There is no doubt that working to help employees be the best they can be is the premium opportunity of business. Perhaps the premium deficiency in ‘management’ is over-management and micromanagement.
I address some of that here.
Some golden rules
The need to be friendly with employees BUT not too friendly.
The need to immediately address things that go wrong or, at least not as well as they should/could/need to
The need to keep ‘you’ out of conversations that address these situations and insert ‘we’.
Share the responsibility – after all, it is the manager’s responsibility to ensure the team member is trained and effective – that is Leadership
Keep fault and blame and negative judgement out of the conversation
Focus on ‘how it will be done next time and what needs to be achieved to ensure that
Make sure there is a written plan of action steps to achieve change and timelines
Most businesses think they need more team numbers – “what we could achieve if we only had an additional team member/s! Whereas properly trained people are more capable.
Most businesses do not optimise the staff they have; do not optimise their own time.
Micromanagement is at the heart of that and at the heart of that is a lack of trust and respect for team members and that comes about because errors are found and not effectively fixed. The terms, “Let me do that”, or “I might as well do that” are all too common. As are “how many times do I need to TELL you”, or “I might as well be talking to a brick wall’ or worse. Criticism (personal attack) instead of feedback – working on the problem together.
Wages are a major cost to a business as is error fixing. Take more time to work with a team member for them to know how to do something, and understand if they need supervision while they build confidence, BUT let them do it, don’t take it over – that doesn’t work!
SMALL BUSINESS needs additional people to cover for sickness, holidays and of course growth. But many businesses end up working for their employee’s wages and the tax man.
CASE STUDY – successful family business employs family members (or could be friends) but still holds the reins firmly. Financial information is kept tight. The business grows and the ’family’ is needed to be effective. The initiators relax back and leave lots to their children and then find things have gone off track. They excuse themselves from ‘blame’ as “they should have known”.
Inevitably this ends badly, with ructions and bad feelings, too often irreparable. Loss of trust and respect. Doubt and blame and fault doing their work! Even company failure.
A business is a business and needs proper governance – more than the initiator knowing; even the initiator being helped by some form of discipline. An external person who can ask the questions the family doesn’t like to address. An external person who has been given the authority and responsibility to ensure good business practice is in place.