Business Advisor Network Blog

A common discussion amongst business owners and managers will often focus on employees and their performance, or lack of it.

But here’s an interesting thing… there are only 5 reasons why staff don’t perform at absolute capacity, 100% of the time.

That’s right. Just 5.

The first reason is because they simply ‘Can’t’. This is what is called the SELECTION issue. It means the chosen employee who, for some reason, is unsuited to the task assigned to them.

The second reason is that they don’t know ‘What’ it is employers want then to do. This is what is called the COMMUNICATIONS issue.

The third reason is that they don’t know ‘How’ to do what employees want them to do. This is what is called the EDUCATION issue.

The fourth reason is because they don’t know ‘Why’ to do it. They simply don’t know what will happen if they do, and what will happen if they do not perform to the desired standards. This is what is called the MOTIVATION issue.

And the fifth reason is because … they just ‘Won’t’. This is what is referred to as the INSUBORDINATION issue.

But guess what. Out of those five issues (being Can’t, What, How, Why and Won’t … or Selection, Communication, Education, Motivation and Insubordination) only ONE of them, the Insubordination issue, is a staff issue.

The rest are MANAGEMENT responsibilities.

So … if things aren’t working in your business as well as you’d like, take a moment to consider the 5 point checklist. Chances are you’ll find a large part of your problems are as a result of weaknesses in one or more of the areas which YOU are responsible for.

That might be a bitter pill to swallow – but take heart. The good news is that BECAUSE they’re your responsibility, you can do something to fix them.

You can change your recruitment systems, your induction program, your training program and your incentive systems … and thereby make sure that the problem never occurs again.

If it DOES pop up once more, you can again involve your team in improving the systems, procedures and programs which allowed it to occur. And if a ‘system fault’ was not the problem but ‘Insubordination’ was … then you can (and must) move quickly to remove that person from your organisation, before they poison it.

Remember: Selection, Communication, Education and Motivation. They’re the 4 critical responsibilities for managers. How well do YOU stack up?

Virtual Business Advisor

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It’s almost a cliche. Ask just about any manager what their most important resource is, and they’ll say ‘Our people’. And in the majority of cases they’d be right.  Fact is, few enterprises can perform optimally without a team of committed people contributing consistently.

Most managers would agree with this – and would proudly point to the money they’ve spent on induction programs, on incentive systems, on skills-development programs, on appraisal and coaching processes … and so forth. Given half a chance, they’d show you dozens of ‘investments’ they’ve made in their people.

But here’s the problem. Most of those investments are ‘hard’ or systems oriented, rather than ‘soft’ or emotion oriented. And ‘hard’ investments can NEVER produce the same results as the ‘soft’ investments.

For instance, if you’re fortunate enough to be part of a loving family or circle of friends, you’d know that your relationships will see you through most challenges. Your ‘people’ will rally around when times are tough. They’ll look out for you. They’ll be loyal. They’ll do whatever they can to help. And they’ll do all of this DESPITE the fact that there’s no ‘hard’ reason for them to do so.

To my way of thinking, that means we’d be crazy to ignore the ‘soft’ systems. To get the best results, we need to work on these emotional investments in our people too. And at the risk of sounding all ‘warm and fuzzy’, I believe this comes down to simply caring about each member of our team.

When I was in the Army, that very concept was the basis of our leadership training. In an environment where rigid systems, strict discipline and ‘toughness’ were the norm, commanders were trained to believe they were RESPONSIBLE for their subordinates. To keep us focused, we were told to constantly measure our performance against five
questions. They’re all worth pondering, but pay particular attention to the first one:
• Do I take an interest in the personal welfare of each of my subordinates, as if they were a member of my family?
• Do I heckle my subordinates, or do I strengthen and encourage them?
• Do I correct a subordinate in front of others, or privately?
• Do I lose my temper at individuals, or focus on what went wrong and how to fix it?
• Do I act in such a way as to make my subordinates WANT to follow me?
Common sense, sure – but the application of these ideas is all too uncommon. We need to know our peoples’ names AND what they’re interested in or worried about. We need to know about their families AND consider and include them. We need to take the time to find out what they’re thinking – even if that means sitting in some bar until two in the morning talking with them. We need to notice the things that excite them, by observing their body language and listening to their choice of words. We need to MAKE SURE they know they’re appreciated.

Teams with high levels of ‘caring’ have team members who are more loyal, more willing to adapt to changes, more responsible to others within the organisation. These are organisations with low staff turnover, low absenteeism, high productivity, high levels of innovation.

