Do You Measure Progress? Most Don't

by Rick White, President 180BIZ                                                             (Estimated Read Time 4 minutes)

I want to talk to you about teams.  One component that you must have is you need a ruler. To become a Superstar team, your staff members need a common goal. It's that shared destination and the shared purpose that creates the team. Now you need a ruler. You must have a way to measure progress. A ruler allows them to not only see how they're doing personally, but they can see how the team is progressing professionally as well.

Most shop owners don’t have a ruler.

Most of you don't have a ruler, and it is so simple. Figure out what's important to you. But why don't you do this? It's because you were never clear when you hired your team members about what your goals and expectations were. They hold you a hundred percent accountable to your promises. You told them you're going to pay them a certain amount every week, every other week, whatever the case is. You told them that they get a certain amount of time off and certain holidays.  They hold you one hundred percent accountable for that.  But here's the issue. You are not holding them accountable for anything but showing up. And that is because you never sat down and talked about what you need.

The issue is the Illusion of Transparency

It's because of the psychological term called the illusion of transparency. You unconsciously expect people to know what it is you need to be successful. That does not work. Be like me. When I first met Brenda, I said to her, “I'm a two-by-four guy.  When you think something is obvious, I promise you, I don't see it. You must hit me in the head with a two-by-four. You are the same way. You need to let everyone on your team know where you're going, that common destination, the common purpose. Then tell them how you’re going to measure it as a team and individually.

Measuring progress creates conversations

When we're measuring progress, it creates a conversation. That conversation should be daily. You guide the discussion by asking these questions.

1. What went great?
2. What are you doing to get that result so that you can duplicate it?  If you're winning, you want to find out why.

Be collaborative instead of combative

if you're not getting what you need, we can step back and work on it together. It's not you the owner against your team. No, sir. You all share a common destination. You all share a common purpose. The conversation that the ruler provides is called feedback. And you need that feedback because when you're not hitting what you need. Now it's collaborative instead of combative. Because we're all going to the same place. We're all going there because we care and because there's something behind it. And that is where your real magic gets in there.

Don’t be afraid to create and use your rulers

Another reason you don’t provide a ruler is because you’re scared. You're telling yourself a lousy story. Yes, it's harder to find good help right now, no doubt. And that's the same for every industry right now. You're afraid that if you push too hard, if you set a standard too high you're going to scare people away. Here’s a little secret. The only people you will scare away are people you don't want to be a part of your team. When you set a standard, the only people you are going to scare are the people who should not be a part of your team. Yes, that's painful, but I would rather qualify them there than put up with someone for a year hoping and praying they're going to get better. That doesn't work. You need a way to measure and set progress from the very beginning. Keep it super simple. Don't make it overly complicated. Don't talk about productivity percentages and efficiency percentages. Give your techs a number. Give your salespeople a number. It must be easy to see.

If you want to hear more about this superstar team, our Pocket Business Genius webinar series has a webinar recording titled Creating a Super Star Team. 

I also have my Shop Owners Round Table. Sign up. If you know of any shop owners who can benefit from attending, please invite them. They must be shop owners, though.  They can’t be a manager, advisor, tech, etc.  They must be a shop owner. We typically have 50 to 60 shop owners attend and it's a really good time for an hour. We work on things, talk about solutions, talk about ways to adapt, and respond. I would love to see you there.

Please share this video. Other people need to hear this today and I need your help to get this message to them.

God bless. stay safe, have some fun, and go make some money.

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