Killer Tips for Effective Team Performance Analysis
Published: 10/04/2023
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Within this article, you will find advice and guidance on how to conduct an effective team performance analysis. It is a valuable resource for business owners, managers, and project leads looking to improve their team management through automation.
Your employees are the backbone of your company. It’s their work, combined with your guidance, that drives the realisation of your business vision. However, just as you monitor metrics to see how far along you are, you also need to assess each team member’s contribution to that progress. That’s essentially what team performance analysis is about. Although it sounds straightforward, many organisations find themselves unsure where to begin and, more importantly, how to benefit from their insights.
Since team performance analysis is essential for every business striving to progress, we decided to offer some assistance. Below, we will identify the starting point of the process, discuss different types of KPIs, highlight key focus areas, and share tips for long-term improvement.
According to Simon Sinek, everything begins with a ‘why?’. When it comes to analysing team performance, that’s a particularly crucial question to answer. Without a goal to achieve, no matter how thoroughly you collect data, it will not make sense. Without context, no metrics will guide you towards improving your results, as you won’t know what constitutes good outcomes.
Before you can set your KPIs or measure your results, you need a strategy - and no strategy can exist without a goal. Therefore, before analysing your team’s performance, you should clarify your short- and long-term goals. These will be your main focus for everything discussed in this article, so we suggest writing them down on a piece of paper. If you’re at the very start of your journey and lack preset goals, we recommend using the SMART goal system. Ready? Let’s move on.
The ultimate goal of every organisation is to reach the highest possible level of performance by maximising their employees’ potential and creating an agile business environment. With high performance also comes high profit, but how exactly can you determine if your team delivers? Experts identify two types of key performance indicators (KPIs): qualitative and quantitative. To assess your team's performance, you will need to set clear goals and regularly track progress by examining these indicators.
Qualitative KPIs are subjective variables assessed through opinions or traits. They relate to how the organisation and its stakeholders perceive a particular team member. Here are some questions to consider when evaluating qualitative KPIs:
Are people satisfied with that team member?
Do they usually receive positive feedback from colleagues and superiors?
Are they excellent communicators?
Do they work effectively in a team?
Another factor to consider is mentoring time: can the team member work and solve problems independently, or do they require constant guidance and supervision? In other words, as the name suggests, these KPIs are intended to measure the quality of your staff’s performance. While some of these can be quantified, such as people’s satisfaction (through surveys, feedback forms, etc.), others remain intangible. For more accuracy and specific metrics, you will be establishing and tracking quantitative KPIs – which will be covered in our next section.
Quantitative KPIs are represented by numbers. They rely on more “objective”, tangible data, which makes it easy to monitor them with employee performance software. Here are a few indicators you should be tracking:
Time and presence;
Percentage of time spent on billable projects;
Timesheets and whether they’re being submitted on time;
The number of complaints.;
Average customer satisfaction rating.
These indicators can differ depending on the type of activity. For instance, sales performance indicators are the easiest to measure because you know the exact number of leads that the sales agent has converted into paying customers.
As you might already understand, there is no limit to the types of KPIs you can track, and they will ultimately depend on your goals. However, we believe there are two areas that every business needs to monitor. In fact, depending on your priorities, sometimes these two are all you need, as they are highly informative and easily actionable.
The two main qualitative KPIs to monitor are attendance and quality. The primary KPI offers a good analysis of your office's mental health and culture. For example, if an employee is frequently late, leaves early, and takes too many sick days, it could indicate they are unmotivated, burned out, unhappy with their workplace or workload, or they may have a health condition affecting their performance. Meanwhile, if an employee is always punctual and volunteers to work overtime, it suggests they feel motivated and that the company’s goals align with their own.
Work quality is assessed by measuring individual performance against team goals. A clear example of decline is when an employee constantly receives complaints from clients, is prone to missing deadlines, or generally lacks contribution. However, this isn’t a reason to rush into dismissing them – they might be assigned to the wrong task or need more training.
Every business must generate revenue to survive. That’s why it’s important to calculate and consider what each team member contributes to billable projects. Keep in mind, different roles will have different metrics to assess their input. However, since all these aspects influence each other, once you've completed the individual assessments, it will be easy to identify the weak link.
For example, when evaluating a marketer, depending on your goals, you might focus on the leads they’ve generated, their quality, and the ROI achieved if they’ve been successfully converted into customers. Sales, on the other hand, will be assessed based on the number of deals closed, their ratio to the qualified leads provided, and potential upsells. Finally, customer success and support will be analysed using client retention, customer satisfaction, and the company’s reputation. As you can see, all three are ultimately part of the same process, though each has different metrics to track. Taken together, they provide a complete picture of how successful your client acquisition and retention strategy is.
You’ve most likely heard the saying that communication is key - and it could not be more accurate. When it comes to something as communal as team performance, the channels, fluidity, and smoothness of communication are the pillars on which your success depends. Everyone on your team needs to understand and share goals, as well as trust one another. In other words, to succeed, you need to strive for maximum team alignment.
Sometimes, organisations fail to reach peak performance because they encounter problems in setting their goals or communicating them to their employees. To avoid this, ensure you do the following:
Set reasonable goals that are achievable. Aiming for extraordinary results in a short period can lead to disappointment and low employee morale. Instead, establish a timeline for reaching your main goal and break it down into smaller, manageable steps.
Ensure every team member understands the organisation’s goal and their role in achieving it. Employees should not work aimlessly; they need a clear list of weekly, monthly, and annual goals to aim for.
Use project management and time tracking software to monitor team performance and work absenteeism. Relying on pen and paper is too inaccurate, time-consuming, and can decrease productivity.
Both qualitative and quantitative KPIs are equally important when evaluating your team's performance. Today, organisations have many tools to automate processes and monitor employee progress, but, first and foremost, you must be clear in setting and communicating your goals.
Team performance analysis is an important process run to understand how your business is progressing towards its goals and which areas require attention. However, it’s impossible to carry out unless the goals are clear and the entire company is united on them. Lack of such clarity leads to haphazard metrics, and tracking these will consume your time and contribute nothing.
Break your goals into smaller parts, such as KPIs - for both overall business and individual employee performance. By tracking and analysing them all, you’ll be able to gather clear insights on whether your business is on the right path, spot opportunities, and forecast potential roadblocks. But most importantly, remember that team alignment and communication are the pillars of successful companies.
Getting ready for your next team performance review? Give us a call, and we will assist you.