2 ways to increase the value of your human capital today

The basic unit of human capital is each employee’s performance—and the leader’s job is to create the conditions for employees to perform at their very best. But there are so many possible ways you can approach this job. In a workday that is long on tasks and short on time, what will make the most difference? What can you do today?

You can measurably improve performance today by doing 2 things 1) Make sure your employees understand what you expect of them, and 2) Tell them how they are doing.

An analysis by the Corporate Leadership Council** suggests that fair and accurate informal feedback can improve individual performance by nearly 40%. Ensuring employees understand performance standards can improve performance by 36%. And, based on their study, of the many things you can and should do to build a high performance organization, these are 2 of the 7 highest impact actions you can take.

We recommend a self-audit. In your next 1:1 meetings, ask your employees to articulate what’s expected of them—and see if you agree with their interpretation. You may need to clarify your expectations.

Set a goal of giving feedback to your staff each time to you have a 1:1 meeting, or after they’ve completed a task. This not only signals your assessment of their performance; your feedback will clarify and reinforce your expectations.

The head of institutional sales for a financial services organization spends 15 minutes immediately after each presentation by his staff providing them feedback. During their presentations, he makes notes on specific things they do well and jots down 1-2 specific suggestions for improving next time. He hands these notes to his staff after they’ve debriefed.

The president of a national retail organization, that has turned in year-after-year of unprecedented growth, has a reputation for providing feedback “early and often.” When he travels, the manager who meets him at the airport knows she’ll be asked about her people and get instant feedback on her management—before they get back to the car.

Employees who understand what’s expected of them, know what their manager thinks of their performance, and feel comfortable that their contributions are valued, perform measurably better. They are more confident, more committed and more likely to make effective discretionary efforts. In other words, they deliver more value. Value that you’ve created through your everyday management practices, at every level of the organization.


*And in case this sounds like advice targeted at first-time, first-line managers, consider this: the amount of feedback leaders receive is typically inversely related to their level in the organization. Ironically, the most senior leaders, with the biggest impact on their firms, typically get the least amount of feedback and coaching.

**Building the High-Performance Workforce, Corporate Executive Board, 2002.