Four keys to unlock the potential of your team’s performance.
“Roles, Goals, & Controls”
What's New: The "Roles, Goals, & Controls" (RGC) framework is an essential tool for leaders seeking to boost productivity in new or existing teams.
Why it Matters: RGC, a new Non Routine Leadership framework, is crucial for a range of applications, from small and simple to large and complex:
Team Evaluation (Small Application): Assess your current state of effectiveness.
Continuous Improvement (Medium Application): Improve the output and morale of existing teams.
Change Management (Large Application): Form new teams or revamp existing teams' approaches.
Background: Several years ago, I developed the "Roles, Goals, and Controls" framework, a mnemonic aimed at facilitating team evaluation and improvement. This framework gained traction among numerous businesses, appealing due to its catchy title and the universal applicability of its core principles to all teams. However, recently, while overseeing various change management initiatives and establishing new teams at BGR, I recognized I overlooked an essential area that was not simple for all leaders—team interactions. To address this, I've incorporated a new element into the framework: "Polls." This addition not only maintains the framework's inherent simplicity but enriches team dynamics.
For those unfamiliar with this approach, let's explore each component in detail..
The Challenge: Coaching, Building, and Improving Teams
Imagine the challenge of coaching or building a new sports team without established roles, defined goals, clear scorekeeping methods, or effective communication strategies. It's hardly conceivable. However, in the business world, a lack of clarity in these crucial areas is surprisingly common. This issue becomes particularly evident when team members, rather than leaders, are asked to describe their understanding of these components.
For example:
Role Challenges: Assess if employees can succinctly describe their job roles beyond just their titles. Often, their explanations are vague and misaligned with their team's objectives. This lack of clarity can lead to diminished focus and, consequently, poor performance.
Goal Challenges: Similarly, observe whether team members can clearly articulate the team's primary goal. It's a common issue where teams successfully meet lower-priority objectives while neglecting the most critical ones. This misalignment can impede overall team effectiveness.
Control Challenges: Evaluate the effectiveness of your dashboards in guiding your strategy. Consider the type of leading indicators you receive, such as sales pipeline metrics, and ensure they align with your lagging indicators like sales figures. An overload of metrics can lead to a superficial box-ticking approach, while too few can leave you uninformed and unable to timely adjust your strategy.
Poll Challenges: Ensure you're receiving adequate feedback from your team. More importantly, assess whether they are getting the necessary feedback, motivation, and coaching. This two-way communication is essential for team development and achieving objectives.
The Framework Explained: “Roles, Goals, Controls, & Polls” (RGCP)
Roles: Clarity in roles is essential to reducing overlap, confusion, and the complexity that stifles business growth. Gallup's research validates this, showing that clear role expectations lead to a 14% increase in employee engagement. Surprisingly, many employees struggle to articulate their roles. I address this by assigning each team a concise, two-verb role description. For example, Account Managers focus on specific activities that will "Expand and Improve" customer accounts. This approach not only sharpens productivity but also boosts morale and personal identity. It's even led to employees self-identifying mismatches in their roles, facilitating beneficial transitions within the company.
Goals: The importance of setting specific goals is undeniable. Harvard Business Review reports that companies with clear goals are tenfold more successful. In practice, I urge leaders to use a small variation of the SMAART goals framework by adding Ambitious; mostly because “Achievable” generally lacks the power to inspire and motivate (a critical component of leadership I will touch on later). However, if your team struggles with any one of the more typical SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)—start there for sure.
Controls: New team plans and processes are easy to create. But, all too often, the leader neglects to build controls so that these plans and processes can be managed. Controls, often implemented as dashboards, are leading indicators that guide leadership decisions; whether to continue, adjust, or overhaul strategies. These controls can be internal or external, but they should be leading indicators; not just lagging metrics. Examples include:
Internal: Team scorecards (eg “orders entered,” “manufacturing line efficiencies,” “Customer meetings,” “employee feedback,” etc.).
