Employees are the lifeblood of any organization. However well-planned your daily business operations are, the working processes will be carried out by your employees. The difference between the success and the failure of a company is largely down to the skill and suitability of its employees.

Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to keep track of the progress of each individual employee, especially if you employ more than a few members of staff. It is all too easy to get so caught up in the “big picture” that you forget to monitor employee progress! This oversight can have negative impacts on the profitability and efficiency of an entire company, and the turnover of staff.

In this guide, we will look at some of the ways that you can facilitate and track the progress of your members of staff.

Make a Note of Areas to Focus On

You can usually identify any potential issues with an employee during the interview stage. Of course, you should always hire the best person for the job, but even the best hires will have some areas for improvement. During the initial probation period for an employee, making notes of areas that can be improved upon is important.

Set Measurable Goals

Once potential weak points or challenges have been identified, it is a good idea to set relevant goals to encourage improvement. The best goals are usually those that can be categorically measured—for example, an increase in monthly sales. When setting goals for an employee, remember that it is a collaborative process, and consult with the employee to make sure these goals are achievable.

Develop Effective Training Procedures

Even if you are hiring someone with extensive experience in your industry, the chances are that they will need to learn the specifics of how your company operates, from what equipment is used to what internal processes are used daily. This kind of training can often be carried out in the workplace itself. If you want to train an employee in a new skill, from marketing to fire safety, you could even outsource this to training providers.

Use Human Resources

Tracking the progress and job satisfaction of every employee is usually a process that a boss or manager cannot do alone. This is part of the reason that human resources, or HR, exists. Putting together an effective HR department can be done by hiring only the most qualified HR managers, and even using HR software to streamline tasks such as scheduling and filing progress reports.

Revisit Regularly with Progress Reports

There is not much use in developing all of the above processes if they are not regularly revisited and monitored. Progress reports typically happen every few weeks or months for each employee and can be a great way of tracking progress. If you need to give negative feedback to an employee, remember that the way we talk to people is often more important than the actual content of what we say. Focusing on constructive criticism and starting and ending progress reports on positive notes is usually recommended to avoid demoralizing an employee.