Employee Development - Page 3

We often hear business owners ask how they can get their team to have more ownership in their work.   Make sure you follow us this month as we focus on how to foster ownership at every level of your business by cultivating an employee ownership mindset. In this article we are focusing on how communicating and engaging your employees in your company vision creates the foundation for taking ownership of their work, and in helping your business achieve its vision.

This month we have been focused on conducting a business checkup so that you and your team are clear on what your business needs in the 4th quarter to finish this year strong and build momentum for 2016. We have discussed analyzing goals, developing next actions, meeting with your Accountant, and taking a critical look at your Marketing Plan and Sales Process. This week we turn the focus to the people that run the systems: Your team. They are active and vital players in your business. This week we will look at three areas to investigate when doing a staff check-up; Tools, Trainings and Measuring Results.

This month we've been focused on dealing with employee issues. We've discussed creating an Employee Notification Form, being aware of your own reaction to the issue, and looking for the root cause of the problem. The final step is to create a solution that lasts.

Often times, creating a solution is not an interactive activity with the employee, but rather a lecture. This leads to solutions that are not long lasting. Here are a few tips to help you create a long lasting solution:

What do you do if you have a headache? It's always fun to hear the different methods people use to treat a headache. Many ignore it or take an aspirin. Some turn down the lights or apply a compress to the back of their necks. The common theme is that most people treat the symptom and not the cause of the headache. This is similar to how most business owner's deal with employee frustrations. This week we challenge you to slow down when facing an employee issue. Don't give in to the temptation to treat the symptom right away, but walk around the issue with curiosity. In doing so you will come to see the real issue and be able to create a long lasting solution.

Quote: "An employee's motivation is a direct result of the sum of interactions with his or her manager." - Bob Nelson 

Question: In what ways do your interactions with your staff impact their motivation?

We've all heard the saying, "It's not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it that counts." This saying is vital when discussing employee issues. As business coaches, we often find that business owners either let employee issues slide or end up handling them in a manner that doesn't create the most productive environment.   The reasons for mishandling employee issues vary such as:

Many a business has attempted to do something "new," "different," or "improved" and found that what they believed was a good idea, maybe even a great idea, was truly a failure. Again, and we stress this, it is not because they believed what they were doing was a bad idea, as a matter of fact, they so believed in their ideas that they willingly risked their companies. This month, we are going to look at a few of these failures and explore what could be done to avoid such Epic Fails.

One definition that Dictionary.com has for epic is: of unusually great size or extent. They also have the following for one definition for fail: to fall short of success or achievement in something expected, attempted, desired, or approved. Combining these two words Dictionary.com defines epic fails as modern slang that means: a spectacularly embarrassing or humorous mistake, humiliating situation, etc., that is subject to ridicule and given a greatly exaggerated importance.

During the month of March we will be exploring three Epic Fails, The McDonald's McResource program, JC Penney's re-branding efforts by Ron Johnson, and the Sochi Olympics preparation issues. This week we will dig deeper into the McResource program.

Where does your time go? How is it that you can come in at 7 AM and then at 6 PM suddenly realize that the day has completely passed you by? How did you miss dinner with your in-laws? (Okay, you may want to plead the Fifth on that one, but you get the idea.) Time is the one resource you cannot replace but use and allocate the worst. So, what happens to your time? How does it get away from you? What steals your time?

Time Bandits are responsible for stealing the better part of the day away from you and your business. They can include anything from answering the phone, having a cluttered desk, or having an unscheduled meeting. They can and will be different for everyone, but in the space below, you will find three common bandits that may be stealing your time.

In last week’s article, “Planning to Have a Life Outside Your Business,” we discussed the need to schedule your time away, to have a Paid Time Off (PTO) Policy, and to support your business and employees by creating Systems and Training that enable PTO. This week we are presenting a listing of PTO Systems that your business should have in place to support your employees, clients, and company:

Now that the C.A.T. (Communication, Accountability partner, and Take action) is out of the bag  regarding the importance of accountability, how can you create a structure of accountability?  Ask and answer the following questions and you will on your way to creating an accountability structure that will help ensure you gain the results you desire.