Where’s the Rest of Your Marketing Revenue Hiding?
This is the final installment in our three-part series focused on CMO pain points. Part 1 discusses the technical challenges of leveraging your martech stack while Part 2 focuses on the unique human challenges marketers face in our “New Normal.” Here, we discuss the solution to overcoming these challenges.
The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Strategic Annual Plan
The first step to achieving goals is to come up with an annual plan. A strategic annual plan makes it easier for managers, team leaders, and company owners to execute their vision for growth. Not only does creating an annual plan give you time to reflect on past accomplishments, but it’s also a great way to make ideas actionable. Keep reading to learn more about what annual planning is and how you can create one that has a significant impact on your organization. What is an annual plan? An annual business plan is a set of goals and milestones that guide a company's operations for the year ahead. It helps guide employees and investors in the right direction. For many people, this year's new year begins with a review of their previous year. They then set goals and make plans for the coming year. Annual planning is a combination of two other important elements: a business plan and an annual plan. A business plan is a document that a company or organization uses to set goals and improve performance. It's similar to a belt-tightening exercise. An annual plan is a strategy that a company uses to set goals and expectations for the coming year. It helps employees visualize where they are headed and how they can get there. The annual plan also sets out a company's long-term goals and helps guide how it will reach these targets. An annual business plan helps workers set goals and holds them accountable for achieving those goals for the upcoming 12 months. Then, there’s strategic planning. A strategic planning process helps an organization identify its mission, vision, and strategic goals. The strategic plan combined with the annual business plan are two key components of a successful strategy. The former provides a framework for the company's goals and intentions, while the latter provides the necessary tools and processes to execute those goals. Overview of a strategic annual plan Here is what is typically included in a strategic annual plan: Analysis of past performance. Reviewing your goals can help you identify areas where you can improve and become more productive. Budget estimations. Financial projections are often included in budget planning. They help you plan for the coming year and identify the right course of action for your projects. A clear vision statement. Expectations must be clearly stated, as well as responsibilities and clear OKRs. Having these elements in place can help keep teams on track and motivated. SMART goals. Set specific, measurable goals and deadlines for your company. This will help you measure how far you've come in terms of meeting the key results. Buffer room. A well-written annual plan should include space for emergencies as well. Having a contingency plan can help avoid unexpected expenses. In a nutshell: the annual plan is a strategy used to plan and execute the organization's goals and objectives. It is usually composed of three phases which are strategy, projects, and timing. The importance of an annual plan Annual planning helps define what's important to achieving goals and driving performance. An annual plan also helps keep the workforce united and can be used to motivate and retain employees. A well-written annual plan can help you set the direction for your company while providing the team with a sense of direction. Examples of annual strategic planning Here are some ideas to get you started with your own strategic annual plan: 1. Coca Cola HBC 2020 Integrated Annual Plan Coca-Cola's 246-page report details all aspects of their business. They start by celebrating their wins with statistics. They also include photos of actual customers and partners. Their CEO writes a letter to their stakeholders sharing their biggest accomplishments over the past year. Then they go through their vision. Throughout the strategy, you can see that they are using the pillar method for goal planning. Key areas of focus include leveraging existing business, continuing to win the beverage marketplace, making competitive investments, focusing on employee growth, and expanding their licensing. The overall report is designed well and is reminiscent of a well-crafted white paper. Because the CEO's letter was addressed specifically to stakeholders, we know that this is a tool for increasing investment as well as project planning. Because of this, a lot of the content within it answers the question, “why should I invest in you?” Throughout the rest of the annual plan, each pillar gets its own section. At the top of each section, there is a list of accomplishments from the past year and priorities for the coming year. They also summarize risks, stakeholders, and KPIs. This makes the packet easy to skim but also easy to remember. 2. pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) PepsiCo recently announced that their new 2022 initiative will revolve around “the planet and people.” While this is a long-term process for the brand, the launch will mark the core of their strategic annual plan for the foreseeable future. Their keywords include positivity (hence the “+”), sustainability, and “a fundamental transformation of what we do and how we do it.” On their dedicated landing page, readers can dig deeper into their annual plan. Also well designed, this presentation shows what the future looks like for PepsiCo through refreshed branding and imagery. Symbols such as smiling farmers and healthy, green fields drive the message home. To achieve these new goals, the company will focus on supply chains, inspiring consumers, and driving sustainable change among all its product lines. They link several documents throughout the report, including a comprehensive list of goals which is a great example for your own annual plan template inspiration. This three-page chart names pillars on the left-hand side and targets or actions with due dates on the right. If their goals have numerical metrics, they include data from past years, along with key benchmarks they hope to reach by the end of the year or in the future. Otherwise, their goals are measured in actions. For example, as part of their sustainability pillar, they plan to “develop and deploy disruptive sustainable packaging materials and new models for convenient foods and beverages.” This task is specific and clear, despite the fact that it’s not as quantifiable as some of their other goals. 3. Nestlé Global’s Annual Report Their annual plan is not public but they have shared an annual report on past wins from 2020. In addition to a financial review, Nestlé also shares a new strategy. Starting with important facts and figures the company highlights statistics from organic sales growth and more. They also visualize data about which types of products are selling most and where in the world the company has grown over the past year. As Coca-Cola did, Nestlé also includes a letter to shareholders. They discuss ways in which they plan to grow in the coming year. This includes what product areas they will invest more in and where they will pause or halt efforts. They also emphasize a new product area which will be the focus moving forward in the short term. In this section, Nestlé touches on long-term strategies and how these short-term goals will affect them. In general, their annual report focuses on the word innovation. It mostly has to do with developing new products and revamping old ones. Like PepsiCo, they are using sustainability as a pillar as well as e-commerce. The report goes on to elaborate on each strategy individually. Nestlé lists action steps and provides clear evidence as to why each is important. They also highlight statistics for growth in key areas and name even bigger numbers for where they hope to be in a year. Throughout the report, they include images from ad campaigns that demonstrate the change they wish to continue implementing as part of their marketing plan. Again, branding imagery makes a big difference when creating your own strategic annual plan. It sets the tone for what's written on the page and can help visual learners better understand what you're going for at a glance. Although Nestle's strategic annual plan is designed more like a white paper than a chart, this layout is the most magazine-like by far. It serves as a great example of how you can organize ideas on the page in a way that is interesting and attention-grabbing. One of the most notable aspects of their annual plan is the Materiality Matrix. They use this chart to visualize key areas of interest and prioritize them according to stakeholder values. Within each box, they’ve listed bullet points of business areas this value will impact. It’s a great method for summarizing goals that cover a wide variety of departments and business engagements. Understanding strategic planning best practices Everyone has their own way of thinking about annual plans. Regardless of what you’re trying to achieve, the following strategic planning best practices will help you get there: 1. Use SMART goals A variety of SMART goals are commonly used to help guide and motivate people. They help set realistic benchmarks and are designed to help teams achieve success. It will also help you plan for the ups and downs of your business. To reach your goals, divide them up into smaller goals and set specific deadlines. These goals will help you measure how successful you are at reaching them. 2. Include contingencies For example, having an emergency financial reservoir is a good idea to prevent a potential financial disaster. It can help your company navigate slower seasons while still sticking to your annual plan. 3. Build in flexibility Even minor shifts in external factors can significantly impact on how effective you are at creating and implementing your strategic plan. Never forget that, while we are creating our annual plans in a vacuum, the world will undoubtedly go through more changes this coming year. Even though we can’t predict the future, we can make our plans foolproof by being flexible now. What is an annual plan template? An annual plan template is a document or tool that can be utilized repeatedly to outline the various stages involved in creating an annual plan. Its purpose is to provide a clear understanding of the annual planning process by specifying the actions to be taken and the timeline to follow in order to develop an effective business plan. By utilizing the annual planning template, individuals or organizations can ensure that they have a systematic approach to reaching specific goals, and can enhance the quality of their business plans. Using Wrike to assist with an annual plan template Wrike’s project management software can help you keep track of all your company-related information in one place. It can also streamline your work and help you stay on track. It can also help you keep track of your annual plans and develop a strong strategy. Start by using last year as a reference. By understanding the issues that affected the previous year, a company can improve its performance in the following year. Draw reports of time spent per project and see where your team went over or underestimated. Then look at which tasks tend to drain resources the most. Determine whether or not the ROI is worth it moving forward. Next, set realistic goals. Reflect on last year's statistics from Wrike Reports and put together a plan with a realistic metric for improvement. After, break down big plans into individual steps. Start by focusing on the business goals of the company then outline your key objectives that align with those. Make sure that everyone knows who is responsible for executing and approving each task. Draft a Gantt chart that includes each step broken down into relevant tasks. Remember to add deadlines to every action to keep teammates accountable and keep to realistic deadlines. Then, delegate tasks according to strengths and weaknesses. Use project reporting and individual job performance to assess team members. You may find that those with specialized talent are being tasked with unskilled work when they could help solve major problems elsewhere. Don’t forget to involve the whole team. Start early, plan ahead, and keep everyone involved in the process. Doing so will make it easier to overcome obstacles once the projects are underway. Additionally, ask them for direct feedback on your ideas for the next year. You will learn from the front line what obstacles they may be facing that will affect the timeline. Another bonus of getting your team involved is that it creates more transparency in the workplace. Using Wrike as a part of the process is not only helpful, but the team also keeps learning how to use the system more efficiently as they go. Having a work management platform that enables you to plan and execute annual plans is a good idea. Plus, it's also a good idea to use tools that allow you to collaborate and manage complex processes. Create an effective annual plan today with Wrike’s free trial.
