Top 3 Things People Ops Folks Should Be Doing Now
With 2024 well underway (that happened too fast!), it's a great time to be sure your People Operations teams are on track for a successful year ahead.
There are a few things we recommend doing at the start of the year—and with good reason, as some of these may inform your strategy for the entire year (such as a culture survey). It's better to have that information sooner than later so you don't waste any time on strategies that ultimately won't serve your team.
Whether it's evaluating goal-setting processes to be sure they're clear or creating IRL opportunities for people to connect, all three of these to-do items support culture building and team collaboration, and they create alignment across your team.
Here at DevelopWell, we implement these tips ourselves—for us and for our clients! We find these practices set the tone for the year and get everyone moving in the same direction, which is critical no matter what's on your 2024 agenda.
Read on to learn more!
Most people are willing to provide the data you'll need to steer your work for the year—you just have to ask! Surveying is always one of the first things we do with any of our client engagements.
The data we gather through our Engagement and Assessment Surveys confirms that everything we decide to work on meets the needs of your team—because they guided us there with their answers. Surveys are done via qualitative and quantitative methods, including physical surveys and focus group meetings.
We've found that relying on quantitative data, while still useful, can sometimes cause leaders to miss out on important context. To be sure we have all of the relevant information we need to make decisions, our process includes listening sessions in which our skilled facilitators probe deeper to gain valuable insights from employees.
Questions on our survey are developed based on best practices from leading sources like Gallup and SHRM. We're looking to get a sense of your organizational culture within three major areas:
Employee engagement
Staff's sense of belonging
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Survey answers can greatly inform your priorities. For example, if you uncover that some of your team members feel like they're not being heard, that's a clear sign to investigate our People Operations offerings. Or, if you learn that folks are unclear on how their performance is reviewed, it's time to revisit your performance management process (more on that next!).
Surveys also provide useful benchmark data. When you use the gathered data to make meaningful decisions that support and center your employees, you'll see those results show up in your survey data, year over year. While you can't exactly measure how much trust you've built with your staff, you can track metrics like retention and employee satisfaction, which help you see how well you're doing.
The start of the year is also prime time to evaluate the way you approach goal-setting and performance management. You want to be sure that employees feel included in the performance management process and that you're supporting each person in their individual professional development.
Team members should clearly understand how departmental and individual goals tie back to the company's overall goals. They should also know exactly how they will be reviewed on their performance. When there's a disconnect between expectations and understanding, motivation and engagement can suffer.
(Hint: These are all things we can assess during that Engagement and Assessment survey we just talked about!)
Here's a general four-step process we run through with our clients:
Set visionary objectives—think BIG! Then, break those down into actionable goals and identify who is responsible for them, whether that's a team, a department, or a specific person.
Determine your approach. Will you adopt the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) method of setting goals and communicating them to the company? Are you drawn to the SMARTIE method because you want to ensure your goals are equitable and inclusive of everyone? There is no best-answer here; you'll have to browse a variety of approaches to find the one that works for you.
Select the tools you will use. This might be a spreadsheet or sophisticated performance management software; the best tools are the ones you will use and that make work easier for you and your team.
Ask yourself these questions: Is my approach clear, consistent, and measurable? Do I have key benchmarks set? Do I have a feedback loop set up to monitor progress? This might look like regular meetings to talk about goals and progress between team members and managers, with the managers then reporting up through senior leadership.
The big-picture goal is for each person to know what they're responsible for—on their own and as part of the team—while also feeling grounded and excited about the big goals you've set for the year. When people can see the value of their individual piece of the puzzle, they're much more likely to show up to work as their whole and best selves.
One final note: You can (and should!) get input from team members throughout this process. For example, in Step #1, you could ask the teams to set their own goals for the year, based on what they know about the organization-wide goals. Then, they can submit those for discussion and approval.
Involving people, especially about things that directly affect them, boosts inclusion and engagement. People feel heard and appreciated, and they understand why their work matters—all of which can increase motivation!
As convenient as remote work may be, nothing replaces the magic of connecting face-to-face—even when that takes place virtually.
Create space for people to connect about things beyond work. We help our clients come up with ways to do this, and we've seen lots of different strategies work. Maybe you set up coffee chats so people on your team can learn more about each other. Perhaps you organize a team lunch once a month or a quarter. Or you might reserve time at the beginning or end of a scheduled team meeting to let people share personal stories and connect.
Whatever you choose, be sure to keep up a cadence that works for your team. Send out calendar invites so that things aren't forgotten, and add information about these informal events into your communication norms so people know both what to expect and what is expected of them.
Finally, we recommend that you always be open to ideas. If one of your team members proposes a different way to connect, like bringing an article they liked to discuss with a group of coworkers, try it and see how it goes!
DevelopWell can help prepare your People Ops teams for a great year ahead
You can see how sending out surveys, reviewing your goal-setting and performance management processes, and fostering personal connections among your team can all help to bolster your People Ops team. This is the perfect time to do the prep work to ensure you're ready for a productive 2024—and we're here to help.
As you get started with these tips, you may run into questions or challenges. You can always reach out to the DevelopWell team for guidance, support, or a personalized consultation. We'd love to hear more about your goals this year!