Most organization are now focusing more on setting Key Result Areas (KRAs) for all its employees. For the public sector under the current leadership of Prime Minister James Marape, he has directed all government employees starting from the Heads of Departments to have performance-based contracts that are result-oriented, which makes setting KRAs and achieving them very important.
What is Key Result Areas (KRAs)?
This process is very necessary because it gives employees clear goals and areas of work where each employee can focus time, energy and talent. In doing so the employee derives more satisfaction, achievement and confidence to deliver on their delegated roles and responsibilities.
At the end of the day, the employee should gain more in rewards, recognition and in individual professional and personnel development. The organization also gains and delivers more by increasing achievements on its mission, vision and mandate.
KRAs can be described as “the main job responsibility of an individual, or to the specific areas of outcomes for which an employee is responsible.”
KRAs define our job roles and give us a clear indication as well as direction as to what we should be doing to perform our job roles and responsibilities effectively and efficiently.
12 Ways to Meet KRAs in PNG Public Service
Below are twelve (12) suggested points as key ideas to help you achieve your KRAs better.
1. Cow vs Mosquito (attend to high output tasks)
If you were to kill and make a meal out from mosquitoes, how many would you kill? Probably hundreds or thousands. On the other end, if you were to kill a cow to make a meal, you would probably require only a portion of the meat and not the whole cow.
Sometimes we put too much effort into doing the little things that consume lots of our time and bring us very minimal returns while we avoid doing the few tasks that should bring us higher returns.
Our KRAs are our cows. This analogy is to help us understand that we have to attend to high output tasks before working on normal operational daily routine activities.
2. The power of completing five (5) daily tasks
On a daily basis, have five (5) main tasks on your must complete list and aim to complete them before the day ends. Those 5 tasks should be derived from your KRAs and working on them daily will help you achieve your KRAs towards the end of your contract review period.
All success on the face of the earth came about by people who took the time to complete the tasks or things that were assigned to them. To achieve your KRAs requires a daily commitment and to complete part of it daily is the way to which you can work towards achieving them.
3. The 100 minutes commitment
Commit 100 minutes of your time daily to work on an important task that you have been putting off for a long time or have planned to do that you know completing it will bring you a greater level of success.
Focus on completing a project, write-up etc within the 100 minutes period. The best time to do that is in the morning.
4. Delete the less important task
Not everything you have in mind or have as your lists of things to do are important. Delete those that a less important so you can commit more time to get work on your KRAs.
5. Do it now – procrastination killer
Some tasks will require some time to sit down and carefully think through the details of how we should go about completing them. However, in most cases, we should develop a “do it now habit” when we approach certain tasks. Taking immediate action will help us avoid procrastination.
Do it now is best described in this phrase “Eat a chicken when it is still an egg”, which simply means before a task gets too big for you to handle, attend to it and complete it while you have time and when it is still manageable.
6. Ask for advice
Great things happen to those who ask. Do not assume that you know everything. Asking for advice will help you clarify confusions, avoid misinterpretation and create more understanding.
Asking for advice can also open up new and better approaches to go about doing your job in achieving your KRAs.
7. Chop it up
Our KRAs are mostly spread over twelve (12) months period. To achieve those KRAs, you will be required to have 12 months of daily task completion.
Chopping up your KRAs into the daily task will help you reduce pressure and give you enough time to work on them.
When we live KRAs until the last minute, you will find yourselves left with not enough time, under a lot of work-related stress/pressure and this can destroy your work-life balance. Bad work-life balance can lead to lifestyle diseases.
8. Delegate so others can help you
Delegation is a powerful concept once you learn it, understand it and apply it. “Delegation is the assignment of any authority to another person to carry out specific activities. It is one of the core concepts of management leadership.
However, the person who delegated the work remains accountable for the outcome of the delegated work.” Wikipedia.com. There are always people around to help.
Delegation gives you more time to concentrate on other important things. It also helps you empower and upskill someone around you to step in for you. Effective delegation will help you achieve greater results.
9. Have clear deadlines
All our KRAs are given to us for a period of 12 months. Know when the 12 months will end so it will help you do the things necessary in achieving your KRAs.
10. Create a distraction-free environment
Digicel PNG Ltd has a policy called the “Clean Desk Policy”. It is simply to have your desk clean at all times. This is to have its employees be free of distractions so they can concentrate on the important things to do.
Distractions come in the form of phone notifications, phone calls and SMS, constant checking of emails, Facebook and other social media platforms, piles of papers on our table etc. Research proves that creating a distraction-free environment increases employee productivity.
11. Follow-up
Following-up is very important. It helps to accomplish the KRAs where other people’s input is required. Wanda Baader, an online marketing and business strategist, speaker and consultant stated that,
“follow-up is an essential key to success that once mastered will bring you awesome results. It is no secret that people lead busy lives and they cannot always remember to do all the things they want or need to do.
Simply sending out a little email, reminding them that your business is still there maybe all it takes to stimulate a sale. Following up will let them know you are interested in working with them and remind them that they need to hurry up.”
Effective and consistent follow-ups will help you get a lot of things done with the help and corporation of other people. It will also keep you informed. You can do it through making phone calls, sending emails or SMS.
12. Reward yourself
To enjoy your work life, reward yourself and celebrate the little achievement that you might have. It gives you a sense of fulfilment, joy and happiness that you’re progressing in life.
“You can only build on success thus, it’s important to reward yourself, and your team, as soon as you complete a key task or objective. Why?
By rewarding yourself in the moment, your brain elicits positive emotions, leading to the realization that your efforts result in a positive reward.
By doing this continuously, your brain will start to link pleasure to accomplishing the task or objective and move towards it in the future.” Tony Robbins
Avoid rewarding yourself in ways that will bring you more harm or expose you to possible life-threatening situations, e.g. alcohol abuse. Getting yourself a reward is through taking
- a coffee or milo break,
- lunch or dinner away from home,
- go on a short vacation, watching a movie etc…
It also depends on how you wish to reward yourself. And, perhaps it is important to know that rewarding yourself for victories makes a world of difference in your life.
Proverbs 9:10
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might…”
Editor’s note: PNG Insight is delighted to have published Josaiah’s inspiring message addressing the core of PNG Public Servants’ KRAs (Key Result Areas).
If you would like to participate in the PNG Writers’ Corner initiative, here is How-to-Participate. Read the other participants insightful stories, here. To get in touch, message us on Twitter, LinkedIn or email us on info@pnginsight.com.
Josaiah is the founder of Liklik Halivim an NGO based in Lae Morobe Province. His vision is to connect, build, mentor, empower and transform a life to be a responsible young man or woman.
