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Six Questions Everyone Should to be Able to Answer
Success in any organization depends on setting clear expectations and goals.
And making sure that everyone in your organization clearly understands his or her role in that process is crucial to moving forward.

To ensure that everyone in your organization is clear about the road ahead and what’s expected of them along the way, it’s key that everyone, including You, the leader, is able to answer these six questions:  

  1. What am I supposed to be doing?
  2. What are the expected goals or standards?
  3. How does my performance match up to these goals?
  4. What do I need to learn or do to improve?
  5. What can I expect if I am successful?
  6. What happens if/when I fall short?

Once you and your people have a clear sense of what’s expected--evidenced by an ability to answer the Six Questions above--you’ll be well on your way to success and accomplishing your mission.

Setting Clear Expectations

One of the most important responsibilities of any successful leader is to make their expectations--both of themselves and their people--crystal clear. To eliminate any misunderstandings about the way ahead and what's expected, make sure you, as well as everyone else in your organization, can answer the following questions…clearly.
1. What am I supposed to be doing? (Key Activities)
To get where you want to go within your organization, you need to know what are the key activities or actions required to get there. We call these key leverage points. They are the activities on which you should be spending 50-60% of your time. Key leverage points often include things like, conducting walkthroughs, communicating with clients, coaching and mentoring employees, leading team meetings, and holding performance or quality reviews. When you are in a leadership role, you want to spend your time in ways that make the most impact. When I was in a leadership position, this is how I divided up my time: in front of a client--15-20%, with my people in the field --20%, recruiting new talent--10% -15%, sales involvement--10-15%, overseeing financial and administrative activities--5%, planning--5%. Remember, all of these activities should be clearly linked to the company's ultimate purpose.

Spend your time in areas that will get you and your organization to where you want to go.
2. What are the expected goals or standards?
(Key Milestones or Measures)

Ok, here is how we determine effectiveness in the areas where you should be spending most of your time and effort. 

The following are example benchmarks for tracking progress:

  • Sales Growth, 20%
  • Client Retention, 90%
  • Key Employee Retention, 100%
  • Quality Standards, 85-90%
  • Profitability, 10-15%
  • Safety - Worker Comp Accidents, etc., 0%

Create your own objective standards to track and/or measure progress within your arena(s) of responsibility.

3. How does my performance match up to these goals?
(Reality Check)
By answering number two, above, we gain valuable information about different areas of your organization and how well they are performing.  Next, we need to know how your performance stacks up against these measurements or standards. Once you have a clear sense of how you are doing in relation to the milestones/benchmarks, you can use such assessments as a guidepost and for goal setting in moving forward.
4. What do I need to learn or do to improve?
(Success Behaviors and Skills Needed) 

Identify any skills you might lack or need to develop.
Examine behaviors that may be impeding your success.
Then make a plan, focusing on areas that need work or might be preventing you from achieving success. Develop a plan to help you improve, find a mentor and take charge! This is your career, and you are the main person responsible for its success.
5. What can I expect if I am successful?  
(Rewards and Recognition)
Or WIIFM--What’s In It For Me?

Everyone should have a clear sense of what they can expect in return for progress and successful efforts. Remember, it is not all about the money, but money doesn’t hurt. Compensation, rewards and recognition should be clearly defined and aligned with your organization’s desired vision. The path to success should be clear, well mapped out and visible in terms of Salary, Bonuses, Promotions, Special Assignments, Recognition, Perks, etc.

6. What happens if/when I fall short?
(Learning and Adjustment)
Reality smacks pretty hard sometimes; we all have set backs along the path to success, and it's important to know what to do when this happens. Where do you go? Is there room for failure? How do you get back on track? How can you get the help you need to be successful?

Everyone in your organization should know the answer to the question: Where do I go if/when I fail?

Channels should be in place for dealing with problems and mistakes in positive ways whenever possible. Certainly, repeated or grossly negligent mistakes need to be dealt with appropriately; but more often, whenever we or our people fall short, it's beneficial to ask: how can we learn from this and continue to answer the five questions above in the clearest, most positive possible way?

If everyone in your organization is able to answer the above, six questions, you will see more progress, a keener sense of ownership, a clearer path to success and a cohesive team of people bound for greatness.

When people and organizations have a clear understanding of what is expected of them, they will be well on their way to “Harvesting Their Potential”.     
Want to talk with one of the Harvesters in how we are helping organizations grow and prosper? Just click the phone image to your right, and all our contact info is right there.
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