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6 Ways Managers Should Use Numbers to Get Their Best Team Result · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sharing six ways managers should use numbers to get their best team result possible.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: When managing any team undertaking medium to highly complex tasks, activities and projects, using sales, marketing, operating and financial numbers will give you the opportunity to multiply the value your team produces, i.e., significantly increase the profits your team creates.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: For example, I personally have led multiple teams to increase the measurable value produced in profit or cash by over 10 times.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Any leader can leverage their work and effort through their team to produce amazing results.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Using numbers is a huge part of creating high levels of improvement.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't use numbers every day in your job as a manager, you are effectively blindfolding yourself and your team, making it nearly impossible to do a great job.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: I am sharing six different ways to use numbers to lead your team more effectively, create higher levels of motivation, prioritize work and opportunities more profitably, and be more objective in communications with your team.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Here are six ways managers should use numbers to significantly improve team results.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, use numbers to make goals clear and measurable.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, share numbers to create objective assessment of progress.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Third, use numbers to increase accountability and performance of teams and individuals.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, using numbers and feedback creates objectivity and fairness.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, financial data enables better decisions and actions.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then sixth, numbers help prioritize the most valuable tasks, activities and projects.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: For each, I'm going to touch on how to use numbers to increase team performance, and I will give examples for each.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is not theory, but actual practical tips that I've been using for decades in top companies and household names through to SMEs.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: They will help you do a better job as a manager while putting in less effort overall.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: The first way managers should use numbers is to make goals clear and measurable.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Including numbers may seem obvious, yet there are so many goals set by managers that have no numbers in them.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: There are lots of reasons why leaders and managers don't add numbers into goals.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Three of the big ones are if firstly, short term, it is quicker and easier to not put in the effort to work out the right metrics at realistic levels.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, it can feel scary increasing personal accountability, particularly in difficult cultures, or when you don't have a trusting relationship with your boss.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And third, when others are not including numbers, so why risk standing out and making yourself a target of potential criticism?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I coach a lot of managers and leaders, and only a small minority are in the habit of including specific and realistic numbers in their weekly, monthly and yearly goals.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: When I'm coaching leaders to really increase their team performance, we spend quite a bit of time making sure their goals are clear, realistic and measurable.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: With numbers, you and your team know how close or far away you are from goals.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: With numbers, the team is much more likely to take good actions to reach goals.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Research has proven that clear goals increase performance by around 20%.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: A 20% increase is a very valuable benefit that managers just can't ignore.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Which goal is clearer and more motivating?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Our goal is to beat last year's profit target.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or our goal is to beat 3.4 million, which is a 32% increase on last year's profit.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: To increase performance, managers should include numbers in as many targets and goals as they practically can to make goals specific and measurable.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new to this podcast, Enhance.training provides resources and courses for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I've included links to additional resources in the podcast description to improve how you use numbers, set goals, provide feedback and understand financial information.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Do take a look at these.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: The second way managers should use numbers is to create objective assessment of progress.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Creating common and objective understanding quickly and easily of progress towards goals is easy with numbers.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Without numbers, communicating clearly and honestly becomes a lot harder.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Choose three to five key performance indicators or KPIs for your team and then share progress against these with your team regularly.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: For example, for a sales team you might choose firstly revenue earned, secondly, the number of leads you've created.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Third, average conversion of leads to sales meetings, and fourth, average conversion of sales meetings to revenue invoiced.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Then each week you share these numbers with your team.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Most sales teams would also have these numbers per salesperson.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: For example, I've coached many sales team leaders and I've noticed that the high performing teams share their metrics a lot more often, often several times a day, compared to the averagely performing teams.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: I.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Increasing visibility of individual performance within a team or at least visibility down to a sub-team level is a brilliant way to increase accountability across teams.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Create fair and reasonable ways to assess performance.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: In my experience, those doing a good job love visibility, and those doing a poor job don't like it at all.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Who would you rather keep happy?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, sharing individual performance so everyone can judge their performance against peers, generally speaking, improves overall team performance.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Those towards the bottom try to improve their performance so they are no longer at the bottom.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And those higher up try to improve their performance so they don't get overtaken.