I was on a phone call earlier this week with a client who has 40 employees. He told me about the sudden resignation of one his long-time managers. Here’s the story he shared with me.
“Last week at our quarterly management meeting, one of my key operations managers turned in his resignation. As we discussed the issue, he said all the extra pressure was too much for him to handle. I was thinking to myself, we haven’t even given him any more work to do. All we did was clarify expectations and improve our communication…
“We always thought we were pretty good at holding our people accountable. Now, I realize there was too much grey area for some people on our team. But with everyone using the EOS Tools, there’s no more grey area. Expectations are clearer than ever. He just couldn’t meet our expectations.
“Anytime we lose a team member it means more work for the rest of the team. But this time the team didn’t mind, and they weren’t surprised that he resigned. In fact, they expressed relief that he was gone. It turns out the rest of the team was already doing most of his work anyway!”
When expectations are clear and your employees can’t meet them, they’ll quit before you have to fire them.
Hold Your Employees Accountable
The key is to make sure expectations are clear and everyone in the organization is held accountable. Schedule quarterly conversations with each of your direct reports. Discuss each of these four areas.
Roles & Responsibilities
The Accountability Chart clearly defines all the functions in your business, along with the five major roles you expect from each person. Review the five main roles and responsibilities that each person is accountable for.
Core Values
Review your company’s core values one at a time using the People Analyzer. This helps the conversation to quickly identify whether each person’s behaviors are consistent with the company culture. And if they aren’t, it will help you to pinpoint where they don’t align.
Priorities
Review the 3 to 7 quarterly priorities (we call them Rocks) that they’re working on. Has enough progress been made on each of their top priorities, given where you are in the quarter? Do they know exactly what they need to do to get their Rocks done by the due date?
Measurables
Reviewing their numbers on a scorecard will immediately give you a pulse on whether they’ve been accomplishing their weekly goals. At a glance you’ll be able to see the rolling 13-week trend of their performance. Are they consistently achieving their weekly goals, or are they falling short?
Focus on these four areas with each of your direct reports to keep expectations clear, and you’ll never have to fire anyone again! If they’re not the right fit, they’ll quit before you have to fire them.
Next Steps
- Help your people understand their roles in your organization. Get the EOS Accountability Chart.
- Download the People Analyzer and Scorecard.
- Do you have questions about a people issue at your organization? Let’s connect!
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