A Definitive Guide to Managing Different Generations in The Workplace
Having different generations in the workplace is common these days. In most cases, team members of varying ages work together on the same project or task. Others may even manage multiple generations of workers at the same time. This article aims to help people who work with and manage different generations in the workplace by developing a fair strategy that takes their unique qualities into account. We’ll also explain how to avoid making mistakes and dealing with multi-generational issues that may be new to you so that your entire team can feel comfortable at work. How generational diversity looks in the workplace The generational gap occurs when people are born at different times. It can affect how people behave and think at work. For example, members of the silent generation are typically portrayed as being very conservative, while baby boomers are likely to have more liberal fiscal tendencies. Although everyone is an individual with a unique personality type regardless of age, you may see common traits associated with each generation play out right in front of you. There is a lot of common ground between different generations in the workplace. Most of us like to feel valued at work. We also enjoy feeling as if we're making a difference and doing something meaningful for ourselves and others. And yet, teams with generation gaps can face challenges that relate to their ages while collaborating. Why? Having different generations in the workplace means that company culture and communication is not one size fits all across the board. Don’t force people to fit in the same work environment. Instead, set up guidelines that will allow everyone to feel comfortable. Another solution is to consider what values and habits each generation has to offer in a team setting. That’s not to be confused with stereotyping. Putting each generation into a box often encourages counterproductive assumptions. While it's true that working with different age groups can be challenging, it can also teach employees about differences in their abilities and attitudes. Here are the generations you may see in the workplace today and what defines them: Generation Z Gen Z is focused on core values of being smart, funny, and witty. They may also consider diversity to be an important consideration for hiring, especially at the management level. Gen Zers want to work with like-minded individuals who share similar goals and values. This generation's managers should help them develop and grow by providing them with the right support and resources. Millennials Performance is very important to millennials. They are more concerned with the quality of their work than the number of hours they put in. To ensure that they are being treated fairly, managers should communicate honestly with their employees. The idea of an “always-on” work culture is not acceptable to most. Generation X Gen Xers are known to be individualistic, having been former latchkey kids. They may also prefer to manage their work and physical and psychological space in a more flexible manner. As a result, they often prefer to work with less supervision and are more comfortable communicating with others through various forms of media such as email and Facebook. Flexibility and a solid work/life balance are non-negotiable for this generation. Baby boomers Baby boomers are known for their work ethic and goal-oriented processes. They value face-to-face interaction and traditional recruitment methods. Structure, reliability, and flexible work policies are all ideal for this group. Acknowledgment for their skills and hard work will go a long way with this generation, although most employees would likely be grateful for that too. While we’ve mentioned some tips for each already, it's important to listen to the different work styles of multi-generational employees and communicate with them through various channels regardless of their age. Even the smallest details can make a significant impact on their work experience. Take onboarding for example. While some generations may prefer to receive information via email, others may ask to see printed copies of pamphlets and manuals. How do you manage a generation gap in the workplace? There are many differences between generations. While many people can agree that working together is beneficial, others believe it can be problematic. Managers must ask themselves: with the rise of multi-generational work environments, how do we work together seamlessly? Regardless of our age or experience, everyone wants respect. In order to succeed, older generations need to respect their younger colleagues and vice versa. While it may seem like a challenge at first, managing different generations in the workplace has its benefits. Generational diversity can help people develop new ideas and improve their work. It can also make managing other types of diversity and inclusion an action step rather than an idea. As you begin to develop your strategy, it’s wise to work with the group on issues that affect everyone. For example, creating stress-relieving fundamentals can help businesses retain employees and attract new ones companywide regardless of age. What are the challenges of working with different generations? Intergenerational conflict has been a growing issue over recent years. Concerns over climate change and political unrest have, in some cases, made conversations between different age groups a bit standoffish at best and downright hostile at worst. When there are many different generations in the workplace, there is a real risk of conflict and misunderstanding. Make sure you have a clear communication plan with everyone’s preferences laid out ahead of time. You’ll also need a documented and fair system for how you’ll address missteps between team members. Another one of the challenges of working with different generations is compensation. Different phases of an employee's life may affect their compensation and benefits package. Younger employees may also be focused on training opportunities or flexible work days since their entry-level wages are assumed to be low. On the flip side, older generations may expect and take pride in handling more complex or senior-level tasks. This is because their compensation packages tend to be higher and would match the workload. Understanding how compensation levels also affect how different generations think and feel about each other in the workplace will help managers better understand their teams. How should you handle generational issues in the workplace? If you’re of a younger generation and you are placed in a management position, there’s a chance that you’ll be overseeing older, more experienced (and sometimes more qualified) colleagues. To navigate this, you’ll need to establish trust in yourself and in others. This is especially true for anyone working under you who already has experience in leadership. If you’re of an older generation and you are placed in a management position, understand that there may be younger employees who have a different way of problem-solving or communicating than you do. Speaking of communication, how team members communicate is different for different generations. For instance, younger team members tend to use more slang and abbreviations in their messages. Older team members are more likely to use emojis in their communications. These seem innocent at first but can create rifts between members if not acknowledged upfront. For example, an older team member sending a thumbs-up emoji may seem like a friendly confirmation that they’ve received a message. But to a younger team member, it may come off as condescending or even angry. Getting everyone on the same page about communication style will go a long way towards resolving and even preventing issues like this. The same applies to your communication with the rest of the team. Sticking rigidly to your own preferred means and style of communication can alienate others, even as a team leader. Try to modify your message to suit the needs of whichever generation you’re speaking to in that moment. But no matter how much you prepare, you may find that you make a mistake here and there. When that happens, simply remember to be understanding and graceful with how you handle the situation. How to create a strategy for motivating different generations in the workplace 1. Do your research Understanding what makes other generations tick can help avoid division and conflict. There are many different ways to work and each generation has its own needs and wants. For example, many Generation Xers are known for being devoted to helping older adults and their children. So incentives revolving around health insurance benefits or anything else that directly supports the goals they have for their loved ones is a major plus. On the other hand, members of Generation Y enjoy being sociable outside of work and believe it is important for their careers. Opportunities for networking are more often than not a success with this group. 2. Consider the viewpoints of each team member Despite best intentions, there are many ways that ageism and cognitive bias toward different generations can show up in the workplace, such as stereotyping co-workers based on how they dress or their social media usage. If you notice or hear about intergenerational stereotyping among your colleagues, don’t be afraid to start a dialogue about it. Emphasize the idea that, instead of assuming that everyone is the same, employees should try accepting others based on their merits and contribution to shared projects. 3. Strategically place different generations on projects together so that their work complements one another For example, baby boomers can pass on their knowledge and experiences to Generation Y with digital tools and systems that Generation Z sets up for them. Remember that successful multi-generational teams are built on the strength of their individual performers. One way you can manage this step is by using a project management tool such as Wrike. In Wrike, users can signify which employees possess what skills and assign them to projects accordingly. This can also be used to view individual employee workloads across all active projects. 4. Never assume that an employee will have certain skills or abilities just because of their age This assumption most often shows up when technology is involved. Give everyone the opportunity to demonstrate what they are capable of and go from there. 5. Go out of your way to help employees bond with teammates of different generations Monthly mentoring sessions are a great example of this. This will encourage employees to share knowledge and be more open to learning from one another. By the way, mentoring doesn’t necessarily have to be one older person coaching a younger person. You can throw out conventions and offer mentorships led by the younger generations in the office too. If mentoring doesn’t apply to your field, try building up a social calendar. Plan team-building activities and happy hours so people can get to know each other. Team members will get the opportunity to appreciate each other more outside of email and Slack. Finally, find the similarities and preferences the different generations do share and use them to form the basis of your managerial choices. For example, if both your millennial and your Generation X employees prefer one-on-one performance feedback, adding that to your strategy will help. In conclusion At the end of the day, the key to understanding and respecting other generations is to accept that they are different from you. It’s always important to acknowledge individual strengths, weaknesses, and skills, regardless of how old a team member is. With the right strategy, you can reap the benefits of a multi-generational workforce and build a stronger foundation for long-term success.