External: Customer feedback scores, market growth trends, industry trends, and market share.
Polls: I've recently added "Polls" to address the gap in communication, coaching, and meeting cadence that’s too often overlooked in team performance. In fact, poor communication is cited as the second leading cause of performance challenges (right behind clarity of “Roles”). That’s why, “Polls” focuses on regular check-ins with your team with a strict checklist. In short, I recommend including three elements to ensure each meeting is making an impact. In fact, if you can’t provide all three of these elements, I would go so far to suggest canceling the meeting…you’re either not ready or, worse, you’re not leading.
Prep
Listen
Coach
Go Deeper: Since this is a new addition to the framework, below is a bit more in-depth explanation for each.
“Polls” Explained in-depth
Prep the meeting with “5D” Dimensions.
Describe the Audience: Who is your audience? Tailor content to your audience, whether it's operational updates for manufacturing teams or market insights for sales teams. (Tip: This is the only factor that is singular to prevent confusion. So, if you have more than one audience with different needs, we recommend you briefly outline a 5D for each of them. You’ll be glad you took an extra minute or two!)
Define the Goals: This should be the goal of the meeting itself: For instance, “Introduce upcoming supply challenges and build a plan to get ahead of them.”
Detect the Problems: Identify and articulate challenges, such as logistical issues in operations or lack of data in sales.
Diagnose the Causes: Delve into the root causes, whether they're training gaps, equipment issues, or external factors like market changes.
Develop the Options: Provide a call to action with options in order to encourage your team to participate, fostering a collaborative atmosphere.
Listen Actively: Effective communication is a cornerstone of employee engagement. Studies reveal that employees are three times more engaged when they regularly receive feedback from their managers. Similarly, employees who feel recognized are 4.6 times more likely to perform at their peak. This not only enhances their productivity but also significantly boosts profits, with increases ranging from 25% to 85%. Active listening plays a crucial role in this process. I advocate for the double "V" approach, combining validation and vulnerability. This strategy fosters creative thinking, a sense of belonging, and ownership of outcomes. Demonstrating vulnerability indicates to employees that they are essential and that leaders cannot succeed alone. Meanwhile, validation, such as asking clarifying questions and finding merit in all ideas, encourages employees to contribute and take ownership.
Coach using productive struggle: Effective coaching combines inspiration and practice. Since we’ve already discussed the need to add "Ambitious" in SMAART goals, let's explore how coaching your team through productive struggle can substantially enhance performance. Productive struggle, initially counterintuitive, involves encouraging your team or individuals to undertake tasks with minimal guidance, where immediate progress may not be evident. This approach might lead to initial struggle or even failure. However, with patience, it fosters substantial long-term performance gains. In meetings, facilitate this by encouraging participation without giving away hints or solutions – even the slightest hint can undermine the benefits. Research shows that when individuals independently work through challenges, even when their solutions are incorrect, they experience a 200% improvement in information retention and enhanced performance in future scenarios, including non-routine situations.
The Bottom Line
"Roles, Goals, Controls, and Polls" is more than a mnemonic; it's a versatile framework for building and managing effective teams in today's dynamic business environment. Embrace RGCP in 2024 to transform your team's productivity and adaptability.
A Quick Note for Aspiring Leaders:
If you're an aspiring leader without a formal title, you can still leverage the "Roles, Goals, Controls, and Polls" framework to enhance your influence. Start by "managing up" with a strategic question: "Could you help me define my individual and team roles?" This approach opens a dialogue about role clarity.
Once you've established your roles, delve deeper by utilizing the other elements of the framework. Discuss specific goals to align your work with the team's objectives. Inquire about controls to understand how your performance will be measured and monitored. Finally, explore the concept of 'polls' to suggest or improve upon the frequency and structure of team communications and meetings.
By engaging in these discussions, you demonstrate initiative and a commitment to your team's success, positioning yourself as a proactive and thoughtful member of the organization.
