How to Make Sure Your Team Meets Their Goals Every Month and Why Good Communication is Key

Managing a team of human beings in the workplace can sometimes be a bit like herding cats. Your team´s monthly productivity is key to achieving your business goals, so you need to guide your kitty cats, and good communication is the way to do it.

In the post-pandemic workplace, it is likely your business has a proportion of remote workers. Their performance is not as closely monitored by their presence with you in the workplace. Keeping offsite staff happy and on target will take the use of tools such as instant messaging (IM) to check in and on your team.

To collaborate effectively and in real-time, businesses will need to incorporate IM tools. Spike instant messaging app will help you admirably with this. All team members and managers can be in touch whenever necessary, with no waiting to check emails. IM gives unobtrusive (and quiet) text message access to other members of the business, who are most likely multitasking.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

We have all heard of KPIs, and many of us have worked towards them. The KPIs represent a benchmark or minimum service standard (projects completed, orders fulfilled, roles appointed, etc.); if you didn’t meet your KPIs annually (or six-monthly), you faced a performance review, and not the kind that Broadway is famous for!

Your team will likely have clear KPIs; they may be documented or even quite informal (“You need to finish that project by X date”), but to keep your employees on track in a sometimes-chaotic modern workplace, you will need to practice good communication skills.

How to Shepherd Teams to Meeting Goals

There are several steps we can outline here, all of which require good communication:

Brainstorming

With your team or with individuals, come up with a list of tasks that need to be completed each month. Projects, errands, events. Get a list down, preferably a soft copy, so it can be shared.

Categorize tasks

Put your tasks into classes, work, personal, urgent, and non-urgent. The individual will know best how to categorize according to their normal processes.

Estimate time required for each task

Be realistic; if you are a slow typist, don’t expect documents to fly! Work with your real skills on the job.

Prioritize the tasks

Put the tasks in order according to deadline and importance.

Allocate your schedule

Now, put the tasks into diary windows. Be realistic. Allow for interruptions, delays, and more time-consuming parts of the work. Don´t overcommit or overload yourself!

Now you are all set to meet your monthly KPIs!

Unforeseen Circumstances

We have all been there; an unpredictable thing happens (illness, jury duty, family commitment, etc.) that takes a team member away from their schedule for the month or even longer. Often this means other team members have to “carry the load” of the missing member.

Good communication is key here again. The absent employee needs to communicate promptly and effectively with management regarding the extent of their surprise leave. Managers then need to discuss workload with the team and allocate tasks to those with the capacity to take them on.

If a team member´s absence is going to disrupt the equilibrium of the team for a protracted period, the team’s feedback will necessitate management to make decisions on staffing. That will require good communication too.

With the right communication, your team should make it over the line each month with all the boxes ticked!

Qualities of good team goalkeeping requiring excellent communication

• Be realistic: life is never straightforward, so don’t expect Hollywood endings out of your human actors.
• Be flexible: go with the flow—within reason, be a guide rather than a brick wall with your team; you will foster goodwill that way.
• Be consistent: keep the KPIs consistent and the rules about leave and job-sharing so the team knows where they all stand.
• Use tools and apps: like the aforementioned Spike instant messaging, Outlook calendar, Grammarly spell checker, etc.., time-savers, and handy tools.
• Set time aside for planning: to give your days, weeks, and months organized, make time to make the time!

Two important time-keeping ideas to keep your team on track

Communicate to your team these two ideas that will help them stay on track for ease of productivity:

Schedule deep work

When a project calls for uninterrupted concentration at times, put your Out of Office on! Some people in shared offices wear headphones to signal they are unavailable. Go to a smaller office and shut the door. Or make yourself unavailable to the world in your home office. Kids away, dog walked, phone on silent.

Use the Pomodoro Technique

This is a time management method that involves breaking your work into short, focused intervals (usually 25 minutes) followed by a brief break (usually five minutes). This can help you maintain focus and productivity throughout the day.

Finally…

Herding your cats will get easier and easier using these ideas—and good communication, up and down the line, is key to everyone meeting monthly targets. Keep everyone in the loop and be flexible. Your team will be open with you when they know you are open with them!