3 Types of Feedback Leaders Must Give to Develop Their Teams
Most managers think they give enough feedback, but their team members’ opinions prove this isn’t true. Zarvana CEO and founder Matt Plummer discusses different types of feedback productive managers should give and how frequently they should be given in order to raise employee engagement and growth.
What is Employee Wellbeing and Why Does it Matter?
Employee wellbeing is a critical component of a healthy working environment and organization. Companies that promote wellbeing make it easier for employees to manage stress levels while also maintaining a positive and productive environment. Wellbeing can refer to mental and physical health, as well as more complex things such as satisfaction and engagement levels. In this article, we’ll explain what employee wellbeing is, why it matters, and how to create the best employee wellbeing program in a workplace using a project management solution. What is employee wellbeing? Employee wellbeing is defined as the overall mental, physical, emotional, and economic health of your employees. It’s influenced by various factors such as their relationships with co-workers, the decisions they make, and the tools and resources they have access to. Hours, pay, and workplace safety also have a significant impact on employee wellbeing. While it will vary from person to person, employee wellbeing should average out to a level that allows for a productive and healthy workplace. Outside factors contribute to employee wellbeing too. Stress around issues such as housing, health, and family all play a role in performance at work. However, employers can acknowledge they have no control over what takes place after hours while still taking responsibility for what they can do for their employees. According to a recent employee wellbeing study by Alight, less than half of U.S. employees have a positive perception of their overall wellbeing. Overall, there has been a major decline in employee wellbeing from early 2020 to mid-2021, even as employees return to work at the office again. Why does wellbeing at work matter? It is the employers' duty to provide their workers with the necessary support and care for their physical and mental health. Despite this, many organizations still don't have a dedicated wellbeing strategy. A wellbeing strategy can help employees feel valued and supported at work. It can also improve employee engagement and motivate teams companywide to reach their goals. One recent historical example of why it’s important to improve employee wellbeing comes from the United States film and entertainment industry. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), which represents a wide range of technicians responsible for film and television production behind the scenes, recently considered a strike to improve employee wellbeing. Issues such as inhumane hours, inadequate rest, and inadequate pay are affecting all areas of employee health. In fact, many are now coming forward to explain how a lack of care and action towards improved employee wellbeing is affecting them on a personal level. Clearly, employee wellbeing is a fundamental building block of all organizations. Even if your company is smaller or in a different field, you may still find that there are plenty of meaningful ways to improve the quality of life for everyone involved. Being proactive about employee wellbeing now can improve or even save lives in the future. The advantages of good employee health and wellbeing When employees feel well, they tend to perform better. This increases productivity and helps employees develop better habits. Studies show that workers are 13% more productive when happy. Habits such as healthy and consistent work/life balance policies from management are a good example of how employers can help increase joy. These habits also ensure business continuity, even during busy seasons. Good employee health and wellbeing also leads to higher employee morale. When employees have their needs met, they feel valued and competent as a result. As one corporate wellness program points out, “it’s also about preventing lost time due to absenteeism, stress, and illness. These issues cost many companies far more money than traditional healthcare costs”. Although great employee morale is, in itself, the biggest benefit for companies, preventing foreseeable problems like these is also important. If you’re recruiting or plan to recruit in the next year, creating a plan to improve employee wellbeing can help you attract and retain skilled individuals. For example, 38% of Gen Z job seekers consider a healthy working environment to be their number one factor in choosing a company to work for. Benefits such as increased sick days and mental health services go a long way toward enticing top talent from this generation to apply. Even if you’re not hiring now, an employee wellbeing program can also help you avoid losing talented candidates now. Many companies have learned firsthand that treating employees well is the key to creating a great customer experience. Simply having a happy and satisfied staff has been shown to improve the way clients feel too. As HR Zone points out, this is especially important in the wake of the pandemic, as many customer-facing employees have dealt with extreme emotions and demands from people experiencing prolonged stress from the pandemic. That, combined with safety measures making it difficult to engage in activities most people use to destress, makes it even more important for employers to take responsibility in this area. The challenges of wellness initiatives in the workplace One of the biggest challenges of wellness initiatives in the workplace is setting and measuring goals. Getting a clear idea of what your current employee wellbeing looks like can be tricky. Not only is it subjective, but some employees may not feel comfortable responding truthfully in case their complaints come back to haunt them. For that reason, even anonymous surveys may not give the whole picture. Many traditional incentive programs rely on metrics such as blood pressure and body mass index, but these are often inaccurate too. As a result, many companies are now asking their workers to provide their health information in exchange for insurance plans that are higher-cost. This practice could put older workers and part-time employees at financial risk if they are unable to make up the difference in the cost at their current wage. Another issue is execution. Some companies may not be able to provide the programs that they promised to offer. Or if they do take action, the resources and policies they endorse may not be widely used. Having a constant eye on employee reactions to the program and obtaining feedback can help solve this problem. How to create an effective employee wellbeing program with Wrike Truthfully, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to designing an employee wellbeing strategy. That’s because it should be based on the unique needs and characteristics of your organization. However, if you create a more robust framework to promote mental health, you’ll not only improve the culture surrounding employee wellbeing, but you’ll also improve the lives of everyone involved. That’s where an employee wellbeing program comes in. An effective employee wellbeing program begins with strong communication. To have strong communication, you’ll need to introduce formal project management software for implementing your program. Doing so will show senior leaders and employees that everyone understands the seriousness of workplace health and wellbeing. It’s also a great way to test out, measure, and get feedback on initiatives. Next, you’ll need a project management solution to bring employee wellbeing from theoretical to practical. Even the best intentions fall short when action steps aren’t assigned and carried out. Use Wrike to create a project timeline or to separate employee wellbeing initiatives into quarterly goals. Then, add project phases for program implementation. After, you can begin adding specific tasks such as announcing the program, creating documents explaining the benefits, and facilitating feedback from current employees. Include individual deadlines for each task and assign them to specific managers to ensure that someone is accountable. Wrike can also help you manage and organize goal-related data. Ask for employee feedback and reports from managers directly on the platform. Use @mentions to grab the attention of individuals who need to turn in related paperwork and let them know what’s missing. Once those are collected, you can also securely store documents and manage permission settings within the platform. If your employee wellbeing program is already underway, Wrike can help you manage common health issues employees face at one point or another. For example, if you're noticing signs of employee burnout, Wrike's Workload Charts will help management see and evaluate individual tasks across all projects on one screen to avoid the detrimental effects of assignment overload. Ready to improve employee health and wellbeing? Sign up for a free trial and get started today.
