How To Make Work Standards Work

In the last newsletter issue, we focused on employee retention. We showed five key reasons why the best employees stay with any job. This was based on extensive research done by the Gallup organization and the University of Chicago. The five key reasons employees stick around are:

• They know what's expected of them at work.

• They have the materials and equipment they need to do their work right.

• They have the opportunity to do what they do best every day.

• Their supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about them as a person.

• At work, their opinions seem to count.

In this issue, we'll look more closely at the first of these reasons. In a later issue we'll dig into one or more of the other factors. This time, let's look at ways to ensure that all your employees - especially your best ones - know what's expected of them at work.

Seven ways to make work standards work

1) Give Them a Map: Make sure that all employees get a thorough and up-to-date orientation when they are first hired. A haphazard or lackadaisical orientation communicates that work standards are flexible at best, and possibly non-existent.

2) Publish the Book: Put written standards in place for every important task your employees do. Example: "Everyone must answer the phone by the third ring. No exceptions." Make sure that everyone becomes familiar with the standards and knows where to find them when needed.

3) Lead By Example: Meet your own standards. Bending your own rules is an easy trap for a manager or business owner. Beware the message you are sending. If you break rules for appearance, punctuality, or customer service, your employees will have less respect for the standards and begin to pay less attention to them. And don't even think of trying to raise your expectations of employees when you won't hold yourself to the same standards. That is a recipe for silent mutiny.

4) Give Tests: As a regular part of workplace routine, employees should be observed on the job by a respected supervisor or peer. The observer works from a checklist based on the published work standards. Knowing how well we measure up is part of knowing what's expected of us. This way, we know if our inner picture of the standards is accurate or if some improvement is necessary.

5) Put On a Show: At regular employee gatherings, such as staff meetings or casual get-togethers, have an employee demonstrate one of the important job tasks "to the letter." Turn this into a chance for the best employees to shine and a chance for the others to refresh their understanding of your standards.

6) Make Your Space Walk the Talk: Look around for messages you are sending with your workplace. Do you set high standards for accuracy and organization in your employees' work? If so, does the workplace look neat, spotlessly clean, and well organized? If not, you may be sending confusing signals about your standards.

7) Promote Performance Goals: It's a good thing to have contests or periodic goals. Just make sure that every employee affected by a performance goal (example: "Beat last July's sales by 10%") is told of the goal in plenty of time to reach for it, and is reminded of the goal along the way.

The heart of the matter is this: In order for employees to do great work, they need to know what great work looks like. This can only happen when you set clear standards, make the standards available to everyone, and remind them occasionally what the standards look like in practice. If you can't, or don't, communicate and reinforce your standards, your best employees will get irritated, frustrated, or lose interest in working for you. You'll lose them.

A few more tips for reinforcing your high standards

• Celebrate employees who meet their performance goals. All of them, not just your superstars!
• Celebrate employees who do something great away from the job. For example, if someone runs a 5K, put her time on the bulletin board. (You can usually find these times on the Internet if your employee is shy about sharing her results.)
• Publish an annual calendar for employees that shows your cumulative sales goals at the end of each week, month, or season. Include other key goals as well.
• Post a chart of all training available to your employees. Use it to indicate everyone who has completed each course or training program. Show that constant growth and development are important expectations.

 Work standards work because people want to know what's expected of them. Some will just meet the standards and others will treat them like records to be broken.

You wouldn't mind having a few gold-medal winners on your team, would you?

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