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CHRISTINE BEARDBusiness Coach

DREAM TEAMKEYS TO A

2By CHRISTINE BEARD Business Coach Copyright © 2017

Tackling the poor performers or the low performers that masquerade as top performers, key performers, or high performers is such an important job but it is one that many of my clients find the hardest to do and one that they put off over and over.

Does that sound like you?

Do you have major problems with a key employ-ee? From time to time, might you say “I can’t lose XXX because (s)he is ZZZ% of my income.”? Do you think that there is too much proprietary information in their heads to just lose them? Do they hold the key to keeping sweet a profitable customer that you just can’t lose?

BUT ...truth be told, are they a cancerous employee; no matter how much revenue goes through her/him. I wonder if your team walk on egg shells around that person. I wonder if privately, you wish that you had the courage to do what you know needs to be done.


TACKLE THE POOR OR LOW PERFORMERS 1KEY


I am willing to bet that the team wish that you did too. Holding on to employees that you should have fired long ago is probably doing your business more harm than good.

What if you decided that NO EXCUSE is good enough to warrant keeping them to poison your business even more? What if you started to recognise that keeping them on causes your good employees to leave? What if you sat down and acknowledged that they create hav-oc in your business?

It’s time to stop avoiding tackling this even though you hate confrontation and you are scared of the re-action. Yes, it may well be an unpleasant task but the consequences of not doing the task are discord, res-ignations and even lost customers. It’s time to grow a spine. Address your fear. Do what is the right thing to do.

In my experience, once you tackle the problem em-ployee, each and every team member will privately celebrate. Some might even come to you and express thanks and appreciation for getting rid of this malcon-tent. You will see the atmosphere in the business totally turn around. The lost income, if any, will be made up in a few months with the addition of a new team member who fits well into the team.



Putting labels on people is dangerous and destructive. Categories like ‘Social butterfly’, ‘Analytical type’, ‘Mar-tyr’, ‘Complainer’ can end up being labels for people that they wear like a badge to justify their behaviour.

We are not a behaviour type. Our behaviour reflects our choices. We choose how to behave. Negative, backbit-ing people reflect negative and backbiting behaviours. High-maintenance employees and aggressive employ-ees will have exhibited this sort of behaviour over a period of time. Most businesses have senior long term employees who have labels and many have those who are a family member who is also an employee.

AVOID GIVING LABELS

TO YOUR EMPLOYEES 2


KEY


Add labels to these people and their behaviours and we lock in set of behaviours as part of the DNA of the business. For example, XXX is a ‘family member’ and so they can arrive late, leave early, not fill out a petty cash chit etc etc. When I arrive on the scene at a business as the coach and I hear the labels that are applied to the various members of a team of employees, I know that among the group I will find those (usually without a label) who are either giving up their hope that things will ever change and those (usually with a label) that are unwilling to change and adapt to challenges because they believe that certain behaviours and practices are ok and their god given right to display. The former group will be heard to say “What can I do? It’s not right... but it’s not my business.” And “I shouldn’t have to say anything, and if I did, what good would it do? I’d just lose my job. Surely the boss knows about this and has ok’d it or is Ok with it.”

So imagine, what if you had no labels? What if you had a team that worked together as a team – as a cohesive function-ing work force dedicated to growing your trading results and improving your business? What if everyone in the team knew that you expected everyone (no matter who they were) to display positive, solution focused behaviours? What if you made it clear that everyone had to play by your rules no matter who they were and if they didn’t there would be consequences? What if your business had clear rules about how people should behave? I am willing to bet that your business would be wholly better for it.

Remember that great leaders find the time to be a people developer. They know that they must also develop person-ally and be a role model. Be the leader AND focus on creating other leaders in your business. You have only so much energy and so much time. Learn how to delegate and in a nutshell that starts with you stopping wanting to always be the boss. Empower your team to think; not just do. Expect them to use 100% of their best efforts and their talents. Let them make some decisions, earn your confidence and show you that they can take responsibility for parts of your business so that you can lean on them to share your load. Encourage those who will take ownership and give them the opportunity to step up to be accountable. See the benefits translate quickly into an improved bottom line.


Appreciate what your good employees do. Recognise them for a job well done. Recognise the efforts of the people in your team. Avoid being the sort of boss that only gives feedback when something is wrong. Find time to re-ward employees for doing the job they get paid for - when they do it really well. Enthusiastic and motivated teams grow businesses. Remember that re-wards and words of appreciation must be meaningful, fair and unbiased. Re-warding the same employees over and over or praising all and sundry for the good work of a few will be a disincentive to other employees. Thank your employees immediately. Deliver praise sincerely. Catch people doing things well. Above all act consistently and fairly and take time to look at the quiet ones beavering away anonymously. They are probably worthy of recognition; they just don’t stand out.

Give out spontaneous rewards. Thank you notes, a voucher, an extra-long lunch break, cream cakes, more time off, early finishes, late starts ...Make your team feel appreciated. Have a system of tangible rewards that are not necessarily linked to salaries, bonuses and promotions. Be transparent and fair. Have KPI’s to measure performance. Avoid rewarding the ‘dead wood’.

Team members know who is supposed to do what, by when AND they know who isn’t performing.

GIVE FEEDBACK WHEN EMPLOYEES DO THINGS RIGHT3


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Employees fear speaking up in case it costs them their job.

