How Clarity and Metrics Set your Team up for Success

Yesterday I had a great one-on-one with one of my team members and she said:

“I love that we measure our week based on metrics and not a gut feel! It makes me feel empowered because in the past I may have scored myself based on my emotions that day, but this way I either hit the mark or I don’t and the process is objective”.

This got me thinking about the power of clarity and expectations with teams and how they really are transformative!  Here’s why:

Psychological safety

There’s chaos when people don’t have clear instructions. They often work on what they believe is important, only to find out it’s not at all what their manager had in mind. When you provide metrics-based goals and objectives for team members you create clarity which puts people at ease. This provides a psychological safety net because it’s black and white. They either are achieving or they’re not! The emotion is removed and they know what needs to be accomplished and know that they’re doing their job right.

Accurate self-assessments and reflection

It can be difficult and subjective for team members to rate their week if they aren’t measuring against numbers. It can often be an inaccurate self-assessment based on how they feel that day.

For example, I have a team member who is an outstanding performer. Her numbers always exceed her continuing evolving goals and she just had her best sales month ever! During our one-on-one she said, “I don’t feel like I’m doing enough”. I was surprised and dug a little deeper. I pushed to find out whether she was feeling burnt out or discouraged because the data showed otherwise.

We often see that team members who are finding their confidence will also grade themselves as having a lower score in a weekly report compared to their more self-assured colleagues. So, metrics matter for accurate self-assessments.

Ability to control patterns

There’s so much power in data! When your team reports their KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for the week and they are crystal clear with numerical values, they provide a wealth of information.

As a leader, you’re able to look for patterns. Does one team member always make their calls, but score low on their personal development goals? Are their sales lower than expected? 

If you can look at the numbers and say, ok you’re hitting your sales calls numbers however your personal development is 2 out of a 5 for the week. If we brought your personal development commitment up to 5 out of 5, meaning 5 podcasts during the week and tested that for a month, what outcomes might we see? This provides not only clarity but hope that by shifting and changing the metrics they can control their success! Very empowering!

Raise ambition!

People want to evolve and grow. They want to stretch not only their skills, but also their thinking and, as leaders, we can do that by raising ambition. When your team member submits their weekly reports or monthly reports and they’re consistently hitting or exceeding their goals, it’s time to raise the bar! It’s so interesting to see the shift that takes place when you do this.

Twelve months ago, our sales team had an average monthly output that we have actually increased by 158% by raising the bar. And guess what!? Everyone has adapted.  No one is drowning, we just set higher expectations, and everyone followed suit! Imagine what your business would look like if your marketing efforts increased by 158% with the same resources?

Clarity is key for keeping a highly engaged team.  What systems or processes have you used as a leader to raise the bar and hold people accountable for metrics-based performance?