Are your employees working hard… but not on the things that actually move your business forward? That’s the silent killer of growth in small businesses — and the root cause is often poor performance management.

In this expert voice episode, Sabrina Baker shows you how to transform performance management into a true growth driver by combining two critical tools:

1. The Goal Alignment Cascade – cascading goals from business → department → team → individual so that every employee is directly tied to business results.
   
2. The Skills Framework – mapping hard skills and soft skills across time, ensuring employees not only hit goals but also grow in the behaviors your business needs.
   

Together, these tools give you the full picture of performance: both the what (goals achieved) and the how (skills and behaviors developed).

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why misaligned goals waste effort and stall growth.
  
• How to cascade a goal like “Increase Revenue by 20%” into department, team, and individual goals.
  
• How to use the skills framework for performance management, not just hiring.
  
• Why soft skills and behaviors are just as critical as technical skills in small businesses.
  
• How to build quarterly check-ins that reinforce alignment and skill development.
  

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