Coaching Businesses to Success News Update

If you ask your people what they would like as a gift from your organization, you would guess that they would ask for more money.

Recent research involving over 800 workers, undertaken by the recruitment company Manpower UK, has found that it is not as simple as that.

28% said that the key reason for moving jobs was for better career opportunities, whereas only 17% chose money as the reason.

As Mark Cahill, managing director of Manpower UK said, "Lower staff turnover results in a more motivated and productive workforce and reduced costs"

"Pay and benefits are always important for workers, but employers also need to think of how they can make a difference in other ways - the developmental opportunities they provide staff; how they communicate with staff, and even the nature of the working environment.

On a final note, it's useful to see, from Manpower UK's research, the differences between large and small business. 38% of smaller businesses consider staff retention as a key priority, compared with only 23% of large ones.

Food for thought.

August 3, 2007 16:43 - Management Snippets - Be Very Accountable

Respect for any manager has to be earned. It comes from people seeing your integrity on show with every breath you take.

So, when the chips are down, it's up to you to use your people management skills on yourself as well as with others and accept that the business success or otherwise, is down to you, and you alone.

No excuses. No blaming the nameless ones in 'head office'. Nobody else. You.

Your people will learn, through you, that there are no excuses in business.

Only indivuduals who stand up to be accountable show their people the way to win in the long haul.

August 4, 2007 08:53 - Management Snippets - Work Has It's Values

"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing"
Theodore Roosevelt - Past President of the United States
Most of us are not blessed with the unsurpassed riches that mean we need to do no work.

So 'work' is what we do to earn the money to pay for what we need.

If we could find ways to ensure that the work we do is the work we love, then all the better - our lives will be balanced between 'work' and 'play'.

If, as managers, we are able to ensure that our people love the work they do, by the support, encouragement and development we offer them - and the way the place is, as a place to work - then we are truly doing them a service.

For that, we will be rewarded by motivated, happy people who enjoy what they do - which will show in the productive way they work.

And we are the catalyst.

August 5, 2007 18:59 - Doing The Unthinkable - Do NOT Read On

This newletter needs an apology before it starts.

In fact, the contents of this will be so scary and impossible for some, that they will be treated with disregard and disbelief.

You need to go through this - it's a therapy thing!

In fact, what you are going to hear will make a big difference to you, for those occasions when you get stuck in some decision or solution you are seeking.

It could be you on your own - or it could be when you are working with a team - like in a meeting and trying to find a way through a tough problem.

The challenging, almost impossible suggestion that you might want to try is so horrible and bizarre that you might want to stop reading right now.

It's your choice then - warning over!

The thought that you are waiting for is this - last chance to change the channel for you...

It's all about trying the opposite.

You see when you are in a fix with problem solving, you would be amazed just how frequently doing the opposite to the outcome/decision that you have just made, is even better than what you first thought of.

And you will sure have wriggles of discomfort from those around you, when you try this on them for size.

Yet, surprisingly, doing the opposite to what you first thought of, is amazingly frequently a better solution to the first idea.

If you've survived this far, you now have a choice to make - if you can get over your doubts over this solution.

You can give 'doing the opposite' a spin this week, or you can't - it's up to you.

After all - what's the worst that could happen.

August 6, 2007 15:47 - Management Snippets - Treat Your People Well

"You'll never get your employees to treat customers better than they feel the company is treating them. Assume that employees can go elsewhere, and treat them as if you'd prefer that they stay."
Bob Nelson
Why would your people go out of their way to look after your customers if they feel that you sell them short?

Put it another way - would you go the 'extra mile' for your boss if he wouldn't for you?

Organizations are as successful as they make their people feel.

Sure they can get away with bullying tactics for a while; or being hard and unfair - but it isn't sustainable.

Don't worry about your customers - if you look after your own people, they will, in turn look after your customers well.

