Thank Goodness It’s Monday!!

Apr 28, 2014 | Team

How often do you hear your employees say “Thank Goodness it’s Monday!”  Not too often, I bet.

We spend most of our waking lives at work, so why not make it a place where people look forward to coming – especially Monday.

When you provide an environment that encourages, promotes and nurtures a “friendly, warm and caring work place”, business and life will become more pleasant for everyone, the end result being that productivity, morale and your bottom line will improve.

Do you notice and celebrate each team member’s birthday? How about their anniversary with the company? Do your team feel the office is a community they below to?  Do you have regular team outings, more than a once a year holiday party? Pizza, or even better, a healthy choice for lunch on Friday?  What little things do you do to show you appreciate each of your team members?  Are there opportunities for the whole team to share in each others’ successes?

Begin by asking your team what they would appreciate, “their wish list,” to enhance their work environment. You’ll be surprised how little they really want.

Take into consider everyone’s needs and try choosing a few, especially the most popular request, and implement them into the routine of the company. If they are items you need to buy think of it as an investment. Investing, for example, in a new microwave oven, better quality coffee, a water cooler or fresh bagels on the Monday morning coffee break every now and then, are some are the sorts of things that you can do to show you care about your employees.

If there isn’t much of a budget for it or the company can’t afford it, (which you can always find a few extra dollars here and there) then try to do little things that don’t cost much or anything, like a company potluck or a team building FUN Day! Go bowling; show a movie in-house with popcorn. The point is to let your employees know that you care and appreciate all their hard work. Without the hard work of your employees, where would you business be? Investing in them is really investing in your company!

We are all “social animals’ who perform best when we feel appreciated and enjoy the people we work with. When your employees are happy and satisfied, it will show in their work, they will show it with your customers, and then it will show in your profit.  How you treat your employees is how they treat your customers.  Want your customers to feel special? Start with your team.  Everyone wins!

Have a great week! If you need more ideas get in touch with me.

3 Reasons You Get Bad Employees

Feb 7, 2014 | Team

Do you think you can’t get great employees? Can’t get them to do what you need? Can’t get them to stay? Before you blame your Team, remember that old adage: “You get the employees you deserve.” Let’s start by taking a look in the mirror. The most common mistakes that occur are hiring the wrong person, inadequate training or evaluation and a lack of leadership. Now, let’s take a look at those issues in greater detail.

1. You’re hiring the wrong person or putting them in the wrong role. Using behavioral profiles can help to measure a candidate’s qualities before you hire them. I use the DISC profile to help make the right match of person and position. The DISC profile measures a person’s natural and adapted (under observation or pressure) behavioral tendencies. The profile is very quick to administer and yields some very useful insight into an individual style that is able to predict the likely trends of their behavior in the future, individual strengths, how to communicate with them, and keys to motivating them.

In addition, examine the hiring process and the questions that you’re asking. What do you need to change based on the lessons you’ve learned in the past? Ask questions that uncover values and look for alignment with your company’s values. I have found that a “bad employee” is many times not due to the lack of job competence—it’s more often a failure to mesh with organizational values, culture and mission. You must hire for character because that can’t be taught. An employee with a great “values match” will still under perform if you assign them to the wrong job. Go back through your job descriptions and modify for what the business needs and what personal styles will work best in that role, then hire the person that fits that description. Chaos results when you change the job to match the skill set of the newest hire.

 Simple DISC Profile Styles

2.  The problem could be that your training, measuring, and evaluation process is inadequate. When was the last time you revised your on-boarding process?  Your company handbook?  The initial process for training a new hire?  How welcoming is their first day on the job?  What commitment did you ask the new hire to make?  What KPI’s (key performance indicators) are they held accountable for? How often do they receive feedback? Who mentors the new folks and for how long? I recommend that all team members participate in the regular team meeting (if you don’t have them, start!). At every meeting ask: What can we do to help you succeed in your job?  Many business owners use the “leave alone, zap” method.  With this method, you turn a new hire loose to figure things out and then “zap” when they make a mistake. This, or a similar approach, basically sets someone up to fail. As expensive as staff turnover is (time, repeated re-training, lost productivity, etc), it is certainly worth investing in refining the process so that we do a better job and “start over” less often.

 3. The Leader doesn’t know where he/she is going or doesn’t communicate it to the team.  In order to have great followers, you must be a great leader. No team can ever out-perform its leadership. Are you the kind of leader that a great employee would want to follow? Are you running the kind of business that a great employee would want to work for? Your team watches everything you do and dissects everything you say. Start with your communication—do you communicate clearly and regularly? Is your communication a two-way street or do you transmit only?  Are you consistent in your statements and behavior? Are you consistent with the stated company values?  Do you do what you say you will do? Do you have the courage to ask for feedback on YOUR performance?  Do you listen to the answers?  Leadership is a contact sport.  If you have the backbone and can truly listen to, and have gratitude for the answers, survey the Team about their views of you as the Leader.  Be willing to “sharpen your saw” to make some changes. Change your behavior, change your results!