January
Theme: The 5 Priorities of Business:
Principles
- Prepare/Plan - Product - People - Profit.
Are You Fighting Dirty?
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This week's Priority is People.
No matter what you have heard, people are still an integral part of every
business. To get a product to market requires people from production to sales
AND then we need people who will buy our products. People skills will be
reflected in the core values of a company.
For those of you that think
only new exciting inventions will survive in the 21st century haven't
met Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan. They are the brainparents of Method - one of the
fastest growing private companies in America and they fight dirty with
cleaning products . . . yawn . . . NOT . . . go to their website and start
poking around. They feature their employees working hard and having
fun. Customers, too, can fight dirty with their cleaning stories
and even a personal profile on the Method site.
People do matter in all
businesses. In Dave Ramsey's latest
book (he is the Debt Snowball Guru) EntreLeadership, his first
core concept is: People
Matter - "your
customers, team, community, vendors or even your competition - each and every
person is uniquely important." Being treated with
respect, dignity and having a caring heart is a hallmark of a caring company
or maybe just a successful company.
Linda Lucas Fayerweather
www.ChangingLanes.biz 419-897-0528 linda@changinglanes.biz
Consider working with a coach
or a MasterMind Team to make 2012 the year of your dreams!
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Rule Your Team
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How to treat your employees
right. . .Be the
ruler. The key to a good staff/boss relationship is to treat
them right by not leading with a heavy hand, but not with kid gloves either.
Example 1: An
employee gets a project done to meet a set deadline.
Response: Do show appreciation
with praise, maybe a note or just a great job done. Do not lavish raises and
rewards for just doing their job that is what the yearly review is designed
to do. Limit the use of monetary gifts. . .maybe quarterly drawings for a
gift card of employees who have gone above and beyond the call of duty. Check
out 1001 ways to Reward Employees for
more ideas.
Example 2: An
employee fails at a project. Do
keep criticism private as a good ruler would. Do document the failure
and make sure the employee had all the tools and skills to do the job. When
it is discovered that skills and tools were missing, correct problem and
explain to employee. Do
remember this at annual review time and access if the employee
learned from the mistake.
Appreciating a job well done is
a sign of a good and fair leader. Having a structured reward system and annual reviews leads to less stress
and more success.
Tiffiny Fayerweather
The Internet has made it very
easy for us to share information, good or bad. But the main problem stems from,
most people don't
understand the impact of that shared information and what sort of impact it
can have on a business.
Let start with the bad. Let's
say every day one of your employee's complains about the work they have to do.
They use a Social Networking site like Facebook or Twitter to vent their
frustrations. They complain about their boss, fellow employees, the owner
(you), their job, their pay. Or maybe they talk about a project they are
working on and how much they don't like it. To them this might seem like
harmless complaining that relieves frustration but to the outside world, they
just told everyone in their network how crappy they think some aspect of your
business is or spilled some details about a project that shouldn't have been
mentioned to the world yet.
Then, like most people they
don't have their profile locked down and now any one can see this information
including search engines. To a search engine this is just more information to
index. And unlike a person, a search engine doesn't know it shouldn't index
that information, a search engine can't read the information and think,
"This might hurt
this company, I'm not going to index it."
Just like your website, this
information is on the Internet for the world to see and getting rid of it
isn't easy. So when
your employee posts negative comments about your their job, they are
effectively bringing you business down from the inside. This
is far more damaging
than a customer
complaining about your business because it exposes inside details
about your business that are not qualified.
But how can you stop this?
First you must look at the source. Is the job really that horrible or is it
the employee? Some times the job really is that bad. So what can be done to improve
it?
Most of the time I bet you will
find it is the employee who is unhappy, not with the job but with their life.
Because they are not happy with who they are and what they do. They breath
negativity. They complain, they create drama, and in general spread
discontent. In some cases they can be helped and as an employer, there are
things you can do, such as training or finding ways to help them becoming
happy in their job.
Most of the time the sad fact
is there is little you can do to help them change their ways. They need to
realize that they need to change and until they do, there is no helping them.
In cases like this, it is time to find a replacement. Some one who is right
for the job. If you don't that negative person will bring your company down
from the inside. I have seen it way to many times and I've seen companies
brought to their knees over one... ONE negative employee.
The next thing to do is create a fair company policy for
Social Networks. One of my clients has a policy that says
employees can't access any Social Networks during company time, even from
their personal phone, unless they are on a break. They can't access any
personal Social Networks from any company computer, period. They can't
disclose any information about the business or their job, even outside of
work. This is all a
condition of their employment. It is a tough policy but it
doesn't forbid them from using Social Networks. Just accessing their personal
profiles on company time.
Having this sort or policy and
the right employees helps prevent internal negativity that can damage a
business.
On the flip side, having your
employees on the Internet can be a wonderful thing and can really help
business. But there needs to be policies, filters and checks in place so the
proper information and the correct amount of information is put out there.
Create policies that allow your employees to use the Internet to communicate
with your customers but also keep your company in a good light, such as:
Next, think about Social
Networking, blogs, Forums, etc as a way
to have a conversation with your customers instead of talking at your
customers. Example: Blog about a product you are working on. You
don't have to give exact details that will give away trade secrets. Maybe say
"We are looking into improving this certain product, we have some ideas
on how to make it better but we want to hear from you. Tell us what you like
about the current product and tell us how to improve it." (Notice I
didn't say "Tell us what you don't like"). When people respond,
don't just listen, hear what they have to say. Respond to them. Then if the
ideas are good, follow through.
Or let's say you find a bad
review about your product or business on a web site. Allow Customer Service
to reach out to that person through that web site and resolve the issue.
If you didn't look up "Jeff Jarvis Dell Hell",
from my previous article in this series, please do. It is a prime example of
bad Internet Use Policy for Business and what Hell it can bring. In the end
it is also a prime example of what a good Internet Use Policy.
Having a good Internet Use
Policy that allows your business and employees to have a healthy Internet
presence can really help your business. It allows your business to connect to
your customers, can help promote your business, and can keep your business
ahead of your competition. But like any business decision it should be well
thought out. Remember, just because it is a policy doesn't mean it can't be
changed. If it doesn't work, try some thing else.
--
Jeff Mendelsohn
Liquid Mechanix Studio, LLC
419.297.3364
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