Reward employees’ initiative
Complete the process by rewarding employees who meet their goals. That means striking a balance to recognize individual achievement while fostering the teamwork that makes it possible.
Shah breaks his bonus plan into individual results — which determine the largest percentage of the incentive — as well as team and companywide results. That way, bonuses are pretty consistent across the board. But the weighted system still motivates employees to improve.
“Any plan should have a component where everybody wins when one area or product or team wins,” Shah says. “So if they lost sales but another team got it, they still win. Not as much as if they got their own, but they still get it.”
Companywide rewards ingrain a mindset of teamwork in employees. It will help them think of success in terms of the company rather than just themselves. But the comparison piece also lets them see what role they play in that.
“Plans should have a component in which individual performance, team performance and company performance are measured and visible,” Shah says. “I can see what I did, what my team did, what the company did.”
While results drive the bulk of employees’ rewards, Shah also looks a layer deeper by conducting 360-degree reviews for everyone. Have people who work with, under and above each employee evaluate that employee’s performance. Shah divides the review into 15 categories, from oral skills to market knowledge to planning and organization.
Shah makes those reviews available on the intranet, as well, where ratings are compared against groups and the entire company.
This transparency and comparison encourages employees to look beyond themselves and consider how they can make the company successful.
“Before we do any firing, we really encourage them to change, and change based on the numbers, based on visibility and transparency,” Shah says. “We are not asking him to change because we think he could have done better. We are asking him to change [by saying], ‘Look what other people have done.’”
By motivating employees to meet goals through empowerment and rewards, Shah fuels his company to keep growing.
“It took the first year to reach $1 million. Another 10 years to reach $10 million. Another 10 years to reach $100 million in revenue,” says Shah, whose company has grown for 14 years and reported 2008 revenue of $261 million. “And we are on the way to some day becoming a billion-dollar company. We are still growing.”
How to reach: M S International Inc, (714) 685-7500 or www.msistone.com
