What Covid has taught us about ‘Box Tickers’ and Business Growth?
How many "box tickers" do you have in your business?
How well do your staff know your business strategy and the relevance of their specific role?
These questions were triggered for me last week.
Unfortunately, I was deemed a "close contact" of a COVID case in Melbourne almost 2 weeks ago. The draconian laws of our state that is in "state of emergency" status, mandate that I therefore must "home quarantine" for 2 weeks. A 7 minute overlap with a potential COVID case in a large bicycle store has led to this big penalty. Anyway, last night I was "released" from my home quarantine 😊 But, being tracked and monitored by the Victorian government gave a me an inside view of their fragmented contract tracing processes, the narrow-minded focus of their staff, and a definite lack of knowledge as to what any of their roles were in the bigger picture.
In short, I had a home visit from a contract tracing individual, accompanied by two Army Officers – yes ARMY officers! The lady who turned up was what I would call a "box ticker". She just wanted to make sure that I was at home. Never mind that there were 4 other people who live with me, that for all she knew were circulating in the community. She had no curiosity, nor any other interest other than the fact that I was at home…at that moment she visited. The army officers were totally disinterested, some 3 or metres away from her, playing with their phones whilst she asked me the same questions 10 of her bureaucrat colleagues had asked me in the preceding 7 days…. I could go on and on, but my experience gave me some grave concerns, and triggered some considerations I think are essential for any CEOs, Business Owners, and leaders of businesses.
1. Whilst, YOU understand YOUR business inside-out, back-to-front, how well do ALL your staff understand the RELEVANCE of their specific role to the whole business?
2. How many "box tickers" do you have in your business?
3. What proportion of your staff, spot an issue, have enough care to ask the next question, and try and resolve the issue at hand (beyond just ticking a box)? And, how do you know this?
4. How many of your staff understand that bringing feedback to their management to improve the organisation, and enhance service delivery, is a critical part of their role? And how do you know this?
5. How many times in the last 3 months have you communicated your company’s One Phrase Strategy, your Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), your Company’s Core Values, its Core Purpose, and the business’ top 5 business priorities?
6. How well can all of your staff "join the dots" between their specific roles and your company’s strategy and critical measures?
As the CEO, Business Owner, and/or Leader of a business, you must be able to satisfactorily answer all of the questions above.
Doing this will help your growing business with the following:
Your staff are proactive, care for your business and its stakeholders, and offer feedback from the front line. Basically they will NOT be "box tickers", and in fact are incredible market-intelligence agents that help you meet the needs of your clients – the oxygen for you business.
Your staff and management are creating an environment where feedback is provided daily, weekly and monthly. This feedback generates suggestions from front-line experiences that enhances the business’ likelihood of success.
You communicate your company’s strategy, its core purpose, and other key elements over and over again. You are probably getting sick of it. They would have heard it many time. But, it is NEVER, EVER enough!
All staff should be able to understand the RELEVANCE of their role to the grand plan of the business. RELEVANCE of their role is a major contributor to EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT.
You and your leaders are constantly connecting with staff to assess their understanding of their RELEVANCE to the business. There will be some occasions where you can assist them to enhance their understanding. As CEO, it’s a great subject to check-in on this with them as you conduct your informal one-on-one connection discussions with them.
Keep on growing your business without the pain.
Visage Growth Partners