Problem: "my employees are
minimal and I can’t get any improvement"
Solution: rebuild your business one
employee at a time
Minimal employees have become the bane of
business. These employees do just enough to get
by and no more. If I see a business with good
market share and potential, a good strategy but
with poor results then it almost always points
to minimal employees. Sometimes
owners/management see this but often it takes an
outsider to point it out. Once this is
understood to be the problem the question I get
is – How do I get rid of these bottom-feeders
and get some good people in their place? The
answer is to build it employee by employee. The
following are some key concepts when considering
a personnel ‘upgrade’:
- Understand that minimal employees cause
discontentment with productive employees.
Good employees often leave because of
minimal employees. Having a minimal employee
can hurt the entire operation. Realizing
this is important when difficult decisions
need to be made.
- Understand that most businesses cannot
shut down as they reorganize or redesign. I
use the analogy of a flying plane: you
cannot stop the plane to fix it – you have
to fix it while it is flying. The rule here
is ‘don’t shoot yourself in the foot’.
Usually this means don’t fire or lay-off
until you have replacements.
- View employees as resources and profit
centers – not just expenses. Minimal
employees are usually cheaper but deliver
much less value.
- Review your staffing at least once a
week. (depending on the circumstances this
may be necessary more often.) Go through
each employee and determine his or her
appropriateness for the business. I like to
use a spreadsheet, keep notes and strategies
current so they can be constantly reviewed.
I ‘star’ those employees that are ‘on the
bubble’ or are delivering questionable
value.
- Do evaluations and reviews every three
months. Once or twice a year is simply not
enough.
- Measure and evaluate your people weekly.
Producers welcome the attention and
‘bottomfeeders’ will do all they can to
avoid the scrutiny. Find some criteria for
even those hard to measure job
classifications – like service rep.
- Find out if the poor producers have
potential. Time and time again I see
management wanting to fire but not looking
at potential. Sometimes they are amazed when
they see a minimal employee blossom.
Sometimes I am amazed that management is not
paying attention. It is usually better to
give the minimal employee a chance or
opportunity – if they do not want it they
will often quit.
- Understand that accountability is the
employee’s responsibility – not
management’s. It is management’s
responsibility to do something about the
lack of accountability if it is not there.
This makes it much easier to deal with those
tough decisions when the time comes.
- Have a training and career plan for each
employee.
- Hire right. The key to building a
successful staffing is to make sure each new
hire is better than what you have. If you do
know how to hire get some help. Look at work
ethic, values, maturity, drive, creativity,
etc. Truly amazing things happen when you
replace a ‘bad apple’ with a good employee.
- Look for ‘breakthrough’ employees that
can bring high value quickly. This is
usually a factor of skill, experience and
work ethic. This can bring a corresponding
sharp spike in performance.
- Set up a system where employees can
train or mentor each other. This tends to
raise the standard throughout the business.
- Constantly evaluate what your market and
customers demand. Make sure you are hiring
to meet this demand.
- Make the processes automatic – daily if
possible. If you stay focused the results
will come. Focus on the process!
- Be persistent. Most of my clients go
into a continual recruitment mode.
Upgrading your personnel is not as impossible
as it seems. Habit and precedent make businesses
hostage to certain employees. Maintaining a
strong staff is arguably the greatest
competitive advantage in business, the most
time-consuming and energy draining. Strong
staffing can hurt the competition like nothing
else. If you haven’t seen that yet you will as
soon as your competition figures it out! And if
they have you are already feeling the
consequences…..
-Jack Deal
Owner of Deal Consulting
www.dealconsulting.com
He can be reached at jackdeal@ix.netcom.com
or 831-457-8806.