I had a very serious and heart felt question from one of my clients on a recent 2 day onsite coaching session with the leadership team and staff. It is a concern that I hear more and more often. Why don’t our people do their job and own what happens, or does not happen, at work everyday?
First, as owners and leaders, what are we doing to grow ourselves? What conferences are we attending? What books are we reading? What podcast are we listening to? What metrics are we reviewing? What staff or team members are we talking with to see how things are going? As we get better, our organization and team can get better. As John Maxwell says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership!”
Secondly, do you have the company structure to help you achieve the outcomes you desire? Owner/ CEO/ Visionary and COO/ Operations/ Integrator. We are all not gifted to manage everything well. It takes a team. A team and leadership with different gifts and passions to achieve maximum results. ( Even if there are only 5 to 10 people on our team).
So what seems to be the problem? We received their resume. We did several interviews. We called their references. They seem to be the right person for the job and a good fit. But they seem to really be struggling. Does this sound familiar? In most small to medium size organizations, this is where the journey can sometimes start to take a frustrating turn.
Let me ask a few questions;
- Do they have a written, detailed job description?
- Have they received any training on how we expect them to do their job at our company? How much training?
- Do they have all the tools they need? Hardware. Software. Spread sheets. Policy manual. Procedure manual. Training.
- Do they understand the WIN? How will they know they are doing their job well? How are we measuring the results of what they do?
- Do they know what they are to do? When? How? Results they should achieve? And, what is their responsibility to get their job done? Do they know the WHY of their job. Why does the company need someone to do this job? How does this job fit in to the overall success of our company?
- Are we meeting them weekly or monthly to review their job, what they are doing and results they are getting? Are we asking them what they are going to do to get the results they were hired to get? Do they have a plan? How can we help them?
- Do they own and are responsible for their job and results? If not, why?
It sounds like a lot and maybe feels a little overwhelming but it does not have to be. Just start a very simple process and it will begin to change everything. Take baby steps.
- You can probably google their job and find a job description someone else has written and adjust it for your company.
- Get ready before their first day. Put some time on your calendar to work on the WHY of this job. Work on the WIN of this job.
- Be ready. Have a desk. Software. Hardware. Pass words. Access to industry or software training videos.
- Go to lunch with the team a few times in the first 2 weeks. No one wants to work with strangers.
- Help plan and script their first 30-60 days and who they need to meet, what they need to learn.
- Check in daily the first 2 weeks and maybe weekly after they get going well.
- Ask them what is working well? What is not working well? How can we help you?
You got this!! Start taking some new baby steps to create more successful and productive company members who can be empowered to own and be accountable for the chair they were hired to sit in!!!