07/13/2017
Are Your Employees Headed in the Right Direction
or is There a Detour Ahead?
There are employees who are either going no direction, going their own direction, or they’re going the wrong direction—you know who they are, and many of them are likely costing you money instead of making you money and helping build your business (which is why you hired them in the first place, right?)
Bringing those you trust into the “bigger conversations” about workplace culture, procedures, product suggestions, and so on, might give you intelligence you need to move forward and prosper and even reach new, loftier business goals together. By engaging with employees, managers and minions alike, they will tell you what they think your company is doing well, what it could be doing better, or what your company isn’t doing but should be doing. It could benefit your bottom line to listen—really listen.
After many years in education settings and in business consulting, I have learned that all of us want to feel valued and know that our ideas have merit. Listening is one of the most important communication skills, both in business and in our personal lives, but it continues to be one of the least mastered of them all.
So, how can you listen, really listen, to what your employees have to say?
1) Talk openly with individuals whose opinions you trust, not because they tell you what you want to hear, but because you genuinely trust their opinion even when it hurts. If no one fits the bill, then why did you hire these people in the first place?
2) Develop a focus group or team discussion, perhaps within a department that is struggling with a particular problem. If the department is small, include everyone in the conversation; if it is too large to manage (more than 5-7) and you don’t think you can control the conversation, then select those with diverse opinions and bring them to the table to brainstorm possible solutions.
The objective is to bring in people who can help provide the best solution(s), at the same time being careful not to make one or two employees feel their opinions don’t matter. You know your staff better than anyone else, so do what works best for your workplace environment. Those who aren’t brought into the conversation for one problem may be the ones you want at the table to help solve another problem. Communicate this to them.
3) Set goals and follow them through to completion and evaluation. It is usually up to a manager or team leader to make sure employees set realistic, timely, and measurable goals; to communicate with them as to how goals should be set, and met; and to follow up with their progress toward meeting those goals within a realistic timeframe. After a goal is reached, set new goals or redefine previous goals and continue with the same process.
4) Be the leader you want your employees and the public to see. Countless books, workshops, and online sources are available to help you become a more effective leader in today’s diverse work environment; find those that resonate with your business vision and learn from them. There are many other tools and strategies to help you be a better leader—someone your employees want to follow, not have to follow. There is a big difference (yes, there is a book on that, too.)
The goal is to get everyone going the right direction—toward meeting productive, profitable company goals and living the company’s mission statement day in and day out, working toward professional satisfaction and success. Lost profits in human resource problems will diminish and company profits will grow when everyone cares.
