What does your company need to do to meet its objectives before the clock runs out on 2014? Finishing the year on a winning score is just as important as your favorite NFL squad trouncing its rival this weekend. Often, the fourth quarter is make-or-break time.
Huddle up your team and take a look at year-to-date high and low points. Note anything that produced strong reactions or results, both positive and negative.
Fourth Quarter Analysis to Tweak Your Annual Strategy Accordingly.
Incite Motivation
Motivation and engagement on the part of every member of the workforce are essential for organizational success, especially during crunch time.
- Let employees be heard. Challenge them to contribute and share ideas. Your job is to listen, encourage, and provide constructive feedback. Incite them to try something they’ve never done before or is a little beyond their reach – and help them succeed. This is an opportune time to welcome new thinking and set the stage for next year. The end result will be enhanced morale and productivity.
- Generate excitement about the bigger picture. Review your 2014 objectives and determine if all of them are still relevant. Then make sure every employee knows what those objectives mean to them. Show how senior leadership and management share the same goals by walking the walk and leading by example. Celebrate successes to show employees that their work is valued.
- Emphasize the impact of each individual contribution. Employees are more likely to own the final product if they take pride in their work. For instance, the auto worker who welds the same chassis piece day after day should realize how delivering his flawless component is critical to the perfect vehicle that rolls off the assembly line.
Keep Costs in Line
Don’t let that budget get away from you – you’re almost there. Reexamine your budget, plan for 2015, and revise operational and sales goals.
- Renegotiate vendor contracts. Many vendors raise prices at the start of the calendar year. Renegotiate now to avoid those pending increases.
- Spend budgets down.
Keep Communicating
If you’ve been doing your job, employee communication has been regular and ongoing all year long. Kick it up a notch to focus on setting priorities and meeting year-end goals.
- Make it visual. Post lists of goals and progress toward meeting them on white boards, flip charts, screen savers … wherever employees will see them. Pop up the big wins. Just a few well-publicized success stories go a long way toward exceeding overall objectives.
- Schedule team meetings. Keep them short and high tempo. Manage by walking around. Senior leadership should be visible, interacting and dialoguing with employees at their work stations. Consider holding larger town meetings where you can field questions and gather valuable team feedback.
Do you need an organizational shot in the arm as your 2014 time clock winds down? Or direction in finalizing your 2015 game plan? Contact the workforce development experts at PrideStaff Fresno to learn more.