Stuart had built up his electrical contracting company over
five years - and was disappointed to find that the staff he
had recruited did not seem to share his enthusiasm for the
job.
I asked Stuart to describe his company structure - and it
became clear that right from the early days, he had been
planning for the future. Casting his mind back to when he
had started his new venture, Stuart told me that he had
dreams of creating a successful business which would bring
employment to local people. Stuart knew that if he were to
achieve his ambitions, he needed to design a proper
structure for his fledgling company.
As well as creating appropriate systems and procedures,
Stuart had worked out how to ensure that everything from
sales & marketing through to finance & purchasing was
covered. Having taken a "big company" approach to his
small business, Stuart had believed - somewhat
optimistically - that actually running his company would be
plain sailing.
However, to his horror, profits were down for the second
year running and Stuart was beginning to believe that he
had been mistaken with his "grandiose" ideas and structural
plans. "Perhaps I have just been thinking too big," he
said, "maybe I just need to scale down the operation."
I assured Stuart that his approach had been correct - and
that many business failures can be attributed to the lack
of proper planning together with poor systems and
procedures.
"In order for a business to succeed, the right structure
needs to be in place from the beginning. So, I think we
need to look elsewhere to discover the root cause of your
problem," I said, asking him to tell me next about his team.
"Well," he replied, "I pay them over the odds but it looks
to me as though they take no ownership of anything. In
fact, they act as though they are just doing a 'job' - and
I'm disappointed as I expected so much more from them. "
Stuart had hoped that a fresh pair of eyes would provide
the answer - and together we decided to conduct a 360o
assessment of the company's management team. As I sat down
with Stuart's staff, I kept hearing the same story: "Stuart
doesn't trust us to do our jobs properly." Most of his
staff felt that Stuart interfered with their work - and
"micromanaged" their activities. By the end of my last
one-to-one session, I had concluded that Stuart simply
didn't want to let go of his "baby".
In our follow up meeting, I discussed my findings with
Stuart, who smiled sheepishly and admitted that he had
always liked to be in "control". I suggested to Stuart
that if he wanted to see different results, then he needed
to start to do things differently.
"You know that you took on good people in the first place,
so how about focussing everyone on the company goal of
making more money - and then letting them get on with their
jobs!"
Initially, Stuart looked sceptical but his face began to
relax as I continued, "Discuss with each individual their
personal targets and action plans - and make sure that the
latter are all specific, measurable and timed. You might
also want to get together with your staff monthly - almost
like a business coach - to discuss their progress and
successes. Of course, you will also be able to see if
there are any problems looming on the horizon. By allowing
people the space and freedom to do their jobs, you will
increase - exponentially - their motivation and job
satisfaction."
Stuart nodded and he saw the sense in my suggestions. I
continued, "Your job is to create the vision, strategy and
structure for the company's long term success or in other
words you are here to work 'on' the business, while your
staff are in place to work 'in' the business. "Just
remember," I concluded, "that you are not here to do
everyone's jobs in the company - leave that to the experts
you employ!"
----------------------------------------------------
Olivia Stefanino is a leadership consultant, speaker and
author of the internationally acclaimed management book,
"Be Your Own Guru". Interviewed on more than 25 radio
stations and featured in "The Guardian", "Natural Health"
& "Red", Olivia is a guest columnist for a number of
national and international publications. Download your
fr*ee e-booklet, "128 ways to harness your personal power!"
by visiting http://www.beyourownguru.com
No comments:
Post a Comment