In Monday’s Blog we addressed the issue of how you may be inadvertently contributing to the problems with your employees, and in turn contributing to poor performance, low productivity, poor customer service and high turnover.
In this slow economic recovery, every business is looking to do more with what they have. Capital acquisition, especially for small businesses, is still a challenge. For service businesses, your strongest assets –your key resources–are your employees. (Yes, even stronger than your brand. Brand creates awareness and a promise. But it’s the employees that deliver on that promise.)
If you want to improve your business, you must start with your managers. These are the front line managers: shift supervisors, store managers, team leaders. These are the people who are the direct link to your front line employees.
There are four steps required to improve and grow your managers:
1) Require and insure senior executives function as a team and support (by demonstration not lip service) the stated values of the business
a. Employees watch their leadership team for cues on how to behave and how to manage: what’s acceptable; what is not
2) Carefully select employees for management positions
a. Have a succession plan that incorporates a management development plan for high potential candidates
3) Support the transition from employee to manager
a. Not all newly promoted managers will be ready for their new role. In fact, in many organizations, it’s possible that most aren’t yet ready for prime time but are needed there
b. Coaches and Mentors work well in these situations
4) Define the standard of performance required of all your managers and provide support to help them both understand then meet that standard. If they don’t (or won’t) replace them.
a. Understand that “what you permit you promote”. Tolerating poor managers and poor manager behavior is the same as condoning it. And that is the way employees will perceive it.
Service excellence, cost-effective performance and innovation, start with engaged employees. And we all know that employees leave their organizations most often because of their boss. If you believe that your employees are not engaged to the extent you want them to be, don’t start with employee remediation efforts, start with the leaders and the managers. If employees don’t have a good boss, save your money, as nothing else will work, at least for long. It may be the most difficult place to start, but it will be the most effective.
Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest
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