Creating a habit of reporting in your team or company usually doesn’t come naturally. Like with any habit, you as a leader have to make it a recurring activity. Secondly, reporting should be automatic and as easy as possible. Finally, your team members have to be motivated to do it.
So, how do you accomplish that?
The easiest way to create a habit of reporting is to use a weekly status report software like Team Compass. It makes sure team members fill in their reports and it becomes a weekly habit.
How to get employee buy-in?
The main problem is that employees don’t understand how filing a status report helps them personally. For a leader it’s fairly obvious:
- You quickly know what’s going on and get invaluable insights from your team
- You can make fact-based decisions, proactively apply corrective measures
- You can guide your people by giving insightful feedback
What are the main reasons and benefits for employees?
You are more efficient and better at your job. At Weekdone we have a rule not to list more than 5-7 plans per week. This approach helps you prioritize and focus on the task that matters the most. Secondly, in case the reports are transparent they hold you accountable and make sure you are focusing on progress.
You save time. Having the reports in front of your manager and other team members eliminates all the pointless status update emails and meetings. Consequently, you save a lot of time explaining what you do and can concentrate on the important part of your work.
It will help your superiors to appreciate your work. Status reports help you to communicate with your busy boss. In addition, you can suggest improvements and get help when you have a problem. What is more, you can get that valuable feedback and praise.
It is easy. The most effective and simple method for reporting is PPP – Progress, Plans, Problems. Used by the likes of Skype, Ebay and Facebook. It is as easy as ABC.
- Progress: list your accomplishments, finished items and closed tasks for the period ending.
- Plans: goals and objectives for the next reporting period. These should become Progress next week.
- Problems: challenges. Items that are stuck and can’t be finished. Problems often need help from someone else, not just you.
To conclude, if you want to create a habit of reporting in your team, we urge you to test out Team Compass. It makes the whole reporting process easy and automatic.