Setting Performance Standards Your Team Can Live By

There were a lot of people up in arms recently over the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to tighten smog standards. The Republicans were protesting because they felt the standards were too costly, while the EPA estimated they would save as much as $100 billion in health costs.

Defining Team Performance Standards

“Employees can’t perform effectively, individually or as a team, unless they know what’s expected of them,” writes Price Pritchett and Ron Pound in their manager’s handbook, Team ReConstruction: Building a High Performance Work Group During Change.

Unlike performance goals which establish specific tasks or projects to be completed to support the core business function, performance standards are a list of common behaviors that every member is expected to adhere to. These include working effectively with others and encouraging open communication as well as assuming ownership of the needs of a customer and meeting deadlines.

Your company culture will have a lot to do with what general performance standards will work well for your team. However, involving your team in the discussion and decision-making process will go a long way in ensuring you develop the right team performance standards.

Establishing Team Performance Standards

If you want your team to be successful working as individuals as well as in a group, you’ll need to:

• Develop general performance standards such as leadership, teamwork and communication and then define specific observable actions which demonstrate adherence to each performance standard. For instance, communication might include the ability to speak, listen and write effectively, as well as the ability to use proper telephone etiquette.
• Communicate standards early, in the interview phase if you can, so no one is surprised or disappointed later on. Better they know before they say “yes” than to waste time and money hiring the wrong candidate.
• Choose people who align well with the company culture and value system. Those are the same people who will be comfortable with the team performance standards.
• Hold yourself to the same standards as your team and demonstrate your commitment by walking the walk and talking the talk.
• Create performance management tools (i.e. annual evaluation forms, performance management plan) which incorporate the team standards.

Much in the same way that the proposed EPA smog standard would have shaped how cities behaved in an effort to lower emissions, the performance standards that your organization develops should shape how your team behaves in an effort to work together effectively.  Working together as a team to establish their own performance standards will make them easier to live by.

No related posts.