60 SECONDS ON BUSINESS
Four ways to help workers improve

By Dr. Drake Beil
President, Solutions Inc.

The essence of great coaching and managing is getting the job done through others. Here are four questions to consider in improving worker performance.

1. Do workers understand the level of performance necessary and desired? A good way to approach this is by listing three to five priorities with them, and determining together what performance makes for excellent, what is very good, good, fair and poor. I believe in simple designations for performance. If trainees know when they'll be reviewed again, improvement may come faster.

2. Do workers understand the deadlines involved?

Many times people get hammered by deadlines they didn't have a say in developing. Not knowing how long a task should take is a weakness, but not understanding what's expected makes it worse.

3. Do workers know how to get help with questions or concerns?

Who is responsible for monitoring performance for each priority? It's a lot easier to train a puppy than an old dog. That's the way it is with mistakes, too. The best time to deal with things is when they're still small.

4. Do workers understand how they will be evaluated?

In evaluations, compare your ratings with those of a trainee and discuss three areas. First, where you see eye-to-eye. Those are areas of solid foundation. Second, where the manager's evaluation is lower. This means more is expected. Third, where the employee's self-evaluation is lower than it should be. Here's a chance to celebrate accomplishment.

Reach Dr. Drake Beil at drake@60secondsonbusiness.