The flip side is also true. ‘Low care’ companies fail to build a reservoir of goodwill to draw on when the going gets rough. And even before those rough times, employees don’t really care – because THEY don’t feel cared about.

This doesn’t mean we should molly coddle our team It doesn’t mean caving in to every wish. It doesn’t mean not making demands or never criticising. And it doesn’t mean not expecting them to perform at their best level. What it DOES mean is that if you want your people to care about YOU, you should care about THEM.

Think of it this way: if your people treated your customers in exactly the same way you treated your employees, would you be happy? If not, perhaps it’s time for a re-think. Perhaps the way to approach the future is to DEMONSTRATE the way you’d like your people to behave, by behaving that way yourself?

After all, a huge amount of knowledge resides in the minds of our people. When a staff member ‘walks’, so does that knowledge. And surely that’s something to care about.

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One of the significant challenges for small business owners is to go from having been an employee is their previous roles to being an employer.This can be a daunting step for many. Dealing with employees is not easy and adds a number of dimensions to a business – admin, payroll, industrial relations, scheduling, personalities to name but a few.

However, the biggest challenge is getting people to do what you want. Without an alignment of interest and endeavour, your business will sail through some rocky times as it grows.

There are a number of basic tools that I have always used to deal with employees:

People generally do not turn up to work to do a bad job – there is always a reason. Many a time the reason can be the problem of business processes – they actually get in the way of employees doing their job

Everyone wants to be loved – a little compassion and thanks goes an awful long way with staff. Surveys regularly show that remuneration is rarely at the top of the list of motivation for staff.

If there is a problem, talk to the person. Find out what is causing it. It could be business processes, it could be personal or family issues, it could be they are genuinely not happy doing the job.

If someone genuinely does not enjoy the job, encourage them to swap or move on. Many the time I have used the “if you don’t enjoy getting out of bed to come to work, think about why you should” talk to effect. In reality, an unmotivated and unhappy employee is doing both themself and the business a great disservice.

Applaud and encourage staff who move on to other jobs outside your business. Don’t be negative or resentful – either you were not doing enough to keep them or they wanted to go. See if you can find out why and adjust if necessary.  Sometimes the good ones come back bigger and better than ever!

Always take the time to talk to staff when you come across them – a minutes’ worth of “how are you, how are things going” will repay you many times over.

The most important rule – as the “boss” you must earn respect not demand respect. Earn it and your staff will follow you, demand it and they may follow you.

I hope these give you some ideas.

Marshall Vann – Realistic Business Solutions

How to book a meeting with a business advisor, mentor or coach?
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The majority of people interviewing candidates for a job have poor interviewing technique, which results in picking the wrong person and can have a direct impact on the bottom line.

That’s the message from a survey of heads of HR conducted for A&DC, which revealed that 74% of interviewers had poor technique and 33% are poorly trained.

Of these questioned, 35% said poor interviewing resulted in poor performance from employees and 24% thought it affected the company’s financial performance.  The impact of a bad interviewing style doesn’t stop there.

Sixteen percent of those polled said it resulted in candidates leaving interviews with a bad impression of the company, 9% thought it wasted both time and money and 7% claimed it created disaffection amoung existing staff.

“Interviewing well is a skill that is difficult to consistently get right across the entire organisation, whether it’s large or small”, said Rory Fidgeon, senior consultant occupational psychologist for A&DC.  The survey shows that few heads of HR see their people interviewing well, which backs up the stories we hear of so many interviewing with ‘gut felling’ as their main guide.  Using this type of judgement in interviews doesn’t work consistently.  The results show huge scope to improve and simplify the interviewing process”.

The main barrier to effective interviewing was a lack of training, according to a third of respondents, while 17% pointed to a lack of time.  A&DC recommends using competency-based interviews where evidence of an individual’s past behaviour is set against criteria for the job.

“Recruiting the wrong person is expensive”, said James Foster, marketing manager of A&DC.  “Research shows that the total cost of replacing a member of staff averages in excess of 8,000 pounds (AUS$20,000)”, he added.  “Using structured interview formats more than doubles your chance of selecting the right person first time”.

Author: Newbusiness.co.uk

How to book a meeting with a business advisor, mentor or coach?
Find out about Government Grants for Queensland business?
Would you like to become an Accredited Advisor?
Need information on how to prepare a business plan?
Do you want a step by step guide to growing your business?
Become a sponsor or partner of BAN and connect with small business decision makers?
I wish to make a donation to help small business.