August 7, 2007 10:00 - Management Snippets - Ride That Horse

"If you ride a horse, sit close and tight.
If you ride a man, sit easy and light"
Poor Richard's Almanac
Thing is, when you want someone to do something for you, it is always best to give clear expoectations for the outcome, clarify any ground rules that should be blindingly obvious and get out of the way.

Sometimes, people who are delegated to need space to perform their best - without anyone hanging onto them.

By giving them that space, they perform better and feel the ability to be creative.

And they learn too.

Delegate means 'let go'. Let them go and make a few mistakes and support them through that.

Sticking close to the people you delegate to only increases your problems - which is the very opposite of what you are trying to achieve.

August 8, 2007 08:06 - Management Snippets - Why Are They Going?

Working with a client recently, he said that it was almost impossible to recruit with the salaries the organization he worked for as a manager was offering.

I wondered.

Talking to his people, it was clear that not all was well in their world.

Yet, it wasn't that they were bemoaning the shortage of adequate staffing - it was more about the environment and 'atmosphere' in the business.

When I talked with him, I wondered just how much he had delved into the conditions that he could make a difference to, before he took the easy route and blamed the organization for paying a low rate.

Sometimes when things look a bit hopeless, there are things we can change.

August 8, 2007 21:50 - Management Snippets - Degrees of Delegation

I've seen a shorter model than this one (five steps I think), but this is a good version too, more of which can be found at BusinessBalls - always a fascinating, big and comprehensive website. There is a wider definition of these ten points at the link.

Personally, I would go with the six I've bolded or the whole thing could bog you down!

"Level 1 is the lowest level of delegated freedom (basically none). Level 10 is the highest level typically (and rarely) found in organisations.

1 "Wait to be told." or "Do exactly what I say." or "Follow these instructions precisely."

2 "Look into this and tell me the situation. I'll decide."

3 "Look into this and tell me the situation. We'll decide together."

4 "Tell me the situation and what help you need from me in assessing and handling it. Then we'll decide."

5 "Give me your analysis of the situation (reasons, options, pros and cons) and recommendation. I'll let you know whether you can go ahead."

6 "Decide and let me know your decision, and wait for my go-ahead before proceeding."

7 "Decide and let me know your decision, then go ahead unless I say not to."

8 "Decide and take action - let me know what you did (and what happened)."

9 "Decide and take action. You need not check back with me."

10 "Decide where action needs to be taken and manage the situation accordingly. It's your area of responsibility now."

Having a set of clear ground rules for delegation is valuable so that:-

1) You get the results that you want

2) Your employee proceeds safe in the knowledge that they can go so far safely

3) As employees perform acceptably, the reins of stricture can be released and you show your trust in them, by moving them down the scale.

August 9, 2007 16:53 - Management Snippets - Set The Standards First

It's a funny thing.

Your people need you to tell them the core fundamentals of 'how' you will allow your business to be run.

Then, they want you to let them get on with finding their own 'best way' how to do it!

There is no people management conflict here.

The standards you set for your people enables them to get all creative with their solutions.

Once they have the criteria of what's allowed and what isn't.

The standards you create with them in the 'way' your business will run is vital.

A seemingly restrictive working environment frees up the thinking and enables incredible success

Sometimes there are rules - then inside those rules there are no rules.

That's when the real work begins.

August 9, 2007 17:09 - Management Snippets - Be Trustworthy

If you want the best from your people management skills, you have to earn the trust of every one of your people.

Trust can take years to build and but a few moments to destroy.

Trust is about:-

• Keeping your promises - or not making them
• Telling the truth
• Appreciating others needs and circumstances
• Sticking with what you say you will
• Listening to others and saying less
• Sharing information
• Having no favorites
• Being consistent
• Telling people to their face, not to others behind their backs
• Being sensitised so that your intuition works
• Assuming nothing
• Saying sorry when you've been in the wrong

People management is quite a challenge for many.Yet if you get a few ground rules just right, you will be able to leverage the value of each and every one of your people.