One of the benefits that I bring to my coaching clients is that I encourage em-ployees to engage in a level of moderate risk taking. Far too many employees fear making mistakes. So much so, that many will quite simply refuse to say anything or volunteer to try new things even when that suggestion or that new thing is clearly the right thing to do. This is a recipe for team (and business) failure. The more creative, innovative team members will get frustrated and fed up. They will fail to share their ideas and many will vote with their feet. They’ll leave a business when they believe that not rocking the boat is the culture of the business. Others will speak up at the start but over time they will lose their spirit, become silent, dull and in an extreme case, barely functional.

What if you were to encourage your employees to feel that they have the free-dom to speak? What if you knew that in your business there was a sense of innovation, a focus on changes and seeking out improvements? What would your business be like if the employees displayed their sense of adventure; if they were focused on having fun (within reason of course) and showing their creativity? What if your team embraced the idea that you supported and ex-pected risk taking …so long as it was unlikely to cause major losses or a ca-tastrophe. What if you encouraged your employees to seek forgiveness rather than permission?

ENCOURAGE EMPLOYEES TO USE THEIR VOICE


KEY


I encourage my clients (the business owner and the se-nior team) to take ownership and boost their willingness to say it like it is. Provided there is balance, discernment, and integrity in the process and they have strong rules of behaviour clearly in place, this will keep risks within borders. As the coach, I facilitate and encourage the be-haviours that enable appropriate risk taking. The lead-ers in the business must tell their team that they expect them to make mistakes and that this is ok so long as they stay ‘within the fence’. This will accelerate their learn-ing because the boss is expecting them to take chances, to try things, and so be learning what does and does not work whilst still performing the necessary bread and butter tasks and responsibilities.

The leaders need to insist that their team displays 100% involvement and inclusion because when they are choos-ing to participate 100%, they will create a powerful team synergy.

If someone is not fully engaged though, it will pull down the team’s performance. As the boss, you must REQUIRE 100% participation from your team. Recognise that some team members need to radically change or they must leave. Think about it. If XXX left today would you be glad or sad? If this person applied for a job, knowing what you know about them now, would you hire them?

100% involvement means someone showing their total commitment to the business, to the team and its suc-cess. Just like a top class sports team, each person must

be expected to show up for ‘the game’, on time, consis-tently, ready to perform, willing to do what they can for the business, their leader and every other member. No member must be left behind or excluded.

Few can win in business on their own. Be honest. You are not super human and you can’t handle everything your-self. Take the time to build a strong team around you and you will enjoy your business more and it will grow faster. Surround yourself with strong talent and those with tenacious attitudes. Hire those who are solid tech-nically AND those who are determined to improve your business. Look for the ones who are caring enough to understand your “why”. Find the ‘right ones’ to hire and keep on looking till you do. Have team members that really want to be in your business with you, giving their best.

Otherwise, it won’t be long before the good ones stop trying so hard. The required level of skill should not the overriding factor when you are selecting people for your team. The overriding factor should be whether or not they have the right attitude. And the right attitude is the “can do” attitude. How do you assess attitude? You use your gut. We know who we like and 99% of us, rec-ognise the right attitude when we see it. Use your own internal GPS.

RECOGNISE THAT GROWING PAINS ARE NORMAL


The old days. “We used to be able to talk over lunch if we need-ed to make a change quickly. Also we were in such close prox-imity, literally, with our 5 offices in one hallway within 20 feet of each other. We were so close to each other that the accountant always knew what was happening up front with the customers and shipping always overheard what was happening in the sales department. So if sales had an issue with deliveries, a chat in the sales office quickly resolved the problem.”

Today. “We used to be 5 great employees and a great busi-ness. Now we have 33 employees and we’re a mediocre busi-ness at best. What happened?”

It grew …But perhaps the team and perhaps you ...didn’t. As a business grows, its need for communication and coordination grows. Proper communication becomes an ingredient in the mix that is essential. The need for proper reports, dashboards, plans and meetings is vital.

5

KEY


Most of our business owners and many or our long-time employees are great “doers” but not so great ‘managers’. One the top reasons for business failure in a medium sized business is the lack of leader-ship skills shown by the owner and selected managers. Most people who start a business are the best at what they “DO”, but as owners they are not experienced leaders or conductors. It’s a very differ-ent skill to conduct the orchestra than to play an instrument, sell an instrument, build an instrument, or repair an instrument. Few have been taught what managers do and many who were great at their job, get promoted to manager but nothing changes really. Most simply add ‘managing’ to what they were doing before which gen-erally means they work longer hours and just work harder.

Before long they’ll wish they had not employed more and more people and the managers will wish that they had not been promot-ed. Answering to other managers, going to meetings, completing paperwork endlessly can mean that they get irritated and they’ll sack the team and become small once more, or they’ll exit the com-pany, or they will be determined to keep to what they know and be determined to do that which they have always done.

There is little continuity with what worked back then and what is needed now. Now, one hand doesn’t see or know what the other is doing. It can lead to discontent and chaos. The business and the team needs a LEADER/CONDUCTOR and love them or hate them, the business and the team needs meetings.

A mediocre medium sized business that was once a great small business must have the senior people working on their leadership skills in order to have the entire team working together flawlessly again.


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