ILM Level 2 – Improving team performance Assignment

ILM Level 2 – Improving team performance
Assignment
Centre Number: 072797 Centre Name: Specsavers Optical
Superstores
Learner
Registration No: XJR2075 Learner
Name: Jai Mistry
1. Outline the organisations requirements of the team in line with company policy
Specsavers has defined expectations of Team Members which are given to each employee in
the form of a job description backed up with a work contract signed by each employee when
they join the organisation.
These expectations include a timekeeping policy which requires the individual to be at work at
the stated shift start times and to contact the Duty Manager in roughly twenty minutes of that
start time with any reasons they cannot make it. It will allow the Manager/ Supervisor time to
call in Locum (Cover Staff) to keep the trading run smoothly. Sickness Absence is also
precisely monitored using the Rota’s made by our Store Director.
The number of absenteeism is focused more on the number of times when a staff member is
absent rather than the number of days as short duration of time off which are more disruptive
to the entire functioning team. If the staff repeats to be absent constantly without any
reasons, and then the disciplinary meeting is arranged.
Personal conduct is also supposed to be relevant as aggressive or disruptive conduct will
influence the performance of the whole team meaning short of staff, not meeting the targets
or conflict between the staff members.
Staff members are expected to reach certain performance level depending on their job role.
The In-store Trainer(IST) provides all the staff training, and to check that the assigned training
that needs to be complete, and individual objectives which are set annually beginning of the
month by the store Directors during a yearly staff meeting. As a supervisor with Manager, we
review every staff appraisals and then delegate the IST to keep a continuous improvement
mentality within each staff members.
Completion of individual objectives also helps towards future career plans, promotion and
possibly pay rise. All these expectations help the business to keep well-motivated team who
are self-driven with good moral.
An example in our store we have a staff member who works weekends only. He messages the
management group on WhatsApp on the day that he is sick and he cannot come to work. We
kept an eye on him. He showed up one weekend in a month. So we told him to bring a letter
from a doctor that he has attended the appointment at the hospital at A&E, but he failed to do
so. We had to speak to him about the situation because it was affecting the store as we could
not find cover for the day and end up with few staff members on the day. After speaking to
him, we explained to him that it does affect the business and if he is happy working with us,
so as a result, we extended his probation period to see how he is getting along.
2. Outline the team’s objectives in achieving organisational targets

ILM Level 2 – Improving team performance
Assignment
The formulation of the effective team bonding drives an organisation towards achieving the predetermined
targets. The leader takes the responsibility to motivate the employees for ensuring the better performance
outcomes. The employees at Specsavers are quite committed to their job responsibility. The mission of the
company is to meet the demands of the company. It is important for the leaders to guide the employees in a
significant way that will motivate them and help them achieving the organisational objectives. The
employees need to set some of the specific objectives to achieve the organisational goals and targets. The
following points are needed to be taken into considerations:
 The leaders need to connect the team with the bigger picture. The effective leadership style helps in
creating the fruitful understanding of the works responsibility and the organisational strategy1.
Conveying the mission to the employees in an appropriate way will be helpful for the employees to
keep their focus towards their responsibility.
 The leaders need to assemble the team to pick a “MAD” (Make-All-the-Difference) Goal. The
innovative approaches shared by the employees will help in completing their jobs within the
stipulated time2.
 The continuous review and monitoring of their progress report will be beneficial to identify the areas
of improvement. Accordingly, the employees will develop the clear ideas about their job
responsibility. It will also help in enhancing their professional skills of achieving success.
 The transparent communication is the most necessary aspect to be taken into account. An effective
leader needs to maintain the communication transparency for making the employees understand of
the organisational goals3. The clear ideas about the work functionalities will help in gathering the
suitable ideas of how to achieve the goals.
 Associating people from the diverse background and prompt respond to the emerging barriers can be
1 Katzenbach, Jon R., and Douglas K. Smith. The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harvard Business
Review Press, 2015.
2 Bryson, John M. Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining
organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons, 2018.
3 Mihalache, Oli R., et al. "Top management team shared leadership and organizational ambidexterity: A moderated mediation
framework." Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal 8.2 (2014): 128-148.

