Retain Your Drivers by Helping Them Set Goals

Setting goals is a great way to internally and externally motivate someone, especially at work. Whether it be a company goal or personal goal, goal setting can help boost work performance and push employees to strive for something better. Helping your employees (whether on the road or in the office) set goals shows that you care about them and are invested in their future.

Inspiration blog Keepinspiring.me highlights how having goals can make hard tasks seem more achievable by sharing this great quote: “goals transform insurmountable mountains into walkable hills.” Setting goals and rewarding achievements will lead to more efficient work and happier employees, which will help you boost your retention rates.

Follow these 4 steps to successfully use goals within your company:

Send out a goal setting template – In order to quickly get all your employees on board with setting goals, send out an message explaining what you are doing and why. Make sure to highlight that setting goals will not only help the company but it will help each driver have a better experience and feel more empowered on the job. Attach a goal setting template and ask each driver to fill it out before you have a meeting with them. This will make it easier for them to begin setting goals and will also assist you and the driver during the meeting. Make sure that the goals are of different lengths of time and different levels of difficulties. Here are a few good templates to get you started. 

Set up a meeting – After you send out your initial email, send a request for a meeting. In person would be best, but if that’s not possible a phone call will work. Sharing goals with someone else, especially a manager, can cause employees to feel more obligated to complete the goals. Make sure you talk through each goal and, if necessary, have them explain how the plan to achieve the goals. It’s also important to decide on what rewards will be given when the goals are achieved because this will give your drivers something to look forward to. (Pro tip: Have goals of your own and share these with your drivers so they know that you are working towards something too).

Check up on their progress – Depending on how long term their goals are, check in with employees occasionally about their progress. Ask them if they feel like they made achievable goals or if they need to make any changes. If they are feeling unmotivated or aren’t working towards their goals, help them realize the importance of goals and ask them what they need in order to change their behavior. Make sure to let them know that you are there to help them so they know that you want them to achieve their goals. Knowing that you have someone on your team while working towards something is really motivating even if you aren’t physically helping them with something.

Reward achievement – Make sure you have an easy way for a driver to let you know that they achieved their goals. When goals are achieved, reward the driver quickly with the incentive that you discussed in your first meeting. When a driver knows that they are actually rewarded for achieving their goals, they will be more inclined to work hard to finish the next goal. People love to share achievements with friends, family, and co-workers, which means the news of receiving a reward will also be shared around the company, boosting others’ motivation to achieve their goals. You should also share your driver’s achievements around the office, on social media, and to other drivers. This will make the goal setting experience even better for drivers and show them that everyone in the company cares about their success.

Have any other tips about goal setting? Let us know!
Keep on truckin’!