7 Ways to Help Employees Improve Performance

Managing finance professionals is a continual improvement process.
You want them to master a skill, grasp new knowledge or achieve a higher goal — then move on to the next.
For many finance leaders, it’s a privilege to take employees to the next level.
Coaching to Improve Performance
But many leaders admit they’re finance gurus first — and the softer skills of coaching and training to help employees move ahead don’t come as naturally. In the finance world, most of the work is straightforward — numbers line up, and if they don’t you adjust for alignment.
Coaching to help employees improve performance is a little more gray. It requires some soft skills on your part. And it requires employees to listen and be willing to adapt.
But all of that is OK because we have seven research-proven ways to help employees improve performance — plus two tactics that don’t work.
As the finance leader, you want to:
1. Inspire Them
Fortunately, many managers default to inspiration when helping employees. You can use inspiration to move employees toward improvement in a variety of ways.
Examples: Work with them to set aspirational goals. Explore alternative ways to meet objectives. Gather best practices to try.
The key is to help employees make the link between the goal and the change needed to do it. It might be as simple as better daily planning. Or it might involve some outside-the-office training. Either way, it should create desire, not fear, to succeed.
2. Take Notice
The need for change or improvement often comes after a problem is recognized. Help employees improve by working on identifying issues early — and anticipating the snares they can cause.
One way: Reward employees for identifying issues — not just managing problems once they’re realized. This kind of reinforcement should work for them in identifying team or organizational issues and personal struggles that they’d like to overcome.
3. Stay Focused on the Goal
Productive discussions about improvements start and end with the same fixed goal. Return to any agreed-upon goals when issues arise or performance slips.
With progression, you can focus on how the training, learning or changes are helping the employee move toward the shared goal.
4. Challenge the Standard
Just because it’s always been done that way — and seems to work — doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do it. That’s the attitude of managers who are most successful at spearheading improvement.
Sometimes — especially when the need for change is subtle — managers will want to challenge standard approaches and find ways to maneuver around them. You’ll also want to encourage employees to challenge the standard and offer suggestions on more efficient or improved ways to move forward.
5. Build Trust in Judgment
This approach is about improving judgment and people’s perception of it.
Collect information from multiple resources — colleagues with differing views, data and experience — before making decisions about what needs to be improved. When employees see the boss ask for advice and do homework, they trust and follow your judgment.
And when you set the example, you set employees up to take on more responsibility and use good judgment when they’re given the opportunity. So delegate as much as you can when you find areas where employees can truly take the reins.
6. Show Courage
Change is uncomfortable for most people. Managers succeed when they help employees improve while showing signs of courage.
Courage is seen as a willingness to try new things, operating outside your comfort zone or taking responsibility for mistakes. It’s also exhibited when you stand up for and stand behind your employees.
7. Make Change a Priority
When improvement or change is the priority, it can’t get jumbled in with 50 other priorities.
Managers need to take less-pressing issues off employees’ plates, help them track progress and encourage them as they go on.
And Now … What Doesn’t Work
Different approaches work for different people at different times. However, researchers found that these don’t help improve performance:
- Nagging. Incessant requests, suggestions and advice irritate people more than they change them.
- Being too nice. Trying to maintain just a warm, positive relationship when change is needed is ineffective. Managers must make some demands.
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