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Just as importantly, understanding each team member's relative performance can help you plan how you're going to upskill the team members in their weaker areas.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Do spend more time and effort upskilling team members' strengths.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: You'll get a greater level of overall improvement for the same effort put in.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Using numbers to measure performance and creating visibility of performance will increase a team's performance.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: For a manager, your team's performance is your performance.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth way managers should use numbers is to provide objective fair feedback.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers are great to include in feedback because it makes the feedback more specific and meaningful.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Opinion-based vague feedback might sound like this.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: I am really impressed by your low error rate.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well done.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: More specific feedback sounds like this.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Your error rate is below 1% while the team average is 4%.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: I am super impressed by how effectively you review your work and still deliver similar volumes to your peers.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing, well done.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers provide context and scale while making actually giving the feedback far easier.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers help you move your feedback away from your opinion and into examples and facts.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers make the feedback fairer and clearer.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: This makes it more likely to be taken in by the recipient even when your feedback is corrective feedback.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: In my experience, most people either rarely give feedback or they give their general opinions as feedback.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Neither are particularly helpful to improving the performance of others.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not trying to improve the performance of team members, you are letting your team and yourself down as a manager.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: A typical quadrant that we use in our how to give powerful feedback course is plotting quality of feedback against how often feedback is given.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Vague feedback rarely given is a development dead zone.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Vague feedback like well done or good job, given often is really giving opinions which don't educate.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: When you know how to give detailed and specific feedback, then you can improve others.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: The more you give detailed feedback, the quicker individuals and teams will improve their performance.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Take a minute to honestly assess where your feedback sits on the four quadrants that we've just discussed.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: The fifth way managers should use numbers is to enable better decisions and actions.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers and financial data, in my view, increase the speed, confidence, and quality of many decisions that you need to make as a manager.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't understand financial information very well, you are handicapping yourself.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Financial information is one of the most accurate and comprehensive ways of measuring the performance of just about anything.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: That is why it is used across the globe by every business, large and small.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: As a manager, use numbers and financial data to compare the different options you have available when making any significant decision.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: The option that increases revenue and profit the most or costs the least is financially the best option for the company on a profit basis.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Financial profit is not the only metric to consider when making decisions.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: It is an important one for the long-term company success and therefore for your success as a manager.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Learn to read financial information and rely on it to help you make significant decisions.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: The sixth way managers should use numbers is to help prioritize the most valuable tasks, activities, projects available to you.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: The more time and effort you and your team spend on the most profitable activities for the company, the more value your team can add to the business.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: The more value you are adding, the more likely you'll be promoted, get a bigger bonus, increase your influence and your standing as a manager and more.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: For example, you could review the profitability of all your products, assess the market opportunity for each, and the cost of selling each product.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: With this information, you could then prioritize which products to promote and which to deprioritize.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Changing the mix of products sold would increase average profitability for the company overall.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Another high value project might be to review all the costs and method of producing your products and see what cost savings could be achieved without reducing quality, supply reliability, and supply chain resilience.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers and financial data make it much easier to compare different options, decisions, tasks and activities against alternatives before you take them.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: With good quality and detailed financial information, making good decisions that increases profitability becomes much easier and you make those decisions much quicker.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: A great way to increase the value you generate for the business in which you work.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, using numbers and financial information are essential tools for managers to measure performance and progress.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Using the right numbers for your team and business will help you significantly improve the value of the output your team produces.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: As a reminder, here are six ways managers should use numbers to help increase team and business performance.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, use numbers to make goals clear and measurable.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, sharing numbers creates objective assessment of progress.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Third, numbers increase accountability of teams and individuals.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And fourth, using numbers in feedback creates objectivity and fairness.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And fifth, financial data enables better decisions and actions.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then sixth, numbers help prioritize the most valuable tasks, activities and projects that you can do.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on six ways managers should use numbers to get their best team result, please email me at support at enhance.