees but rather to talk with each and every one of his employees. He recognized that they would have the best ideas and observations since they are in the trenches every day. It was a very good decision on his part and represented a significant investment of his employee’s time. However, it also showed that he valued ALL of his employee’s views and opinions. Some of the feedback from the team was that the majority of the employees were significant contributors. However, there was a perception that some small number of employees were not contributing like they could or should be. Let me ask you a question. What happens to the morale of a company if the employees feel that some are carrying the cargo and others are not? That some employees must work extra hard or extra hours to cover for the employees that are not doing their job? What happens to the work habits of the good workers if nothing is done regarding discipline of the slackers? Is the throughput/productivity of the entire team negatively impacted even more severely over time? You bet it is!! We put in place an evaluation process where each employee would be evaluated on every job by the job supervisor. They would be evaluated on a 1-5 range.

1. Results achieved far exceeded the requirements of the job in all areas

2. Results achieved consistently exceeded the requirements of the job in all key areas

3. Results achieved consistently met the requirements of the job and exceeded the requirements in many areas

4. Results achieved consistently met the requirements of the job

Unsatisfactory
5. Results achieved did not meet the requirements of the job

Like Golf the lower the score the better the evaluation. If the employee worked for multiple job supervisors they would be evaluated multiple times and the evaluations would be averaged. The results of these evaluations would have an impact on potential raises (someone rated a “1” would receive a larger raise and in less time than someone rated a “4.”) Without management doing these evaluations the slackers keep on slacking. Worse, the good workers performance ends up moving in the direction of the slackers since they see there are no negative repercussions for doing so. Therefore, not only are we now holding all of the employees accountable, but we are rewarding the ones that are most contributing to the competitiveness and profitability of the company. Isn’t that the way it should work? Is your company as competitive as it should be? Which way is your profit margin headed? What are you doing about it?

Roger Bostdorff is the President of B2B Sales Boost, LLC. He spent over 30 years with IBM in sales and sales management. B2B Sales Boost is a consulting company helping organizations improve their sales and overall business processes. You can find more about B2B Sales Boost on the web at www. b2bsalesboost.com or calling 419-351-4347. If you would like to receive the B2B Sales Boost Newsletter please send an email to sales@b2bsalesboost.com