How to Inspire Disengaged Employees and Manage Detachment
You have a rockstar employee on your team. They always go the extra mile, wrap up projects before the assigned due date, volunteer for new work, and always lend a helping hand. Suddenly, you start to notice that employee pulling back. They stop going above and beyond and barely meet minimum requirements, start missing deadlines, and act bothered every time you interact with them. Why the change? You might have a disengaged employee on your hands. Don’t panic yet. With a solid understanding of disengaged employees, how to identify them, what they cost your business, and how to help get them back on track, you’ll have your top-notch employee back in the groove in no time. What is a disengaged employee? Employees can exhibit levels of disengagement in various ways. But generally speaking, a disengaged employee isn’t enjoying their work, is unlikely to go the extra mile on any project or task, and may actively dislike the company they are working for. Even worse? Disengaged employees are sometimes known to spread negativity amongst other employees — meaning it’s important to nip disengagement and detachment in the bud. How to identify a disengaged employee The first step in addressing the problem is identifying disengagement by spotting the warning signs. Keep an eye out for these red flags and common characteristics of a disengaged employee: Employees withdraw or act disinterested. Disengaged employees may not become disengaged overnight. This change might happen slowly over time, and it starts with signs of withdrawal and general disinterest. Say you have an employee who always used to raise their hand and dive into new projects, but lately, they seem less likely to volunteer or avoid new work altogether. This is a common sign of someone who is becoming disengaged. Employees frequently become absent without prior planning or reasoning. Absenteeism is a red flag when it comes to a detached employee. If you notice that an employee stops coming to work suddenly or starts using multiple sick days back to back, your employee is potentially displaying signs of disengagement (although, of course, remember that they could actually be ill too). Employees miss deadlines and don’t seem to care. Disengaged employees likely aren’t striving for maximum quality and may not care if they aren’t fulfilling expectations. These employees might be doing just enough to keep their jobs or continuously ask for extensions on projects because they aren’t making any progress. If an employee’s productivity is declining, it can signal low engagement. Employees show a negative change in attitude. We all have bad days, but if an employee repeatedly acts out through rudeness, cynicism, or other negative feelings, this change in attitude might signal a larger problem. No matter the cause of the attitude shift, it’s essential to get ahead of this type of behavior before it impacts your other employees, or even worse, your clients and customers. Employees start defying the rules. Resistance to feedback and suggestions and refusing work when it’s assigned can be a sign of disengagement. Defiance could be an employee’s way of trying to feel heard or expressing their anger or boredom resulting from feeling disengaged. Sure, there could be other issues at hand like company-wide changes, for example, but constant defiance is a behavior that you should keep an eye on. How can employee disengagement impact a business? So, how costly is having disengaged employees? Disengaged employees leave their marks on businesses and can cause more of a ripple effect than you might realize. According to a Gallup report, companies with higher employee engagement see better customer engagement, higher productivity, better retention, and higher profitability by 21%. If that’s not convincing enough, another study revealed that disengaged employees in the U.S. cost companies anywhere between $450 and $550 billion per year. And when we look at turnover, a Korn Ferry study revealed that 33% of respondents cited boredom as their top reason for looking for a new job. So, when disengagement is severe enough, businesses have to deal not only with the cost of losing employees, but having to train new hires to replace them as well. How to help and manage detached employees Needless to say, employee disengagement has a big impact on businesses, from cost to culture and everything in between. With an employee engagement strategy and thoughtful plans for managing disengaged employees, you can help your detached employees and your business before it’s too late. Let’s take a look at tips for managing detached employees. 1. Communicate more frequently with detached employees Communication is crucial for creating a high-engagement culture. A disengaged employee may start communicating less with their teammates and manager, but increasing communication is a must to help them get back on track. Using a centralized tool like Wrike can ensure that your teams communicate and connect frequently. Keep in mind that communication is a two-way street, which means if your employee has feedback to share with you, it’s essential to hear them out and make a note of areas of improvement on your side. 2. Identify motivators and create a professional growth plan An employee might be tasked with work that isn’t motivating or exciting, leading to disengagement. Knowing how to motivate a disengaged employee can help you get them back on track. Spend some time with your employee, identify natural talents and hidden motivators, and see if you can squeeze in new work that aligns better for them. Maybe your employee is in a role that isn’t a good fit any longer, but there might be another role better suited for them within the organization. In this instance, you should follow the same process of identifying key motivators and where that type of work might appear within your organization. If a transition plan is needed, consider developing a professional growth plan together. Put that plan into a project management tool like Wrike to keep track of progress and hold each other accountable for the transition’s agreed-upon timeline. 3. Reward positive behavior and improvement Communicating with your detached employee and identifying an actionable path forward together provides the opportunity to see positive behavior change. That change shouldn’t go unnoticed. When you see a shift in behavior and your employee starts to become more engaged, pause and take time to reward the improvement you’re seeing. Consider asking your employees how they prefer to be recognized for their achievements in advance (such as when you onboard them), so you can recognize them in a way that’s meaningful to them. 4. Regularly conduct employee engagement surveys Employee engagement surveys are a useful tool to help you get ahead of disengaged employees by giving them an opportunity to share feedback and voice their concerns. Conduct surveys of your workforce at least annually to gather feedback and address areas of improvement on the business side. Be mindful of any concerns that multiple employees raise. When possible, follow up with employees who seem disengaged or frustrated through their survey results to get ahead of more severe levels of disengagement down the road. Disengagement doesn’t have to be an inevitability When you notice an employee is becoming more detached and disengaged, that isn’t the point of no return — instead, it’s the time when you need to step in and right the ship. Getting disengaged employees back on track isn’t easy, but it’s almost always more than worth the effort. Give all of your employees the transparency and visibility they need to succeed. Get started with Wrike today.
5 Digital Transformation Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Digital transformation has been happening since the personal computer was invented and was turbocharged when the internet came along, as people were able to communicate instantly across the globe. The “cloud” was the next big revelation, as teams worldwide could access their data securely no matter where they operated. Fast forward to 2020, and the pandemic forced many organizations to shift how they worked together overnight as digital transformation came to the forefront once again. McKinsey notes that responses to the pandemic have sped up the adoption of digital technologies by several years and that many of these changes could endure long into the future. After all, Zoom is now a household name thanks to millions of companies transitioning to remote work and embracing virtual collaboration. The workplace will continue to evolve as organizations look to work smarter and be more efficient. But what is digital transformation? What should organizations be aware of as they continue to move towards the future of work? And how can you overcome the biggest digital transformation challenges to reach success in this new environment? What is digital transformation? Digital transformation is different at every organization. It involves having an open mindset to establish new paradigms with how teams work internally with each other and externally with customers. It’s about leveraging modern technology to inform how a business is run and encompasses everything from improving business processes, to revamping your internal culture, and enhancing customer interactions. With the massive shift to digital, the increase of emerging tech has led many companies to experience digital fatigue as they adopt more apps and software to “always be on” while working remotely. It’s not just about adopting technology, though. It’s also about having a forward-thinking growth mindset. On the corporate side, being able to innovate faster and keep up with the times are at the top of the priority list of why organizations embrace digital transformation. There are many reasons why you might consider investing in technology, but successfully implementing it often comes with the following digital transformation challenges. Five common digital transformation challenges Establishing executive buy-in Getting executive buy-in is often the biggest hurdle because they may have established workflows or invested in tech that were once effective but are now outdated. The pandemic may have changed all that. At the beginning of 2020, 67% of U.S. CEOs expressed concerns about migrating all of their business to the cloud. At present, most companies have had no choice but to embrace digital technologies. That initial hesitation quickly switched to necessity — so much so that 70% of CEOs say that the creation of new digital business models and revenue streams has been accelerated by months or years due to the pandemic. Hard to argue with results like that. To keep up with the times, not giving new technology or processes a chance can be even riskier than doing nothing. Dealing with employee pushback On the flip side, your executive management team may be now challenging the status quo they established when the company was founded and going all-in on digital transformation. Just because the C-level may be convinced that disrupting business processes and investing in newer digital tools is the new way to go, doesn’t mean everyone in the organization has bought in. So, if getting executive buy-in is priority one — since they approve the budget — then getting departmental buy-in from team leaders and their employees is priority one-A. They’re likely the ones using these tools on a daily basis so they need to buy-in more than anyone. With any new tech on the job, your team might be uncomfortable using it at first. That’s normal because they’re accustomed to familiar processes and by introducing anything new, that familiarity is disrupted. “That’s the way we’ve always done it” can’t be a valid response when an organization looks to outpace its competition and scale. Just make sure the reasons for embracing digital transformation are for the long term. Remember, your digital transformation journey doesn’t belong to one individual or department. Keep