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    • Action plan

    Creating effective targets for your employees

    Medium effort

    High impact

    Employees need to understand the impact they have to stay motivated. Setting effective targets helps define expectations and makes sure team members can make the best possible contribution to your company’s goals.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline
    What's involved? Ways to use this action plan Measuring impact
    1

    Create and maintain a financial forecast

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    Employee targets need to be aligned with company goals to make sure their work is driving the business forward. This empowers employees because they can see the impact hitting their targets has.

    Creating and maintaining a financial forecast

    Our free template will help you prepare and maintain a financial forecast, including profit and loss and cash flow.
    2

    Set KPIs that promote growth and make sure employees are contributing towards the company’s long-term goals

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    It’s important to get goals to flow from the company’s overall objectives to team targets and individual staff member’s KPIs. That alignment makes sure the activity that’s being incentivised is helping to push the company forwards.

    3

    Work with employees to align targets with their career progression

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    Building a career development plan around a team member’s aspirations increases retention and motivation. Targets can then be developed for milestones, eg. when a training programme or sales target is reached a promotion becomes available.

    4

    Check in with staff each week to find out if they have the tools and support they need

    Impact: low

    Why will this help?

    Employees need to have sufficient support to achieve their goals. If they don’t have the time, training or resources needed, it will sap motivation.

    Sales targets motivate staff and help businesses reach full potential

    Sales targets are helping London-based jewellery business Taylor & Hart motivate staff and succeed in a highly competitive market.
    5

    Book regular one to ones to review targets

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    Reviewing targets on a regular basis allows you to find out what’s working and why, and understand any challenges the employee has. It also increases accountability.

    Conducting one-to-ones with employees

    Using a template for employee one-to-ones, like this one from Bristol University, will help to make sure each meeting is as effective as possible.

    What can I do with this Action Plan?

    Start this Action Plan

    Add some extra information to this plan and we’ll help you get it done.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline

    Download and print

    Get a printable template for this Action Plan, fill it in with some target dates, and share it with your team. Pin it on the wall where everyone can see it.

    Get the printable Action Plan

    Learning Groups

    We also run Learning Groups on these topics where you can join other leaders tackling the same challenges.

    Find a Learning Group

    How will I know if my action plan is working?

    Staff satisfaction survey results

    Staff satisfaction surveys help gauge sentiment at regular intervals

    Why this metric?

    Whether gathered anonymously or not, staff satisfaction surveys help gauge the sentiment of your people as changes are made and impacts felt.

    How do I start tracking?

    Use an online survey to get feedback from members of staff three and six months after making changes to see what impact it has had.