If you were to survey your team right, would they immediately be able to tell you the major goals for the upcoming year ahead? Better yet, if you were to be quizzed as the manager, would you be able to tell us without asking exactly where your team members are on their own objectives for the year?
Aligning what the team is working on to company goals seems like a no-brainer. However, it’s easier said than done. Even the best companies can fall off track because of the disconnect.
We’ve put together a few ways to help realign your team to your company’s biggest needs below:
Ensure employees know the company’s long-term strategy
It’s easy for employees to create goals that fail to contribute towards a company’s long term strategy. On average, only 7% of employees fully understand what their company’s strategy even is. Employees need to be given a clear strategic vision from the beginning in order to be expected to create goals with meaning for all divisions, not just their own.
If you feel your team doesn’t have a clear vision of the company’s long term strategy, provide a refresher and identify how each goal moves your company closer toward their ultimate vision and what role your team and individuals will play in making it a reality.
You can do this a few ways: one, during weekly check-ins, it’s important to connect how the work the employee is doing is laddering up the big goal. By doing this, you’ll give your employees purpose and value in their work since they’ll better understand why it matters in the big picture.
Quarterly summits are something we do here to keep us all on task. Since we are 100% remote, we spend about 15 minutes each day catching up with each other to understand what we’re working on which helps us stay aligned and on track. In addition to that, we do a quarterly virtual summit where we block off two-hours to discuss our progress as small teams and how it aligns to the whole.
This lets our team see the bigger picture, better understand where their contributions help push us forward, and gives them a clearer vision for what’s up next.
Connect strategic goals to specific tasks
Your team understands the goal, but putting it into practice is a different story. From the moment you introduce a goal and relate it to a long-term strategy, begin connecting it to individual tasks for members of your team to complete. Providing action steps can improve goal alignment and contribute to employee buy-in as they see their tasks integrated into long-term goals.
When employees understand how team goals breakdown into tasks, efficacy increases. In fact, 91% of companies that effective utilize performance management systems report they link specific tasks to overall goals according to a McKinsey report.
Communicate frequently and clearly – but cut back on meetings
Once employees understand company strategy and integrate goals into their daily workflow, be prepared to keep an open line of communication. Answering questions, and providing continuous feedback are all important in making sure employees feel they are both on track to accomplish a goal and unified with the company’s overall strategy.
In addition to participating in a feedback loop with employees actively involved in goal-setting, the appropriate departments and individuals should be kept-up-to date with key information. The initial goal-setting session should develop a communications management plan identifying relevant stakeholders and how and when to provide updates. These additional parties can ensure your goal is aligned with company strategy overtime and increase company-wide cooperation.
Good news: even though more communication is likely needed, frequent meetings are probably unnecessary when there is a clear understanding of the goal. Frequently revisiting individual tasks can distract from the larger goal at hand and lead employees (and supervisors) to miss the bigger picture. Ensuring goals are rooted in company strategy can free up your calendar and valuable time.
Implementing software that can help capture communication in a meaningful way is important. For example, Kin allows employees to list goals and objectives visible to their manager. This streamlines the communication process and leaves the door open for continuous feedback. It’s also helpful when reviews roll around.
Utilize real-time goal tracking
Real-time goal tracking not only keeps employees on task, it indicates progress to all levels of management and allows for quick and clear feedback when an objective strays from the company’s overall strategy. Managers can see exactly how and where their employees’ time and resources are being spent and ensure goal alignment throughout the course of a project. To ensure accurate tracking, goals should be specific, measurable, and time-bound.
Utilizing tools like Monday or Asana show each individual’s progress and can also act as motivators for employees, indicating how completed tasks contribute to larger goals.