Without doing anything to their disadvantage. In fact, likely as not, they will be positive winners.

Not to mention you having a very successful business indeed.

What more could any manager ask for?

August 12, 2007 17:54 - Management Snippets - Stick At It

It's important to stick with your guns when results and achievements are concerned. You have created the standards which are immovable, and now it's time to keep your eye on the ball.

On a very clear target.

Sometimes when things aren't going as well, it could be tempting to compromise with your people management skills, on both the standards of your business, as well as the goals and targets.

Yet this just leads to sloppy discipline and an acceptance that you aren't for real.

You bend under pressure - and even give way.

So now is the time to be very determined.

August 14, 2007 07:44 - Management Snippets - Care, or Care Not, It's Your Choice

"If you show people you don't care, they'll return the favor. Show them you care and they'll reciprocate"
Lee G Bolman & Terrence E. Deal, Leading With The Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit"
Another way of saying this is 'You reap what you sow'.

However you treat people, you'll get the same back.

Thing is, sometimes how you treat people is not what they feel they receive.

In your way, you are being 'good' or 'right' - yet that isn't how it's perceived.

You don't mean to behave in a way that hurts, yet, to them, you do.

People take things the way they take them, so you have to get under the skin of all your people, to find out what makes them tick, and then give them what they want.

August 15, 2007 12:16 - Management Snippets - Fixing Customer Service Issues Fast

Ever been in a store where there is a policy of referring customer refunds to a higher authority (or getting you to fill in a form - hmmm, another post, I think!)?

Go on, let your sharp-end people fix most things for customers.

The majority - in fact the vast majority - of customers with a problem are valid customers. They are loyal to you and are good for the future too.

If you impede them by putting a hurdle in their way when they need help (maybe on the back of losses and 'security' issues from a (very) small minority), you start the process of alienating them for your future business.

Maybe put a figure on it (mine started at £10 and was eventually £100) and then give your people the licence to fix everything below. Increase the value as you see how it goes.

Add the promise that you will never complain if your people fix a customers problem (even if you think your people were wrong - you need to fine tune a little for the futrure, for now, live with it!).You will free up a load of your own time dealing with what are minor issues; help your customers get fixed up fast and love you and above all, show your people that you trust them.

Invaluable!

August 16, 2007 14:15 - Management Snippets - Average Is Best, Yeah Right!

It's become commonplace to ensure that your people acheive to a set standard.

Maybe it's that they are audited to achieve a standard. Perhaps they are sterilized to a particular set of processes.

It's become the norm to 'dumb down' on performance, to get the poor performers up to speed.

Yet this often means that it pulls your top people down to that line as well - driving them crazy and bringing them down to average.

That's not good!

Taking care to allow your best people some slack to be the best is a very positive way forward.

Managing your poor performers individually is challenging, yet a better way.

August 17, 2007 14:08 - Management Snippets - Benefits Of Team

"A group of people working together can come up with smarter decisions than one individual, no matter who he is"
Ed Houcek, Vice President, Dewart Information Systems Corp.
It's actually common sense - more and different ideas inbound, will make a better outcome.

And why is this?

Well, we all have different life experiences, and so, different perspectives.

We see problems (and their solutions) from a slightly different angle than those next to us - so, together, we contribute broader options that one person just cannot do.

However hard we try, it is very difficult to see even one other person's perspective sometimes, let alone a team of them.

As managers, using our team to have the different perspectives that we cannot, and accept that sometimes, just sometimes, there might be a better solution out there than our own, makes a big, positive difference to progress.

And the unspoken benefit, outside the better solution, is the confidence it gives your people to feel that their personal contributions are highly valued.

August 19, 2007 23:20 - Management Snippets - Ditching The Irrelevant

Businesses are busy places. It's always changing and there are short-term goals as well as, well, the future to think of. So much to do and so little time.

