Managers are worried about their remote workers. If you’ve never had anyone work away from the office before, it can be unnerving. How can they trust what is going on? Are hours being used wisely? How can I make everyone more accountable?
On the flip side, employees who work remotely worry they are not going to be given credit for the effort they spend and the work they produce.
Having this air of uncertainty doesn’t help anyone feel productive. I’ve heard of talk about upping your communication. What does that mean? More zoom?
Leaders providing clarity of purpose, assignment, and mission must have ways to drive accountability. Simply talking more won’t get there.
It’s not a perfect system.
How can the two sides connect to provide clarity of expectations and certainty of delivery? Well, you can have daily zoom calls, but who wants to do that forever?
You could build a giant database but who needs that burden piled on top of the already difficult process?
There is actually a very simple yet elegant system I’ve used for years. Calling it a system may scare some people away already. Maybe process or habit is better.
Explaining the Solution
The process is called Big 5. If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time I’ve written about this before.
But now is an especially significant change in workforce activity.
Big 5 can be the missing link for all you leaders who are worried about productivity and workers who wonder whether the boss knows your value.
Here’s how it works.
On a regular basis, every employee (managers included) writes out five goals or expectations they have for the upcoming month. These would be your ‘big rock’ priorities or ‘must wins’.
Next you write down your five biggest achievements for the past month.
Neither of these sections is long text in paragraphs. No, it’s simply bullet listed items.
You can add some comments about resource needs, constraints, etc. But focus first on goals and accomplishments.
Then send it to your boss.
The boss can review and give feedback. It becomes a flash moment of coaching between manager and employee.
“I like your goals 1 thru 4, but let’s talk more about number 5.”
“Wow, I had no idea you got so much done last month. Thank you for such a big contribution.” Or…
“Sam I like what you can do for us. However I see you’ve been struggling with this remote working environment. Let’s talk about ways I can help you.”
When the next period rolls around, the things you said were goals should become accomplishments. Now, you update the goals.
Take really big, longer term goals and break them down into those bite size tasks.
Frequency of Reporting
Usually, when I teach Big 5, we start with monthly check-ins. However, with the massive change in the workplace, like what we have right now, you might ask for weekly updates.
I once ran a large project with very high velocity, rapid-fire activity. A weekly check-in made more sense. I was providing my client with a status report every Monday, so I had my team do a weekly Big 5.
When they left on Friday, they dropped me their individual reports. I could compile them into a summary picture I gave the client on Monday.
It was powerful, productive, and very effective. Huge goals were achieved, deliverables were met, and the client was very happy with the results.
What About Me?
You might be saying I don’t have a team, but I do have a boss.
Ok, write your Big 5 and give it to the boss. When he/she says “What’s this?” Explain it to them. Say you want to create more clarity and you believe this can help.
That is exactly how I was introduced to Big 5. The colleague who created it actually worked for me many years ago. We were going through tumultuous times in our industry and days flew by.
Finally, one day he dropped a printed copy of his report on my desk. Sure enough, I said, “What’s this?” He explained. We had a brief discussion about the content. He left with perfect clarity of my expectations for him and his team.
Next month he was back again with an update.
And we thrived after that with better clarity, alignment, and a sense of achievement. Sure, we had meetings in between, but the big objectives were being conquered.
Fill the Gap
If you are worried about the productivity of your team, introduce the Big 5 process. If you don’t think your boss understands what you do, give them a Big 5 report. Rinse and repeat.
I’ve added a special online course to my curriculum just for Big 5. If you are interested in learning more, click here. I am offering a special 40% discount for readers of this blog. Yes, regularly $47 now just $27 while this article is in circulation until June 15, 2020. Again, click here to take advantage of this exclusive offer.
Big 5 has even replaced employee ranking and annual assessment tools. If you’re doing Big 5 monthly, when the annual review comes around, you have 60 data points to discuss. That, my friend, is powerful.
It’s by far not a perfect work world right now. Why not use a more perfect tool to manage the crisis?
Big 5 Performance is created by Roger Ferguson of ISIHRConsulting. Big 5 has an app to automate the process. It even manages the reporting with the next level up managers. If the app is something you want for you, your team or your company click here.
