Contribution measures whether the employees feel they are useful, accomplish something, deliver good work, and contribute to the mission and vision of the company.
The typical root causes
Below are the root causes that explain the lower score in the vast majority of cases.
Unclear objectives
Employees do not know when they are successful, as there are no concrete KPIs and/or other measurable goals.Low utilization of talents
Employees are forced to spend time on things that are not within their talents or strengths.Struggling to prioritize
Employees need help prioritizing what is most important.Missing feedback
Employees lack feedback from their leader or from each other.Lack of involvement
Employees do not feel involved in decisions about their tasks and processes.
Ideas for improving
Note: The root cause is what guides a good action that will improve the status quo from a bad action that's targeting something that might already be working. It's only possible to provide good ideas in the context of a root cause.
If unclear objectives is the root cause
Ask yourself: Is it clear what expectations there are for their role?
You can try asking the employees how they believe success would look like in the role and thereby learn if there is a mismatch in expectations. Also, make sure to communicate your expectations/what you imagine a successful result may look like.
Ask yourself: Which parameters equal success in their role?
Ensure to elaborate other success parameters than the high-level company or department goal, so it feels easier and more realistic to be successful in the role.
Ask yourself: Do the employees have sufficient, measurable goals? And do we check in on these regularly?
Make sure to schedule regular (quarterly) development and feedback 1:1’s with the employees to align expectations and set goals as to what they should deliver. Try to make it as measurable as possible to enable the employee to see their development. We recommend focusing on development in terms of career, personal skills, and professional skills - you can use our Development Plan template for this purpose. In these conversations, you build a clear plan for the next three months and what actions need to be taken by whom to succeed with the plan.
If utilization of talents is the root cause
Ask yourself: Could tasks be allocated differently according to strengths and talents of the team members?
It could be an idea to look into the task allocation process of the team. To do this the best way, be aware of the employee’s talents and strengths. You can use the well-being conversation card to become more aware of this. Here, it would be a great advantage to actively work with the Zoios’ Personality Archetypes framework to ensure, that both you and the employees know which tasks are a better fit than others.
Ask yourself: Do we sufficiently consider strengths and talents in our recruitment to ensure job fit?
We recommend using Zoios’ Personality Archetypes already during the recruitment process. This will help ensure that the role and responsibilities match the employee’s talents and strengths, and it will also help you to create the right development plan early on in their employment.
If struggling to prioritize is the root cause
Ask yourself: Do we have a structure for checking in on tasks regularly?
Make sure to check in frequently with your employees on (weekly) task 1:1’s or on team level to align expectations and help them prioritize. See the Leadership Playbook for inspiration on how to facilitate task check-ins.
Ask yourself: Is this a matter of workload?
In this case, investigate if some of the workload could be spread across other team members to make prioritization easier for each employee.
If missing feedback is the root cause
Ask yourself: Do I provide them with sufficient feedback?
Make sure to provide sufficient feedback for the employees on their work so that they know it has value. As the need for feedback is very subjective, we would recommend doing this in the development and feedback talk. You can find inspiration on how to facilitate these 1:1 conversations and what questions to ask your employees in our 1:1 guide for development and feedback conversations in the Leadership Playbook.
Ask yourself: How do I provide feedback to the employees?
More important than how often you do it is how you do it. Make sure to have a go-to method for providing feedback to each other where you remember to practice constructive criticism and praise. If your employees receive feedback in a negative way or don’t receive praise, they will most definitely not feel like they are contributing.
Ask yourself: Does our culture encourage and value feedback?
Long-term it could be of great value to make sure that your culture prioritizes feedback and recognition so the employees know - and feel - when they are successful. Aim to create a culture, where it is a natural part of your everyday life to book each other in for feedback sessions. Communicate to the team that feedback is a gift and ask them how they want to work with feedback moving forward so they are encouraged to give it to each other instead of leaving it only to you.
If lack of involvement is the root cause
Ask yourself: Do I ask for the employees’ input when making decisions that affect their work?
If you have expertise within the area of the team’s work, it may be easy for you to solve high-level problems, set up processes, and make decisions on behalf of the team. However, the employees may feel like their opinions, skills, or knowledge are not taken into account. Make sure to involve them in your thoughts and ask for their input - then try to take the input into account and be transparent on why you make the decisions the way you do.
Ask yourself: Do I delegate work that might as well be done by the employees themselves?
Showing your employees trust and giving them autonomy to solve problems, set up processes, and make decisions around their work may be what they need to feel like they contribute. When delegating work, see it as a win-win as you also get more time to handle other important leadership tasks.