employees engaged during the onboarding process by encouraging them to ask questions and be involved with the deployment. Doing this can empower them and have them feel more involved in the decision making rather than being mandated to use the new tech. Furthermore, already having (or implementing) an agile strategy can help your team navigate uncertainty as you roll out new technologies or processes during the Next Normal. You’re relying on legacy tools too much Imagine if your team was limited to pen and paper; using sticky notes to communicate, desk calendars to schedule meetings, and relying on phone calls to check in on projects. It’s hard to fathom any business in 2021 being able to scale and collaborate efficiently with such primitive methods when there’s many sophisticated solutions now available. If you’re relying on legacy tools like email and spreadsheets, which are no doubt a step above handwritten notes and phone calls, these have their own set of limitations. Your inbox and spreadsheets still have a place, but modern teams need more than these foundational tools. The biggest issues are scalability and versatility. Searching your email for project updates and asset feedback is tedious and time-consuming. Questions like, “Where is the most recent version of the demo video?” and “Which one-pager do I need to give feedback and approve?” would be difficult to resolve scouring your email inbox. With spreadsheets, not only are they mind-numbing to look at, but even with advanced formulas and formatting, they lack the versatility of cloud tools. And you can forget about saving files to spreadsheets or setting project reminders because that’s nonexistent with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Features like online visual asset proofing provide widespread visibility into time-sensitive feedback along with automatic user notifications, which speed up approval times. Collaborating is easier than ever today because everything lives in the cloud. When you manage your work in a collaborative work management (CWM) solution like Wrike, it’s a master system of record that stores all your comments and file updates, automates approvals, tracks your team’s hourly rates, and a whole lot more. Plus, with built-in features like the @mention and cross-tagging, you can keep everyone in the loop. It’s your paper trail that details everything happening with ongoing and future work. When an organization’s goal is to be agile and scalable, relying on legacy tools might be “familiar” but not the best business decision. Updating your tech stack would be best for the long term, even if there are short-term struggles with getting your team onboard. Overcoming budget constraints Adopting a digital transformation mindset is necessary to innovate faster and be more resilient, but your budget may be limited to move away from legacy processes into more modern tools. Building the business case for a new technology can be intimidating because it’s often seen as your “one shot” to get budget approval. When it’s time to introduce a new technology to your team, it’s easier when there are low barriers to entry, like a software free trial. As you begin building the business case, give examples of how your team missed a deadline or is constantly experiencing bottlenecks with its work and not meeting its KPIs. Then, experiment by managing a few projects in a new software and document your team’s experience. What was superior compared to the old system? Could they track project progress better? What were the bottom-line results? Analyzing the project and answering these types of questions can go a long way in getting budget approval. Wrike Free, for instance, allows unlimited users to manage their work in a centralized hub, typical of how enterprise and hypergrowth organizations manage their work. Unlimited users means nobody on your team is excluded and gets to work out of the same platform. With 200 subtasks available, it’s a fantastic entry point for organizations looking to experience the benefits of a robust CWM system. Syncing all your tech As you consider adding new tools to your tech stack, figuring out how to make them pass the relevant data back and forth can be overwhelming. Unless you have a strong IT or technological background, dealing with APIs can be confusing and too much “tech speak.” When you work in Wrike, integration is a breeze because Wrike Integrate enables you to sync more than 400+ prebuilt connectors to cloud and on-premises enterprise applications. It also lets you connect Wrike to thousands more using universal connectors to apps with accessible APIs. What’s even better, it’s a no-code system, and very intuitive for any user skill set. Don’t let digital transformation challenges overwhelm you Whether you’re looking to adopt new technologies or revamp your business processes, don’t let it overwhelm you. When you’re ready to experience how hypergrowth and enterprise organizations manage their work with a CWM, go here to start your Wrike free trial.
Understanding Self-Serving Bias in The Workplace
Making mistakes at work is normal. However, if people begin to avoid blame, self-serving bias may be creeping into your work culture. Self-serving bias is a way of thinking that makes a person see themselves in a more favorable way than they really are. In essence, it’s the reason why many people believe that the success they’ve achieved is purely down to them alone. It may sound like a minor issue but it’s a bias that has the potential to disrupt productivity at best and mean the difference between life or death at worst. In this article, we’ll provide an insight into what self-serving bias is, how it is dangerous in the workplace, and how to avoid it. We’ll also share some practical tips for managers and team leaders on how to deal with self-serving bias in the workplace before it takes over. What does self-serving bias mean? If someone demonstrates self-serving bias, it suggests that they are more likely to blame others for their failures than themselves. We often rely on this cognitive bias to protect and boost our self-esteem. But in the workplace, it can make even the most humble fail to see their own shortcomings or errors. This bias is incredibly common in our lives, and it can be overcome by practicing self-compassion. Our brains are biased when it comes to making decisions because we are primed to see the world exclusively from our perspective. These biases are caused by issues with memory and attention, and they can often be dangerous in group environments. However, they help people make sense of the world and make fast decisions, which is why it’s key for survival. But when this bias comes up in a scenario that is not life-threatening, it can affect others socially and professionally. If we work to decrease instances of self-serving bias in the workplace, managers can achieve everything from increasing overall productivity to speeding up the hiring process. Why can self-serving behavior be damaging at work? Self-serving behavior at a managerial level can be damaging to workplace culture and employee retention. Having an ethical climate at work (particularly one that keeps self-serving behavior in check) decreases the likelihood of having difficult employees. According to a study published by the Journal of Business Ethics, the relationship between self-serving leader behavior and employees’ desire for retaliation and supervisor-directed deviance is stronger when unethical actions fueled by self-serving bias and other similar issues are present. In other words, if your workplace allows managers and leaders to regularly act on their self-serving bias, your employees will notice and they won’t be happy about it. Similarly, when self-serving bias is acted upon at the employee level, the consequences are noticeable. These include everything from quitting to leaving job-related tasks unfulfilled. At the very least, a self-serving employee is unable to perform their job to their highest potential. They can also decrease morale for the rest of the team. It may seem like common sense, but when one employee sees another get away with unfair behavior, it makes them feel less motivated to align with expectations. After all, why should everyone else follow the rules if the self-serving employee is getting away with not doing so? In extreme cases, self-serving bias can quite literally be the difference between life or death, especially when it is found in the medical field. According to research by Linda Babcock and George Loewenstein, even the most well-meaning doctors are susceptible to self-serving bias. “Transplant surgeons, for example, must often decide how to allocate scarce organs between potential recipients. To maintain favorable statistics, their self-interest may not be to transplant those who would benefit most in terms of increased survival, but instead those where the probability of a successful operation is highest,” writes Babcock and Loewenstein. “Based on the research we have reviewed, it seems likely that transplant surgeons' views of who benefits most from the transplant will be distorted by their interest in ‘cream-skimming,’” they conclude. In other words, self-serving bias isn’t always meant to be selfish, even if the end result favors the decision-maker. It can often be perpetrated by the very systems we utilize in the workplace every day. Even if your firm doesn’t deal with matters as high stakes as organ transplants, you may be surprised to discover the hidden ways self-serving bias negatively affects your team’s ability to conquer workplace terrors, despite the best of intentions. Fundamental attribution error vs self-serving bias The concept of self-serving biases emerged during the 1960s and 1970s. It was discovered by Fritz Heider who was studying attribution at the time. His results proved the theory that people tend to believe things go well because of how great they are at whatever skills are needed to accomplish the task. And when things go wrong, it’s because of a negative situation or a third party. Take test grades for example. It’s not uncommon for people to blame a bad grade on a teacher but take all the credit for themselves when they earn top scores. Not sure what the difference is between self-serving bias and the concept of attribution? These two concepts have a symbiotic relationship. Think of the concept of attribution as the cause and the self-serving bias theory as the result. Here’s a side-by-side comparison: Fundamental Attribution Self-Serving Bias Not taking responsibility for negative outcomes Taking responsibility for positive outcomes Focuses on situational factors Focuses on internal factors Negatively reinforces distrust and pessimism Positively reinforces ego The root cause of self-serving bias and other related biases A type of fundamental attribution Systematic error in judgment Self-defense mechanism Examples of self-serving bias in the workplace Self-serving bias is all about taking credit for work success regardless of the situation. Here are some examples: A vendor accepting praise for the on-time delivery of materials one week but blaming shipping freight issues for other delayed packages the next. A manager evaluating their team’s performance solely based on the aspects their own supervisor will be looking out for in the manager’s own performance review. A team lead assumes responsibility for the success of a project they oversaw rather than crediting it all to their colleagues who created the product. A collaborator choosing to believe their increased productivity has more to do with their own time management skills than the new project management software they’ve adopted. A business owner failed to recognize the support of their staff who helped them win an entrepreneurial achievement award. How to avoid self-serving bias at work There are plenty of ways to avoid self-serving bias at work and create an environment where employees are encouraged to maintain a healthy sense of self-esteem while also growing their skill sets. As