ILM Level 2 – Improving team performance
Assignment
beneficial in performing in an effective way. The innovative ideas shared by the people and
distribution of the task to the expertise employees would reduce the time and effort on any project.
The divided task responsibility and clear responses towards the emerging conflicts would lead the
employees towards accomplishing the business goals.
The business leaders need to take the responsibility to motivate the employees. It will be helpful for
them to develop their professional efficiency and fulfil their organisational objectives.
3. Explain how the individual performance of team members affects the overall performance of the
team
Teams need individuals who are driving the work and completing tasks versus just talking
about it. Individuals who are paying attention to details, as well as keeping harmony and
collaboration going in the team.
An individual’s motivation, mindset and positive attitude create a positive environment for
morale boosts and performance of a team as understanding an individual's strengths mean
that you can place them in roles that will enable the staff to use their strengths on a regular
basis.
When people can do this, they shine and are far more productive. Individuals who
demonstrate same thinking tend to be interested in performing work in similar ways thus
leading to the better cohesion of teamwork.
At Specsavers, online appointments’ system was recently introduced, and due to
unforeseeable issues with internet connections and system failures, appointments were being
double booked or not booked at all leading to team members dealing with potentially
unhappy patients who became increasingly frustrating. I arranged an informal meeting with
the team member, and a keen individual volunteered to put in additional time into addressing
the problem; he was highly competent in using the system and conducted mentoring sessions
with the other members. His commitment and enthusiasm had a very positive impact which
resulted in additional team members being able to contribute to exceeding the targets.
Another positive example of how individual performance can affect the overall performance of
the team is related to the knowledge and expertise of an individual. At Specsavers, carrying
out repairs of spectacles is a fundamental part of our customer service, and some frames
such as rimless or half-rim glasses required more skill to amend. However, there used to be
only one people out of the entire team that wearable carries out these repairs. Therefore,
they had to be available to complete this which led to an unequal distribution of work and
long waiting time for the customer especially when this was the only pair of prescription
eyewear they had. To combat this, every Saturday morning, one-hour training sessions were
conducted by the individual who was competent to demonstrate and teach the team how to
carry out these repairs. After a few sessions, majority excelled on those types of repairs which
lead to faster repair times as everyone can deal with it, happier customers due to less waiting
times and less build-up of work for any individual.
A negative example of how individual performance can affect the overall performance of the
team is by following their job role. In the retail market, especially with more 1 to 1 interaction
with customers, the customer journey is essential to keep the customer happy at all stages of
communication, keeping notes of any conversations and decisions if the patient is
fundamental for others to understand what is being done or has been said. In a case that
occurred that a customer was promised a discount or a different price to pair of spectacles for

ILM Level 2 – Improving team performance
Assignment
any reason and the individual is not working that particular day, it cannot be honoured which
can potentially cause a hassle due to miscommunication which could have been avoided if it
was noted in the system.
This reduces customer’s trust as they believe they are being ripped off and feel that the team
is not competent to conduct their job roles and more time of the team is allocated to resolve
this problem which could have been allocated elsewhere.
4. Identify indicators of underperformance in relation to own team
My work team has many indicators that we use to measure performance.
These include Daily sales report, Weekly sales Targets, dispense remake reports, Average
value order reports, Customer satisfactory index, and maze feedbacks. Maze is an online
questionnaire which every customer receives to their email inbox after a sight test or
purchased spectacles and allows them to provide vital feedback on their experience of the
customer journey. This gives us an indication on any potential areas or team members which
may be underperforming This would be discussed each morning and depending on the
severity of the frustrated maze feedback immediate resolutions are put in place, or a process
of problem-solving is started and monitored until the problem is solved. First, the most crucial
indicator of underperformance is that goals or objectives are not being met. Individual goals,
regarding what the job is supposed to accomplish, and the individual is not meeting them at
all. Another possibility is that the employee is relying too heavily on other members to meet
their own goals. This would suggest it is not a productive way to get things done because that
employee is draining resources that have other goals and expectations. A team usually
underperforms due to lack of resources, training, motivation, feedback, recognition among
other factors.
Dispense remake reports give indications of quality and sales performance of the spectacles;
every remake is recorded and investigated to find out the cause, e.g. dispensing error by
team member such as incorrect measurement, incorrect options offered or not offered etc. A
high number of remakes due to dispensing error would suggest underperformance in the
team.
Performance is also measured by how well everyone in the team works with each other if they
are working efficiently with other team members to ensure maximum patient care.
Underperformance occurs when there is negativity or friction within the team such as an
inflexible approach to working with work colleagues, individuals working in isolation and gives
little support to team members, leaves their work for others to pick up; formal or informal
feedback from colleagues raises concerns. This ultimately leads to a reduction in
communication; therefore, decreased customer care as some team members may be
unaware of certain situations. For example, if a pair of spectacles were taken in for repair, and
nobody is aware of the location of the spectacles or notes on the system then it would seem
unprofessional in the point of view of the customer if team members are running around
“hunting” for them. This would also lead a decrease in efficiency as more members are being
drafted in for a job that would require a single person. Therefore, reducing productivity
elsewhere leading to underperformance as that time spent could have been allocated to
serving more customers or making sales.
Another indicator is disobedience. Underperformance by a team can be demonstrated through
disregards of the company rules and regulations, and team members or individuals would
portray arrogance and non-conformance to the tasks that need to be accomplished. Negative
attitude harmful to the individual careers as it can impact the productivity levels and
therefore reduce customer satisfaction.
5. Explain the possible causes of underperformance