Peter Kasokoso is the Managing Director of leading ICT firm in the areas of developing custom made solutions. The business has been steadily growing over the last 5 years at a combined Average growth rate (CAGR) of 10%. Peter in January 2014 recruited Marketing and Sales Manager and three marketing officers. The basis was to increase on revenue growth and market share. However in the last since two years the CAGR has dropped to 2%. This is a serious concern for Peter and his team. Why is the CAGR declining and what to do about it?
Peter has been advised by his Human Resource Manager – Jane Tupala, that he should consider overhauling this the marketing team since targets have not been met. Over the next three months in 2016 this team is put under Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and subsequently the contracts are not renewed due to poor performance.
The Human Resource in March 2016 recruited a new team to replace all employees that have left. However as of end of December 2016 the results on revenue are alarming as the company has not grown.
This is a common story for most enterprises and raises the question, who owns performance in a company? Who monitors performance? What are key parameters to peg performance? Does one promote result or effort oriented culture? These are questions though simple have no “one size fits all” answer.
We can however have guiding principles to the above questions.
- Linkage of corporate strategy to recruiting; many times companies will set targets arbitrarily on various premises which however are never linked core strategy of the company. This creates a gap between availability of enabling or supportive resources and goals to be achieved. Many at times even the most talented employees will keep “shooting in the dark”
- Role played by corporate culture; corporate culture provides a firm tone from the top management on aspects of governance, transparency and accountability. The absence or nuance of such culture erodes a foundation for building a strong and reputable brand.
- Role played by consistent marketing advertising; creating awareness on product and service offerings is critical in getting a “soft landing” in the mind of consumers. This awareness needs to be timely and relevant to the target audience. Be careful with the choice of marketing strategy you adopt. Whereas it is good to run awareness campaigns for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) like beer, airtime, soap. It may not be good for an accounting firm instead, you need credibility.
- Best practice know how for employees; continuous training in key expertise areas relevant to the job not only provides a platform for professionalism but also confidence for staff and this is strongly linked to job satisfaction. It could be argued that employers are reluctant to provide training due to fear of high staff attritution and subsequent loss of skills.
- Their needs to be a system of rewarding good behaviors and results and reprimanding nonperformance. Non performing employees need to be given an opportunity to discuss inhibiting factors to good performance and this need to be addressed by top management. Naturally once such issues are addressed this should provide a platform for improved performance for such employees.
- Performance evaluation; it’s paramount to carry out continuous evaluations though industry experts have no specific durations or time lines. It advisable at a minimum two performance reviews a year should address any performance gaps and provide room for improvement.
Well these are few areas that should enable a collaborative environment and winning as team mentality.