a leader, it’s your job to implement the self-work and workplace culture listed in these suggestions: Show gratitude When a product is successful, the best thing you can do to defeat self-serving bias is to publicly thank the people who helped make it possible. This can be something as simple as sending out a celebration message tagging the appropriate team members on your instant messaging platform. Or it can be something formal like a congratulatory dinner after a large or long-term project is complete. Whatever you do, just make sure to look around you and ask yourself whether or not you really could have done this on your own. Keep a journal Journals are a great way to keep track of your growth over time. At the end of each workday, take a moment to consider what you did well and one thing you like to improve on tomorrow. Building this habit will help you see your own work from a more subjective place. Encourage employees to do the same and hold an accountability group if people are interested in participating. If journaling turns out to be an effective tool for you, consider setting aside even more time to evaluate your skills on a big-picture level. Set intentions As a leader in the workplace, you have a responsibility to determine how you want projects to go. A great way to consciously practice this is to set intentions for your day, week, month, or for every assignment. You can set the simple intention to continually monitor your own self-serving bias throughout the day. Or you can look for ways to improve when you do encounter a stumbling block. Share your intentions with your team so that you have a shared vision you're all working toward. Systemize feedback The best way to systemize feedback is to clearly track who is responsible for what and whether or not they've achieved the goal for their portion of the project. A visual project management tool will make it easy to evaluate performance at a glance. You'll also be able to fairly provide feedback since details such as due dates and expectations will be clearly laid out. Go a step further and create a rubric for performance that is based on key performance indicators rather than opinions. Need a place to start? Why not brainstorm solutions for self-serving bias together. Identify motivations Consider whether or not your team members have an internal or external locus of control. An internal locus of control assumes that actions and outcomes are an individual's responsibility. An external locus of control assumes that actions and outcomes are the responsibilities of outside forces. Those with an internal locus of control are motivated by themes of self-improvement. But those with an external locus of control thrive when project elements that impact their work are thought out and managed well. This allows them to release the stress of monitoring those aspects and instead concentrate on their own contributions. And if things do go wrong, they’re more likely to see how their actions may have affected the outcome when all other elements are in place. Welcome feedback It's important to create an environment in which other managers, employees, and collaborators feel comfortable providing constructive criticism and feedback on everyone else’s work. If giving and receiving feedback graciously is part of your workplace culture, it will be easier to identify self-serving bias before it gets out of hand. This also means providing a safe way to communicate these ideas. Some employees may feel like they can't speak to higher-ups about ways we can make their management style more compatible with the team. But in order for the step to work, feedback must go both ways. Not only will this make employees feel more empowered, but it will also keep self-serving bias in check among management. Focus on process At the end of the day, self-serving bias is all about taking credit or putting the blame on someone else for the end product. But the truth is, the most important part of any project is the process. The process will help you determine who is responsible for what, while clearly setting expectations. That way, even if an employee is struggling with self-serving bias, they’ll be able to see for themselves what tasks they've completed and how their work will affect the rest of the project as a whole. When you have Gantt charts right in front of you, it's hard to shy away from personal responsibility. Using tools such as color-coded tasks to assign responsibilities and making timelines visible for all project members helps everyone look at their own role more subjectively. Want to limit the influence of common cognitive biases in the workplace and get more done? Use Wrike to clearly plan out responsibilities and subjectively evaluate performance using data-backed reporting. Start your two-week free trial today.
How Goal-Setting Software Can Keep You on Track
Thinking about goals is easy, but setting and completing them is tougher. Only a mere 8% of people consistently achieve their New Year’s Eve goals, which, according to the Harvard Business Review, has a lot to do with a cognitive bias toward seeking unattainable benchmarks. In this article, we’ll teach you how to make your team members of that 8% by using goal-setting software to manage projects and keep collaborators on track. Keep reading for practical tips on how to overcome the most common challenges with free and effective goal-setting software tools. What is goal-setting software? Goal-setting software is a tool you can use to plan, track, and execute your goals. It often includes visual elements such as Gantt charts and project timelines that make it easy to see your team’s progress right in front of you. You can add details such as due dates and outside collaborators for when your goal requires a little extra help. You can also plan multiple goals at once and see how they all work together or against each other. The advantages of goal-setting A goal-based approach helps people reach their objectives and keep them on track over a period of time. It sets realistic expectations and encourages everyone involved to hold each other accountable. Plus, it turns ideas from inside your head to vivid plans that come to life in the real world. As leadership expert Mark Murphy notes, “Vividly describing your goals in written form is strongly associated with goal success, and people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals than people who don’t.” Challenges of goal-setting Creating goals is hard because we have so many traps that keep us from reaching them. From cognitive biases to conflicting priorities to unclear roadmaps, the chances of falling for one of the many common pitfalls of goal-setting are considerable. From a management perspective, goal-setting software can help overcome the following challenges of goal-setting when working with a team: Miscommunication regarding project files and due dates, plus roles and responsibilities that eat up valuable project time. Unclear benchmarks and workflows that confuse instead of empower teams. Vague KPIs that lead to unfocused work or results. A waste of valuable resources like time due to poor management or communication. Free online goal-setting tools Free online goal-setting tools help you reach goals and motivate others. Unlike analog goal-setting, online tools help reinforce good habits teamwide and offer time-saving features such as built-in reminders. Tools like Wrike are compatible with the S.M.A.R.T. goal structure since they offer much more detail without overcomplicating plans to the point of futility. You can also modify your plans along the way with tools that forecast how changes will help or hurt your main objectives. How to use Wrike as your goal-setting software Wrike is a goal-setting software teams rely on to deliver high-quality work consistently and on time. Whether you’re managing one or one thousand individuals, having a goal-setting software makes it easier to organize, communicate, and fully achieve your vision. Not only do the visual elements hold users accountable, but they also offer in-depth analysis of workflows that simple pen and paper goal-setting systems simply cannot. Here’s a quick summary of what you’ll need to do: Create a shared folder to organize and manage your team's tasks. Create a subfolder within that for your company's objectives. Collect all the team's OKRs. Connect each key result to a subtask. And here’s the more detailed version: Plan long term Annual planning is an integral part of any business. It helps identify goals and objectives, and it coordinates the various activities of the organization. When competing priorities or inevitable roadblocks come up, your team will be able to make decisions based on what best serves these big-picture goals. In Wrike, create a folder dedicated to your year goal plans then share it with the whole company. Or, if the information is meant only for a certain group, you can restrict which user groups will see what data in the field. Inside that folder, create project groups or tasks for all of the major initiatives and goals of the year. You can also assign people to the task and set deadlines. After, use Custom Fields to create notes on budgeting, client feedback, and anything else stakeholders should know about. Break big goals into smaller goals Once you successfully brainstorm and narrow down your annual or long-term goals, you can break them up into smaller benchmarks. If you choose to create annual goals, we suggest breaking them down further into quarterly goals. Ideally, you will have only one or two big-picture goals that you can divide into four smaller quarterly phases. For example, if your annual goal is to reach an additional $100,000 in revenue, you can divide that goal into quarterly targets of $25,000 each. To organize all of this in Wrike, all you have to do is add subfolders within your annual folder for each quarter. Add ideas for action steps inside each dedicated quarterly folder. Once you've narrowed those down to only the most essential, you can then create tasks that each have their own due dates. Assign these tasks to team members before moving on to the next step. This will make them easier to track and help you organize your team’s workload. Create your OKRs If you're someone who likes to set goals and hit numbers (or if you work for someone who likes it when you do), then implementing an OKR system might be the way to go. OKR stands for objectives and key results. Creating an OKR is a lot like creating a broad Objective only the Key Results are more specific and can be used to support specific goals. They are typically written out in this format: Objective: A brief summary of the goal or subgoal in a sentence or a few words. Key Result #1: A one or two-sentence summary of the measurable, specific, and attainable outcome that will be achieved once the goal is complete. Key Result #2: As above Key Result #3: As above You’ll want to include one to three (three is most common) key results that are distinct from one another but still realistic. From there, your team members can choose to create their own individual OKRs. Individual OKRs should be built by each team member based on their unique subgoals and mini objectives within the larger scope of the project. Creating these as part of your project kickoff will help everyone get on the same page from the beginning. Pro tip: Key results should be a direct result of achieving the objective and not a by-product. For example, if your objective is to bake a cake, an effective key result would be to eat a delicious slice of the cake after dinner this evening. An ineffective key result of cake baking would be to celebrate your friend’s birthday together. Although you may bring the cake to their party, the celebration would have happened either way and was not dependent on the completion of the cake. Here are some additional tips for creating smart OKRs with your goal-setting software: Make sure your Os and KRs are all actionable Your OKRs should include ambitious stretch goals without going