Ephor Management Science - Ephor Group is an advisory firm that provides expertise, resources and useful capital for emerging businesses.
Mistake #6:Lack of Focus and Resources Dedicated to Creating a "Perform Culture"
The Most Common Founder Mistakes
High Performing Workforces outperform the competition:
- Highly engaged employee companies enjoy 26% higher employee productivity, lower turnover, higher talent attraction, and greater shareholder return; see findings in Watson Wyatt’s 2008/2009 WorkUSA Report.
- Talent management practices power engaged companies to achieve higher profit per employee by nearly 40% according to McKinsey & Co.
A Perform Culture has the following attributes:
- A business strategy that links the competencies, motivations and satisfactions of its employees directly with drivers of value for customers, which in turn drives profitability for the enterprise.
- People decisions are guided by data-driven, results-oriented planning and accountability systems.
- The strategy is supported with process efficiencies, effective use of information technology and business measurement and metrics (analytics).
- A workforce plan is created based on values, competencies and talents needed in the current and future workforce.
- The culture is based on performance: i.e. results-oriented.
- Performance monitoring systems effectively differentiate between high and low performance and links individual / team / departmental performance to organizational goals and strategic objectives.
- Compensation is directly linked to performance.
Common Characteristics of High Performance Workforces >> |
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High Performance Workforce Attribute |
Questions Answered by the Attribute |
Forward Looking Management Science |
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Proactive Culture of Risk Management |
How much executive and management time is wasted on mundane or people compliance issues? (People Costs) Peer respect |
Performance is King |
Is our compensation aligned with our financial expectations? With the marketplace? Are we getting our monies’ worth? (Compensation Philosophy) |
Scalability |
Can our managers deal with performance issues, good and bad, in a pragmatic, straightforward manner? Do we make good decisions here? |
Employee Engagement |
Employees are motivated, engaged, and fans. (True Believer Mentality) |
Qualities of Right |
Are employees doing the right job at the right time, the right way in the right amount? Do we know what the right things for the business are and can we recognize when they occur? |
Role Clarity |
Are all of our people consistently being productive and effective? |
Precise Expectations (Measurement / Frequent Feedback) of Contributions |
Are our people outperforming the competition? Are they motivated and engaged? (Performance) |
It is difficult to improve what is not measured. One of the biggest challenges is to find benchmarks and metrics that are meaningful for your small business. Evaluating performance relative to competitors and industry standard benchmarks enables executives and managers to assess performance regardless of the economy and irrespective to industry slumps.
Workforce Scorecard:
Measure (Desired Outcome) |
High Performer Benchmark |
Revenue Per Full-Time Employee (Scalability of the workforce) |
$250,000+ |
Employee Commitment (Retention and productivity measure) |
95%+ |
Percent of employees with positive employee reviews after 12 months (Quality-of-hire) |
85% have satisfied their manager after 1st year |
Cost-per-hire |
$500 per hourly and $5,000 per salaried employee |
Average tenure |
•Employee: 5+ years |
•Manager: 7+ years |
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Difference between # of 'A & B' performers in the business today versus what is needed in the next year (Workforce Planning) |
Profiled and listed 2 deep in database |
Onboarding to Success (# of days) |
1 per month |
Training (Percentage of Employees Completed Development Program and/or On-Track To Complete the Program |
99% |
Training (Hours per month per employee) |
3.5 |
Read more: Mistake #7: Believing You Have a Sales Problem When Operational Shortcomings Exist
