Mapping Worker Success to Drive Innovation and Create Impact

Published on April 8, 2016 |

Setting goals allows individual workers to identify their strengths and remain engaged in business operations at a higher level—each of which ultimately translates into increased productivity for the organization. So what’s the best framework for setting relevant yet challenging goals?

Performance reviews certainly have their place, particularly when it comes to compensation. But a more proactive framework is success profiling, which seeks to bring individuals, training, and workplace roles into alignment.

The reality is that companies often recruit talent without identifying future skill needs or the context in which to develop the recruit. Rather than simply itemizing responsibilities, success profiles guide performance by mapping the mindsets, skills, and core competencies that are required to deliver designated outcomes. As part of this, employees are also encouraged to proactively identify new ways to acquire and apply technical knowledge—driving the potential for further innovation.

These profiles, then, describe both what the role is and how to do it by drilling into all of its layers. In doing so, it addresses a few key questions. What does success look like in this individual’s overall professional career? How will this individual relate and communicate with different leadership levels, functions, and remote offices? And finally, how will this individual actually enable the company to stay ahead of its competitors?

Making it Personal: From Business Strategy to Individual Goals

Taking this perspective when mapping out an employee’s role supports the implementation of the company’s overall business strategy. By helping employees to see and understand how to apply their skills in order to progressively achieve the business’ over-arching goals—the clear mandate for all company employees—this profile supports employee development and success in a way that promotes broader business success.

Making it Useful: Helping Employees to Forge Career Pathways

At the same time, such profiling is also a significant career-long training and development aid. That’s because it can also function as a benchmark for employees, both identifying and recognizing what they’ve learned and detailing how they can apply new knowledge, interests, skills, and mindsets going forward.

Making it Meaningful: The Connection to Company Culture

This type of profiling has a soft side too. It also helps keep employees connected to, and remain anchored in, a company’s culture. More than needing individuals who possess technical qualifications, a business needs flexible talent who can embody, and excel within, its culture. It needs workers who will embrace its core values, contribute to social responsibility initiatives, be good team players, influence decision-makers, and collaborate in unexpected yet vital ways.

For this reason, it’s critical to make success profiling and skills assessment an integral part of the process from the beginning of an employee’s exposure to your company. One simple way to do this is to encourage job candidates to research your culture, mission, and values, asking them to share how their career background and personal values may overlap with them.

59% of employees say they can “grow and develop” at their organization, up from only 44% in Spring of 2013
Modern Survey

Webster Bank can provide the support you need to help your business innovate and grow. Contact your relationship manager today. Call 855.274.2800.