overboard Use the Wrike Chrome Extension to create goals or key results related to any web page or any other application that uses HTML Create team objectives that are aligned with the company's big-picture goals. You can do this by making sure to discuss these with all team members Use specific metrics for your OKRs. These goals are specific and detailed, so they should be rooted in data so they can be tracked and measured Wrike offers an OKR template you can use right within our goal-setting software If you’re managing a multi-departmental or companywide project, ask teams to create their own Team OKRs folders. This will allow them to see their team's goals and contribute whenever possible. Track progress with dashboards In Wrike, create a My Objectives dashboard to keep track of all of your goals and tasks in one neatly summarized view. Use the table view to see all the tasks related to a specific folder plus start and due dates and the expected duration of each task. It also shows key stats such as the number of tasks needed for the project as well as who the tasks are assigned to for approval and completion. If changes need to be made to a task list, drag and drop them to make it easier to organize and re-prioritize action items as needed. They will then automatically be reflected in your team's workspace. You can also make changes on the go with the Wrike mobile app, which updates the information across all devices and accounts in real-time. As you hit goals and mark your tasks as complete in Wrike, the green progress bar will appear on the objective parent task until the goal is reached. Reflect on and evaluate your progress Your team's work shouldn't end when you check the Complete box. Instead, the work you’ve done on one goal should be used to inform the rest. Create a folder in Wrike where you can collect all the lessons you've learned so far, and share them with your team. In addition to noting your observations manually, Wrike offers reports that make it easy to see your project outcome from every angle. Use Wrike Custom Fields to see which team or project supports each objective. These fields can then be used to generate insightful data that show how those goals impact the overall project or task's success. This is also a great time to grade your teamwide and individual project OKRs. At the end of the quarter or year, ask everyone to come together and share their grades while explaining their key takeaways. Over time, teams will learn more about how they work individually and together, which will go a long way towards future collaborations. Why is Wrike the best goal-setting software for managers? With features such as visual goal timelines, OKR templates, and customizable workflows, Wrike is the best goal-setting software for managers and team leaders who want to successfully achieve what they’ve set out to do. Ready to transform your team into a goal-getting machine? Get started and improve your success rates today by signing up for a free trial of Wrike.
A Beginner's Guide to Ethical Leadership
Making decisions can be tough when you are aiming to do the right thing and make ethical choices in the face of complicated issues. Even though it’s challenging, being an ethical leader is crucial to having a fair and functional business. In this beginner’s guide to ethical leadership, we’ll discuss the primary theories and why it matters. We’ll also provide traits that an ethical leader should have and give examples of being ethical at work that you can use in your day-to-day life. What is ethical leadership? In the world of business, ethics are becoming more prevalent. This is why it is very important for leaders to develop their skills and knowledge in this area. Knowing how to behave in the workplace can help you become a great leader. Ethical leadership is about a) being a leader who prioritizes ethics in decision-making and b) putting people in positions of authority and responsibility who will promote and demonstrate ethical conduct. There are many benefits to ethical leadership. Ethical leaders can help create a positive environment for employees and the organization. Positive working atmospheres help employees feel valued and included in the workplace. Ethical leadership can also involve the management of team members' conduct and collaboration. This can be done informally and formally using a written code of conduct. When employees get along well with one another, it can help build a stronger team. And in general, a positive attitude at work can help improve the overall health of an organization. It can even create a healthy work environment where people can develop their individual and collective goals. All of this comes from the actions of one or more individuals who lead with strong moral codes. Why does ethical leadership matter at work? Ethical leadership is very important for company-wide success in many different ways. It can help create a positive culture within a company. Leaders can help investors feel good about their organization. They can also help customers feel loyal. As a side effect, good press is likely to come from ethical leaders in an organization, especially if this is demonstrated through business continuity. Even partners and vendors can trust and work with an organization that has ethical leadership. In other words, everyone benefits. There is an immediate difference for companies that prioritize ethical leadership. Leaders can also help boost employee morale by encouraging them to be ethical. This helps them feel more motivated and inspired at work. Leaders who are ethical can prevent ethical issues from happening in the long term, which is crucial for business longevity. Doing so can help organizations develop loyal and satisfied employees. Examples of great ethical leadership include resolving disputes, providing a space of non-judgment where workers can honestly discuss issues, and making a conscious effort to provide equitable treatment to everyone involved. Understanding ethical leadership theory Ethical leadership there is often referred to as the ‘4 V’ model. The four V's are: Values Core values based on morality that drive decision-making. Vision A big picture idea of what will benefit everyone involved. Voice Having your own unique sense of self while leaving room for others to do the same. Virtue Behaving in a way that aligns with all of the above. In order to learn how to put the 4 V model into practice, its creators advised students to “develop a value system [that] includes ego development, self awareness training, moral development, social perspective taking, and service learning.” The most challenging part of ethical leadership theory is that it's difficult to measure. That's why it's so important to build self-reflection into your ethical leadership practice. Radical honesty with yourself and others is the only way to improve over time. Ethical leadership theory also depends on a certain level of selflessness from the person or people practicing it. They must always strive to see things from other people's perspectives and often put the needs of others above their own. When faced with moral dilemmas, ethical leaders must forget about company objectives and remember that we're all human. Their decisions may even negatively impact the bottom line at some point. However, ethical leaders understand that revenue may ebb and flow but their actions have a lasting impact on the lives of the people they interact with. What traits do ethical leaders have? There are a number of basic elements that ethical leaders follow in their work. Developing these traits can help you become an ethical leader: Leading by example Leaders should have the same goals and expectations for their employees as they do for themselves. Having the same expectations can help both individuals and businesses thrive while keeping everyone on the same page and ensuring fair treatment all around. Ethical leaders help employees to do their daily tasks by showing them how to be ethical and moral. Being adaptable Good leaders are able to adapt to the changes that are bound to happen in the future. This is the trait that will allow them to excel in today's fast-paced world. Good leaders are also to motivate and retain their employees by creating a positive environment when faced with adversity. Treating everyone equally Not showing respect to others can create a hostile work environment. It can also lead to resentment and make people think they are being treated differently. By working to uncover unconscious bias and understanding the valuable role each individual plays, leaders can ensure they’re always treating their colleagues with fairness. Being a good listener Having good communication skills is very important for leaders to make sure that their organization is a place where people can trust and be honest. Without communication, issues can easily go undetected. Prioritizing self-care Leaders and operations management face stress every day. But no matter what, it is not acceptable to take it out on your workers. Taking advantage of a power dynamic can create tension and frustration in your employees. Leaders who are ethical can manage their stress in a positive and productive way through healthy coping mechanisms. They also encourage others to do the same while making changes that help everyone reduce stress as much as reasonably possible. Managing conflict A moral leader is someone who is capable of solving problems in a way that's fair to everyone. They also take care to ensure that everyone is focused on positive interactions after disputes are resolved. How to become a moral leader By simply making a choice to become a moral leader, you are one. From here on out, the goal is to improve your leadership abilities whenever you are faced with ethical dilemmas. Becoming a moral leader is all about finding your personal ‘why’ statement. Why is morality important to you? Why is being a leader important to you? How does being a moral leader benefit those around you? This is also a great way to tie in your life's greater purpose to your work. If you're serving something higher than yourself, you'll be able to take things less personally and resolve issues in a way that takes your core values into account. Being immoral also means being curious about other people's perspectives. This means remembering that your core values might not be the core values of your employees. That is why developing emotional intelligence is key. Besides practicing the above traits and doing some introspective work, there are no barriers to you becoming a moral leader. You can start demonstrating behavior you'd like to see in the workplace through your daily actions. You can also be open about your journey, especially the struggles. This will inspire others to learn from their mistakes and become more forgiving. Long term, employees will become more likely to take creative risks and reach stretch goals since they’ll be unencumbered by limiting beliefs. Set aside some time for self-reflection daily and weekly. As you journal, don't shy away from challenging situations. Instead, embrace them with openness and see every challenge as an opportunity to improve the lives of others. A great way to become an ethical leader is to start rolling your sleeves up. If your employees need help, an ethical leader is never above lending a hand. Ethical leadership relies on the understanding that all efforts are a team effort and no one is better than anyone else. And finally, don't forget to accept feedback. Ethical leadership thrives on input from others. If someone offers constructive criticism, make sure you take it and apply it to the next situation you find yourself in. Conclusion Ethical leadership is working with others in a way that demonstrates a strong moral code. It has a large impact on the world around you. The ethical leadership theory has four distinct components that are difficult to measure but can be developed over time. Above all else, modeling the right behavior is the key to becoming an ethical leader.
