We’re racing towards the beginning of a new year, so you’re probably thinking about business goals for the next 12 months. As you strategize and plan, here are four insights for a successful year ahead.
Idea #1: Engaged teams know what goals they’re working towards—and why.
Does everyone on your team understand the what and why of the company goals? Clearly defined business objectives keep people focused and motivated. They provide a roadmap so individuals and teams can gauge their progress and see how far they still need to go. Plus, employees who know how their efforts contribute to business success feel more engaged and motivated to do their best.
Don’t just assume your employees (or even your managers) know the business goals. Instead, ask your team these four questions:
- What are the business goals for the year?
- What does success look like?
- What metrics are you tracking to measure success?
- How often are the metrics reviewed and tracked?
If the responses are vague (“Grow the business” or “make money”) or uncertain (“I think the goals are ….”), you’ve got some communicating to do.
Read Setting Business Goals for the Year? First, Ask These 3 Questions for more insights about setting and achieving goals.
Idea #2: Managers and supervisors play a key role in increasing (or decreasing) engagement.
Your top people directly impact employee engagement. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace (2024) report finds:
- Engagement is closely tied to relationships with one’s manager.
- Managers who help employees “find meaning and reward in their work” are more productive and fulfilled.
- Managers drive engagement through goal setting and giving regular, meaningful feedback.
In other words, there’s a straight line between strong leaders and motivated employees, and it takes a skilled manager to move the needle from “indifferent” to “inspired” in the workplace.
Read When It Comes to Engagement and Retention, Managers REALLY Matter to learn two jaw-dropping stats about engagement.
Idea #3: Giving feedback directly impacts how much (or how little) an employee feels valued.
If you’ve read it here once, you’ve read it a million times: Feedback is a game-changer when it comes to motivating and engaging employees. In Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World, Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall share these findings about the link between feedback and engagement:
- Giving positive feedback (or positive attention) is 30x more effective than negative feedback.
- Giving negative feedback (or negative attention) is 40x more effective at creating engagement than ignoring people or problems
- Giving no feedback is the WORST way to boost engagement!
Skilled managers and supervisors provide feedback based on real-world examples; highlight and reinforce ideal behavior; and invite further discussion.
Read Tie Business Goals to Behavior and Watch Employee Engagement Soar to understand how goals and behavior go hand-in-hand.
Idea #4: When leaders learn how to give meaningful feedback, every aspect of business improves.
Not quite convinced about how feedback from skilled managers drives engagement? Let’s turn again to Gallup’s new report. Research shows:
- A “central factor” for thriving businesses is having great managers who know how to engage employees.
- Successful companies train their managers to consistently deliver meaningful individual feedback that inspires “better future performance.”
- Top leaders leverage every performance review, team meeting, or lunchroom conversation to make employees feel valued and appreciated.
Read Behind the Scenes with Kristen and Erin: Why the PSC Leadership Development Program Is More Effective Than Ever show leaders how to learn and apply simple, practical skills immediately.
The bottom line from Gallup—and from us!—is that skilled leaders improve every aspect of business: turnover and safety incidents decrease; productivity and customer loyalty increase; and employees thrive.
Do those outcomes sound like your goals for the next year? We thought so. Let’s do this!
Enrollment for the January 2025 Leadership Development cohort is already underway. Here’s a video overview of the program we share with leaders of participants. We’d be happy to answer any questions you have. Drop us an email at erin@peoplesparkconsulting.com.