Delivering Exceptional Performance Through People

Many businesses say that people are their greatest asset.  They are certainly the biggest area of expenditure for most businesses and people can be the catalyst for exceptional performance.  So how can you make it happen?

Recruitment

Getting great performance through people starts with recruitment.  Having the right people with the right skills, knowledge and attributes is essential.  Many businesses fail to take this area seriously and as a result spend thousands in continually filling posts.  Make sure this does not happen in your organisation.  Make the investment to train those recruiting and get the right person for the job.

Career Path

If you want to be an employer who recruits and retains the best people, you need to develop clear career paths.  Those that deliver exceptional performance want opportunities to grow, develop, gain new skills, knowledge and experience.  When they know that these opportunities exist they are more motivated and deliver higher performance.

Appraisal

We all need feedback, praise and acknowledgement of the areas where we do well, identification of what we need to work on and the help to make progress.  Appraising someone twice a year takes about 6 hours of time, yet many managers and leaders fail to make that investment.  What’s the cost to you, the team and the business of not making the time for this?  As an example, if you lose someone who is paid £40,000 and you have to pay a finders fee of 25% of the first years salary to a recruiter, that’s £10,000.  What would you want to be known as?  The manager who takes £10,000 off the bottom line or adds £10,000 to the bottom line?

Salaries and Rewards

Contrary to what most managers believe, salary and benefits is not the number one motivator but they are certainly in the top 5.  If you want to deliver exceptional performance, you need to ensure that the remuneration strategies are aligned with this goal.  This does not mean you need to be paying the most, just being competitive.

Skills and Training

The vast majority of employees are interested in growing and developing.  Offering employees the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge or attributes through a development programme is not only a positive motivator but also minimal cost to the business.  Yet I have seen numerous examples of organisations trying to make major change allocating little or nothing to developing people.  In many businesses without people there is no business.  If you want exceptional performance you need continued investment in people.

All businesses need to deliver good performance to thrive in today’s competitive and demanding business environment.  People can be the catalyst so what would have most impact on delivering exceptional performance in your organisation?