7 Secrets Smart Leaders Use to Master Their One-on-Ones
One of the basic fundamentals of managing a team is scheduling regular one-on-ones. These meetings are meant to check in on the individual and see what they're working on, right? Wrong. If this is how you are running your one-on-ones, you're not optimizing that time spent with your team members appropriately. One-on-ones shouldn't be treated as open-ended "office hours" for your team to come in and update you on ongoing projects (you shouldn't have to meet with them privately to know the status of a project), or gossip about office politics (that's for HR to handle). Instead, one-on-ones should be scheduled with a purpose—utilizing that time to discuss personal growth and give your team member your full, undivided attention. Treating the private time as a status update, or putting your team member on the spot to come up with abstract questions, can make the personal encounter ineffective. Why are one-on-ones important? One-on-ones have been ingrained in the managerial process for so long, it's easy to forget why we even have them in the first place. The purpose of a one-on-one is to build a trusting relationship amongst your team at an individual level, by devoting time to listen to their individual concerns and helping them grow and reach their personal objectives. As cliché as it sounds, this is how you differentiate yourself from being a boss to being a leader. It's easy to just sit down with the members of your team and go through what they're working on each week. But a leader uses this precious time to address personal concerns and discuss individual growth. Believe it or not, these occasional meetings set the standard for how work gets done on your team. It's as simple as this: if you trust your team, your team will trust you back. And that is the foundation of a healthy work relationship that leads to employee retention and higher engagement. What are we doing wrong? Simply put, bad one-on-ones are leading to disengaged employees, and these disengaged employees are leaving. You've probably heard the phrase, people leave managers, not companies. This is directly related to how managers are handling (or NOT handling) the issues and concerns brought up by their team. Gallup data reveals that around 60-70% of employees are simply not engaged at work—in other words, not working as hard as they could be—costing U.S. companies $450 billion annually in lost productivity. Victor Lipman, management author and former Fortune 500 executive, argues that disengaged employees and lost productivity are correlated to the relationship they have with their manager. "There’s no question that a chronically high level of employee disengagement represents both a failure of management and a fundamental challenge to it: a challenge to do what is needed to keep vast numbers of individuals interested in their work, feeling good about their organizations, and working as productively as they can," says Lipman. Does this sound familiar? If so, all is not lost. Holding consistent and effective one-on-ones can improve employee engagement by discovering what motivates your employees to work harder—both intrinsically and extrinsically. Outlining personal goals, talking through the steps to achieve those goals, and making a promise to reward hard work (and following through!) are all crucial to re-engaging your employees. 7 secrets for mastering your next one-on-one Secret #1 - Actually have them This may seem obvious, but there have probably been times where you felt like you didn't need a one-on-one and cancelled. It's OK to cancel them once in a while, but make sure you're having them often enough to discuss progress with each individual. Even if you believe there is nothing to talk about, your employee may think otherwise. If your employee has specific talking points they would like to bring up, do everything in your power to not cancel that meeting. Your team needs to know they're a priority to you, and you put that at risk by abruptly canceling your one-on-ones. Secret # 2 - Come prepared Having a one-on-one with no agenda just wastes everyone's time. Come prepared by building an agenda of topics you want to go over and questions you want to ask, leaving room for them to talk as well. Share this agenda with them prior to the session so they're aware of your expectations for the meeting and not caught off guard. This will show your employee that your meetings with them are a top priority and you put effort into making them successful. Secret # 3 - Record meeting notes If the conversation turns personal, steer clear of taking notes. Otherwise, write down the big items your employee brings up—especially if they require follow-up. Assign rough due dates to the follow up by saying, "I'll have an answer for you by the end of the week" or "Let's check in on that during our next one-on-one," so your employee knows that you will get to it by a certain date. Secret # 4 - Avoid gossiping If you're fairly close with your employee, it might be tempting to use this time to gossip about office politics or share company secrets with them. This is highly discouraged as it spreads negativity and is unprofessional. There is a reason why organizations aren't 100% transparent, and as a manager, it's your job to maintain the discretion of the company and only disclose information that is necessary for your employee to do his or her job. Secret # 5 - Establish OKRs Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a performance measurement process made famous by Google, is an excellent way to track and measure success. OKRs are used to set aggressive goals and to outline the steps required to obtain those goals. They’re typically used to set quarterly goals, but can also be used for annual planning. You can set OKRs at the team and individual level, which make them a great talking point during one-on-ones. Discuss OKR progress and goals during this time, so your employee can make sure they stay on track. Encourage them to open up about their OKRs so you can gauge their workload: are they feeling overwhelmed? Do any projects need to be deferred due to an upcoming vacation? Are they running into any roadblocks? Learning this upfront allows you to address any problems early on so there's time to make adjustments. Secret #6 - Change up the setting No one's saying you need to sit down with your employee in a stuffy room with no windows. Switch it up a bit! If it's a nice day, go out for a cup of coffee or a walk. Michael Affronti, VP of Product at Fuse, claims his most productive one-on-ones were held outside the office. "Sometimes after meetings I would share the step count graphs from my Fitbit profile with my employees to celebrate that we hit funny milestones like 'longest meeting of the week in steps' or 'fastest meeting in mph,'" says Affronti. Secret #7 - Get feedback, don't give it There's a time and place for giving feedback, and dishing it out to your employees every week can feel overwhelming and hinder their confidence. Provide feedback when something big comes up or when they specifically ask for it, and always compliment them on a job well done. You always hear teachers learn more from their students than students learn from their teachers. The same can be true for managers. Try asking for feedback once in a while, but make sure you word it the right way. Asking, how am I doing? is vague and can make your employee feel uncomfortable about being honest with you. Try asking for feedback by referencing specific areas, such as: How can I help you reach your career goals? and What can I be doing better to help you in your job? This will show your team you are looking to improve as a manager just as much as they are as a team, and also that you care about their career trajectory. Putting it into practice One-on-ones don't have to be this boring, tedious, and awkward discussion you have with your employees each week. By putting a little bit of time into preparing for your one-on-ones and switching up the scenery every once in a while, you will see immense improvement in meeting productivity. Building a healthy work culture and retention starts by building trust amongst your employees. Putting effort into your one-on-ones and making your employees a high priority will boost overall mood and satisfaction across your team. Making those changes to improving culture and ensuring overall team happiness is what transforms a boss into a leader. FREE 1-on-1 Agenda PDF: Download our free agenda template that will show you exactly how to run your next meeting using the secrets from this post. Here's a link where you can download the PDF.
How Leading CMOs Create a Culture of Excellence
It’s totally possible to foster an environment where roles and responsibilities are clear, goals are agreed upon, deadlines are met, and your whole team is able to produce top-notch work like a well-oiled machine. Find out how you can build a culture of excellence at your organization.
