Improve Work Environment For Employees To Build High Performance Teams

SYDNEY - Aug. 27, 2015 - PRLog -- “Building trust through consistent two-way communication is at the heart of a great workplace. The bi-product of listening to your employees, soliciting their input on a regular and consistent basis is that we learn how to run the business better. They become the catalysts of great changes in our business.” — Dwight Cooper

As part of Microsoft’s Small Business Makeover for Guardian Strata where I work as a business consultant, I’ve been working closely with Small Business Expert Glen Carlson, CEO of Key Person of Influence.
Glen and I stress-tested a few ideas and we decided the best way to utilize Glen’s experience and knowledge which was to create a high performance culture and the way we do things here at Guardian Strata.

Reference - http://topscorebootsbet.com/improve-work-environment

Area of Improvement
Our key pain points were around prioritizing tasks and having a clear deliverable each week to track progress amongst a mountain of work that had to be completed within limited time. My aim was to comprehend how to improve work environment for employees and create a high performance environment at Guardian Strata. When I discussed this with Glen, he asked me two questions about our current practices:

How often do you have team meetings?

What areas are covered in your team meetings?

In summary, my answer was, we held a monthly team meeting, which went for 1.5 to 2 hours each time and the team did not walk away with clear outcomes/action items each time. In addition to this, the company objectives were not discussed quite often.

Recommendation
Glen, suggested two very simple suggestions for developing high performance teams :

Move from monthly meetings to weekly meetings (that does not go for more than 30 minutes)
Each team member identifies their 3 High Value Activities for that week to present in each meeting

These suggestions were to provide some structure to the team and conducting weekly meetings were to keep the business going and to heighten productivity. These recommendations were also to help us set goals together as a team and strive to hit those goals by next meeting. These were also to make employees hold each other accountable for failure to meet the goals. It was an endeavor to make employees feel that they were part of the team and gain motivation from others.

The Aftermath
Once these changes were enforced, our meetings became more powerful, productive and effective in quarter of the time (of the old monthly meetings). This helped in building high performance teams in the organization. With our new weekly ‘Guardian Elite Meetings’, everyone is engaged, and is now a contributor and an owner of their activities each week. It has given the ability for the team to understand what each team member does, how to support each other and most importantly work as a team to achieve both personal and business Goals.
This simple two-step process has changed the mindset of the team, and has paved the way to an improved workplace culture at Guardian Strata.
Please leave comments for thoughts and any other suggestions that have worked for you. I’d love to hear from you!