Four Simple Questions—Three Distinct Benefits

 

I came across an article yesterday with some interesting insight that is worth thinking about. SmartBusiness (sbnonline.com) published an article titled, How Employee Engagement Can Add Dollars to Your Company's Bottom Line.

The article asserts, "A landmark study of Performance Management Effectiveness by Hewitt Associates demonstrated a 35 percent employee productivity benefit from utilizing employee performance management systems as a result of staff working on projects and tasks that they should be working on. With clearer visibility of goals and how they will be monitored, employees work harder and focus their efforts on appropriate tasks. A conservative 5 percent increase in overall productivity results in a weekly gain of two hours per employee."

I have long been a believer that small and incremental gains in productivity will have the greatest impact on project success, however this is not the only benefit of engaging the team. "According to Gallup (2008 and 2010), engaged employees average 37 percent less absenteeism. Employees with preset, time-sensitive objectives are less likely to take unscheduled time off, unless truly necessary. If each staff member understands they are part of a larger team and their performance is crucial to overall success, unnecessary/unscheduled time off will be reduced." I've observed this to be true. When everyone understands the importance of what they're doing and how their roles are interconnected, nobody wants to drop the ball and let down the rest of the team.

What's more, I don't think there's anyone who would disagree that employee turnover is an expensive problem. "In the same study, engaged work groups show 25 percent less turnover in high turnover organizations, and 49 percent less turnover in low turnover organizations. Replacing those departed employees has a negative impact on a company's financial resources. Engaged employees are loyal employees and loyal employees are less likely to leave. Continuous feedback through performance tools helps employees improve, succeed and feel valued."

If I told you that team members who know the answers to four simple questions create these results, would you ask your team the questions? And, more importantly, would you take action once you know the answers?

Here are the questions:

1. What is your job?
2. What components of your job are most relevant?
3. How well are you doing?
4. What part to you play in the company's overall success?

Pretty simple questions aren't they? If you ask these questions of your project team, you might be surprised at the responses you get. Some studies suggest that only 20 percent of managers and employees can answer these questions with any confidence.

So what does that mean to you? As important as project management tools or project and portfolio management software may be, the tools and methodologies we use to manage the process aren't as important to the bottom line as ensuring that everyone on the team knows with certainty the answers to these four simple questions. What's more, I'm convinced that ensuring that the team understands their role and how it relates to the overall success of any endeavor needs to be a continual focus as we lead the people on our project teams.

Do you know the answers to those four questions in regards to your role?