There is a real opportunity to review your activities on a regular basis. Tasks have a habit of becoming 'just what you do' - and sometimes the reasons become lost in time.

Why you do some things right now is not questioned - you, and your people just do them, often to no real purpose of outcome or value.

It's vital, to maximize your productivity, that you consider carefully all the activities you undertake regularly to decide if they are really worth doing.

Using the 80:20 rule, considering carefully the 80% of things that may be significantly less productive and focusing on the 20% where real value can be created is a big step to take.

Modeling that behavior as well as encouraging your people to take a similar view on each of their regular activities will move productivity up a huge step.

The first time you do this will feel challenging. After that you will start to regain control of your work, which is a powerful feeling to have.

August 21, 2007 13:47 - Management Snippets - Catch Them Right

It's a severe management failing - to catch people getting it wrong.

The old bully-boy tactics, of managing people by fear, used to work in a different age.

Today, they work as well, but only for short bursts, by which time your people will get fed up and leave - or take time off sick or sabotage what you do, in extreme circumstances.

You choose.

When you make the effort only to catch people with what they get right - and also ask what they learned they might change the next time round, when they go wrong - it is a far more constructive way to develop them.

You do want good people to stay - right?

August 23, 2007 18:43 - Management Snippets - Giving Up Control

"It's amazing how someone's IQ seems to double as soon as you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them."
Tim Ferris - The 4-Hour Workweek
People want to feel valued. You do. I do.

The greatest way we can value them is to trust them with our business. Especially (as in Ferris' case), his own personal business.

With the trust we show in people, they start to get creative and contributory beyond our expectations.

Not only do we empower by trusting people, we also enlighten them as to their own worth.

In a state of confidence in their own ability (because we have shown our confidence in them), it's amazing what comes out.

In his book, Ferris gains over 100 hours of his own time back a month, by enabling his customer service people to fix any problem that costs less than $100 (typically averaging less than $20 and totalling no more than $20 a month - way less than he thought possible).

If valuing his own time at a meager $20 an hour, he creates $2000 of time value and is still in pocket.

Time to stop mistrusting your people and show them that you trust them - and have way less hassle in your own life and, much more time.

Feeling uncomfortable?

Of course you are, so let go in slivers that fit your comfort zone - you will be pleased you did.

August 24, 2007 22:59 - Management Snippets - The Powers of Empowerment

"The vision is really about empowering workers, giving them all the information about what's going on, so they can do a lot more than they've done in the past"
Bill Gates, cofounder of Microsoft (and the richest man in the world)
Truth is, if you try to retain all control, you will lead yourself into a dogs life.

You are replicable, but you cannot do it all.

The key is to let go of most control, accepting that others will do at least as good a job as you, if not better.

Think standards might slip? That your people won't do it 'as well' as you can?

The required outcomes need real clarity, then step back and see what happens.

Rarely will things go disastrously wroing - and frequently, you might well be pleasantly surprised.

August 28, 2007 09:53 - Management Snippets - Giving Clear Expectations

Your people will struggle unless you provide them with very clear expectations of them.

Whether it be a small task or project, to their job as a whole, they need you to really clearly spell out what they are supposed to produce.

When this is understood (and that you ask them to rephrase what you tell them, so that you know they have it clear), you will be fascinated to find how capable they are.

Underperformance often comes from a lack of clarity, which produces a fear of 'getting it wrong'.

Helping your people succeed will develop confidence as well as another thing.

The capacity to think around outputs for better and more creative ways to get there - which is a great value for their development to bigger and better things for you.

August 29, 2007 19:37 - Performance Management - Five Simple Steps To Success

Performance Management refers to the way in which a business involves its employees and encourages those employees to help the business grow and improve.

Performance Management involves planning, monitoring, developing, rating, and rewarding employees.

Let's take a look at a tried and tested way of implementing this foolproof system and why it is important to the overall success of a business. (Read Article)