Make It Easy
Make It Easy
LAST WEEK we talked about the first of five ways to create happy employees: Hire right. Our second secret is: Train for success. More secrets for happy,
healthy employeesYou own a business or manage it. Your number one job is to make it possible for employees to succeed so they will produce the results you seek.
That means creating a clear path for action and making sure they know what they are doing. Don't take someone who is clueless about your business and turn them loose.
That is not only dumb, it is dangerous.
I was 14 when my boss left me at the controls of his little Dairy Queen. I had worked there a month. When I closed shop, I left the hot dog cooker on. Thankfully it only shorted itself out and didn't burn the building down.
HE LET ME have it the next day, and even at that age I knew he was partly at fault. There had been no training for closing shop. There was no checklist. There was no one I could call.
How do you want your operation to run? Notice what comes naturally to you: This is probably what needs to be trained in your staff.
Don't ever take common sense for granted. You and I have a different movie about what makes sense and what doesn't.
Take the time to log what you do and how you want it done. Pay attention to details, to the idiosyncrasies of your business.
Notice if a particular routine creates the greatest efficiencies.
If you have a special way of filing, or a special need for a particular type of information, note that.
Create a "desk manual" for repetitive tasks and keep it updated. Your spouse can't read your mind; why should your employee have to try?
ONE OF THE BEST WAYS to gauge needed training is to ask.
Ask what they would like to learn in your business.
Ask where they feel they need help.
Show interest in their growth and you will develop loyalty and mutual interest in the company's success.
Training is a lifetime process. You are careful to take care of your machinery.
Make sure you are caring for the person who runs it.
Beth Terry is president of Pacific Rim Seminars.
This column is excerpted from her upcoming book,
101 Ways to Make Your Life Easier. Send questions
on management, customer service and other issues
to beth@bethterry.com.