Planning and Allocation
The Thorn Lighting Commercial Policy affects the work of my team. Our main objective is to hand over all lighting controls projects on time and within budget. Our team planning starts every Monday morning when I run the weekly sales report, this shows me all new projects that have been ordered over the last week. The new projects are added to our status log which allows us to keep track of the progress of over 40 different projects.
We have a defined process with milestones to ensure that projects run smoothly, everyone In the team has their own specific tasks which start inning when a new project Is received.
Requests for schematics and lighting controls drawings are received and allocated via a Joint process shared with our lighting design team. The request Is sent to an Inbox, I then discuss the requirements with the controls specialist and discuss the timestamp to see that it is achievable. The work is the assigned to the designers’ handler until the work is complete and has been delivered. Monitoring your teams work The teams work is reviewed every month by the creation of a monthly commissioning report, this shows the commissioning projects that have been completed over the last onto and If they were delivered within the estimated timeshares.
We have constant status updates as well as a weekly meeting to discuss the progress of projects, we also interact with salesman, sub contractor engineers as well as the consultants and project managers of our clients, If a member of my team was underperforming I would know about it.
If there are any Issues I could talk about It with the team member and work with them to adjust a process or other component to prevent it from happening again. As my team are the lighting controls specialists we often find ourselves Involved with any different departments throughout the business, this can affect our productivity in relation to our projects.
Supporting our colleagues in the warranty and technical departments can sometimes take too much of our time. Am also able to run reports from our Lizard system, this allows me to see the amount of time an individual has spent on lighting design and quotation approval, on a project by project basis. It also allows me to see how well the teams’ time has been spent when viewing projects lost against projects won.
Motivating your team to perform Mascots Hierarchy of Human Needs is one theory of motivation, it is based on five elements which can be shown in the form of a pyramid, showing that a good foundation is always necessary to build upon.
Self Actualization Ego Social Security Physiological The foundation in this case is physiological, the basic human needs must be met in order for a person to function. Food, water, air and shelter are the foundation upon which all human activity is based. This is was Mascots starting point, once that is done the next step can build upon it. Security is the next thing our instinct hones in n, once the basics are taken care of, we need to feel safe and comfortable. To have DOD health, finances and peace of mind allows us to focus on other things.
The next motivating factor is the social aspect. There is a need to feel that we belong, once we have formed friendships and alliances we feel more comfortable in our environment. The first three levels of motivation are more based on our surroundings and groups, the next two are more based around the individual and in my opinion are more relevant to careers and success in the work place. We all have the need to feel respected; this includes the need to have self-esteem ND self-respect.
There is also the human need to be accepted and valued by others.
People with low self esteem often search for respect from others but they will not have self-esteem without accepting who they are. People will often work hard to gain this respect and feed their ego, it can big a big motivating factor. The final cause of motivation is self actualization, this is when a person understands their full potential and utilizes it fully. In order to understand this need all other needs must be taken care of, which is why it sits at the top of the pyramid.
I find the social aspect to be a good motivating factor in my team, I try to make sure that everyone feels comfortable with the other members of the team as this builds trust and allows the team to be more open with one another.
I try to arrange it so that we work together in different environments away from the office, such as on customer sites and on training days. I think it is important to congratulate good work, either verbally or responding to emails I am copied into, this is good for the ego of my team members, making them feel respected and an important part of the business.
Dealing with under-performance trot individual team members Our group corporate values ask that every individual shows Passion, Performance and Partnership. As previously mentioned, if a member of my team was under performing I would hear about it from one of the many people we deal with. Sales engineers and contractors can be very quick to point out any issues and defending my team is a regular occurrence. This isn’t usually down to under performance, more the nature of the Job and poor communication from our customers but it does help me monitor performance and make process changes where necessary.
Another indicator is the cost of projects, I pay all the invoices to our sub contractor partners, so I have visibility of the project price and engineers costs. By monitoring the profitability of projects I can check the performance of the processes and the team. Time is a big issue for my team, we are relatively small and support both the I-J and Ireland commercial organizations with over 100 sales engineers, they can need help with anything from the most complex million pound projects to the most simple of stand alone lighting controls. If anyone was under-performing I would first look at heir recent work load.
The problem however could be anything from trouble at home to ill health.
The first step would be to talk to the team member to find out if there was anything they knew of that could be affecting their work and try to help them resolve it. I had some complaints about a member of my team who wasn’t getting work done within the allotted timestamp. I discussed the issue separately with the people involved in the process and it became apparent that the timeshares were unrealistic. This has now been adjusted and his performance is back on track.
