When you run your own business, one of the most consistent and common causes of sleepless nights and commercial hardship is the people you employ. Sometimes they become disengaged (it happens). Sometimes you find yourself with an employee who’s simply not performing. Or, worse, you might have unintentionally created a dysfunctional workplace. All of these scenarios have a negative effect on productivity and will reduce employee ROI, simply making your life less fun… and less happy. No one wants that! Figuring out how to manage staff effectively and supportively is acritical part of being a good business owner and is something that can make or break your business. So let’s tackle these five ways to improve employee performance. This is where you start.

1. Know your MISSION and VISION

   Action: Take some time out, over a coffee perhaps, to flesh this out. The MISSION is all about the WHY. The VISION is about your ambitions and goals.

2. Get your Contracts in order

   Action: Do some basic research. You’ll have three options. Deep dive into the state and federal government websites, hire a lawyer or investigate an HR management solution, like Happy HR. Obviously, it all begins with research.

3. Get your HR policies in order

   Action: Write down the 10 ways that staff behaviours annoy you the most. Circle the ones that represent inappropriate behaviours, according to the values of the company and the expectations of co-workers. (The rest will usually represent your personal bias. Once you’ve acknowledged these, get over them! And move on.

4. Draft your Position Descriptions

   Action: These require three layers… the PD is a plan. It must outline a clear GOAL or destination. To get there, we have KPIs. But KPIs must also be supported by EFFECTIVE MEASURES.

5. Love the ones you’re with – with regular performance reviews

   Action: Sit down and identify future opportunities that are consistent with the MISSION and VISION. Think in terms of PROJECTS and opportunities to broaden SKILL SETS. These can be worth more to employees than new roles and pay rises.Want to improve your employee performance? Action: I have prepared a free no-obligation white paper on “5 ways to improve employee performance” to assist you further, so please email help@happyhr.com to get your copy!