More than ever as we push through a very challenging business environment, we need to maximize every effort executed by our hard working staff. We need to align our interests. We need to encourage innovation within our departments but all actions need to be aligned with driving, profitable long term sales growth. Great, so how the hell do we achieve that?
What the company needs!
Smart leaders have the know-how to imagine the Company as a Person with real, achievable objectives – target sales growth, market domination, margin achievement, delivering innovative products, transforming your sector, executing an attractive new business model, all of the above – you choose. To deliver these objectives, leaders need to reconcile the vision with their talented workforce.
That creates what I call – The Performance Profiles needed to execute. That is not the same as a set of Job Specifications. It is a fresh set of business results the company needs each person to deliver over the forthcoming weeks and months.
Consequences
- Everyone’s role in the Company is refreshed and given new relevance. (I mean everyone)
- Everyone’s role is translated into challenging but fun performance profiles
- All performance profiles are aligned to the essential objectives of the company
- Sometimes roles become redundant and people evolve as a poor fit
I’ve taken a few extracts from four jobs below to illustrate my point:
CFO – Job Spec
Generate strong ratios that explain the financial performance of the company
CFO – Performance Profile
Build sales metrics which drive behavior trapped in visual dashboards and published daily
CMO – Job Spec
You will use social media to generate interest in the company
CMO – Performance Profile
Using social media, design a range of campaigns that capitalize on the technology and measure their impact.
Senior Sales – Job Spec
You will maximize sales in your chosen accounts
Senior Sales – Performance Profile
You will demonstrate on a consistent basis that you understand the business results being achieved for your designated accounts where you closed business
Technical Engineer – Job Spec
You will demo all products in sufficient detail to allow the customer to understand all our features
Technical Engineer – Performance Profile
Working alongside your Sales Professional you will assist clients in understanding the consequences of the business issues facing them. Only then will you assist demonstrating possible solutions
So you get the idea, performance profiles focus on the quality of performance linked to bigger objectives.
By the way it also requires a gutsy set of leaders and talented workforce to embrace this thinking. On the other hand you could remain invisible.
