Anyone who has done some meditation and have experienced the benefits will soon tell you this is nothing new. For me what could be new is using its benefits to enhance your business, less stress, less anxiety, less hassles, that can only mean less staff absenteeism, and therefore greater productivity. Couple that with “less issues in the play ground” and you could be on to a big winner!

The challenges would be to cause your business culture to alter enough to accept it, followed by which method to use, when it would be used and if the whole team started the day with a meditative session or not.

Once the initial questions have been pondered you might start out by offering an in house learning session with a mediation teacher who would give some simple short sharp options people could practice readily. Add a few links to articles on the web and perhaps a handout as a reminder they can pin up at their desk could be useful.

For those who think there could be issues with certain religious types not taking to a ‘new form of prayer’, set them straight by letting them know that very little meditation is related to religion and more to do with the science of holistic relaxation and better health.

Do a quick search on the net and find some simple strategies on how to do this, then follow up with your team every few weeks and discuss the benefits, issues etc to see how it works for your business. You might just get a pleasant surprise!

I get a picture of whole office spaces filled with cubicles of staff starting the day with 10 mins of chill time, following some basic steps to ‘Breathe in, breathe out and repeat…” all to aid the health and well being of all concerned. Perhaps all of this might add to the teams sense of belonging, connectedness, sense of achievement, a feeling of having a unified purpose and a sense of organisational integrity, all due to one simple process repeated daily… nice.

A great person to work in our business…

I find it rather strange that businesses will say “You can’t get good people these days” and people will say “You can’t find a good business to work for”

Both statements have an element of realism about them, yet both are unrealistic views all at the same time. I know for a fact that great businesses exist, and they can find great people to work for them, and the same for those looking for work, what’s different is the approach.

I guess it’s the ‘self talk’ taking place in people’s heads (your business does not think…) the sort of talk that causes self fulfilling prophecies to happen. Yes you ended up with another team member who won’t work how you want, and the worker ends up with another business full of poor work practices and low pay.

Let’s turn that around… “I keep finding great people to work with me to make this business great” or “I love looking for companies with great credentials who provide a great environment to be a part of.”

The more you look the more you find, if you search for great things then that is probably what you will find, and remember the opposite is also quite feasible.

People who have the ability to ‘land on their feet’ seem to be the ones who make it their business to know where to look for good outcomes, others amongst the population may be so used to less favourable outcomes they land on their feet, but up to their knees in mud…

The answer, develop a set of outcome ideas and focus on that. e.g. a worker looking for a great company to be part of, make a list of the qualities they have, where they would most likely be and then do research to find out about them and what they do.

The same in a search for a worker, list the qualities, abilities and skills sets you want and search from there.

In part it’s creative visualisation, followed with great guidelines for finding more ideal environments and situations which suit our needs.

These simple tactics enable you to be focused on your outcome, rather than leaving things open to interpretation by ‘the powers that be’, so you stand a much better chance of finding what you want. Remember the more you look, the more you will see.

Based in biology terminology, this ‘stasis’ relates to organisms and the way the ‘whole’ can be maintained, the right amount of light, nutrients, etc to ensure the organism can survive. The organism dies when things get too far out of balance and things go astray. With limited ability to improvise – adapt – or overcome a simple organism has little chance of survival.

In business the ‘organism’ becomes more complex, there are more variables, in many cases it is a range of little ‘things’ which can make or break it’s ability to thrive let alone survive.

Lets look at a few variables

• Staff – motivated – skilled – communicating well?
• Systems – complex – simple – effective?
• Strategies – Marketing – Management – Operations – in place or not?
• Values – minimal – developing – fully developed – where are things at?
• Resources – tools – materials – workspaces – finances – training – well utilised?

Now you can see your business as a complex organism and one where the balance of all the factors to make it successful, have to be juggled carefully to keep things in harmony. In this case harmony can equal a static situation which does not allow for growth.

For the sake of your business, figuring out what is keeping the status quo where it’s at could be important in the logical approach to evaluating the situation. OR you could take a ‘quantum leap’ and step over that, avoid the analysis and look at a range of things that can be done that might not already be done, to head things in a healthier direction. A bit like doing a range of exercises to build core strength in a body when you thought you could get away with just one or two exercises, often the result is better in the long run.

What you can do

• Communication – Discuss – projects – people – resources – aim to connect – synergise – empower – inspire – what works – what doesn’t – distil lessons learnt & distribute – reduce barriers – reduce hassles
• Create a learning cycle – Assess a project before it starts – assess it inn progress – evaluate the aftermath, what went well, what didn’t and what can you learn from it
• Aim for excellence – “If it could be done better do it!” look at all aspects to what makes things tick- Systems – strategies – skills – structure – service – quality (to name a few)
• Provide a sense of belonging – achievement – contribution
• Goal set – share the info – share the wins – explore the challenges and shortcomings.
• Love your people – they make the hard resources move – they do the ‘stuff’ that pays the bills and builds the profits if  you love them they will love the customers
• Love  your customers – connect – discuss – focus – ask – explore them – know them – let them know you and your team

All of these things can keep your team nimble and exploring a wider range of actions and thinking processes than their usual comfort zone allows. All of this should allow your business to explore the idea of thriving, not just standing still in a warm spot where things are comfortable but pushing at least some of the boundaries to make things work better.

Compile the guidelines into your master operating procedural documents, begin to live it, refer to it and explore all it has to offer.

Any future steps the organisation takes should be done in light of these core values, then over time these can be ‘tweaked’ to suit.

Now you are fired up to tackle this as a project (even you small business operator…) then here is a link you can email to your team to work with.

Adaptable

Quality

Passion

Accountability

Integrity

Collaboration

Tolerance

Respect

Leadership

And another article on values to tie it all together

Now look at how you bring the various aspects of this together to create great results for your business by taking positive action.

Oh and while you are at it, get your team to explore any other values they think would be useful for your business, drop me a line to let me know via the comments for this post and I will take a look and consider adding them in.

You have been plodding along nicely, watching things tick over and out of the blue you messed up, instead of chatting to an employee about an issue normally seen as small, you jump in and give them a written warning on a blue card. You figure you have chatted to them about other issues in the past and the person in question has been with the organisation for over 5 years so they should know better and you jumped in with the written warning. Perhaps you were feeling short tempered, lots of things providing pressure to your daily routine, perhaps other things were playing on your mind.

In hindsight you were busy and this seemed like an easy way to resolve the issue. For the employee however it hits hard, like a quick slap in the face.

The issue, normally resolved fast with a quick chat, where they soon admit they slipped up, now becomes something more. Perhaps the employee will say something like “Hey, how about a verbal warning first…?” But things turned out differently.

Perhaps the employee will say nothing and the issue will fade, or it might fester and become a thorn in their side, niggling at them. Trust once at a high level has now been downgraded, cynicism can kick in and things could start to slide. Let’s hope the issue fades fast.

A few issues here which need to be looked at. The procedure you would normally follow (a few verbal warnings before a written warning) has been ignored. Your usual stance of getting more information to fully evaluate the issue was also missed. You were under pressure to perform other tasks and to some degree have failed your own high standards.

It’s a pity this has happened, but interesting to note that a small issue can get out of hand fast.

For the Employee the situation can set off a small ripple of disgruntled communication to colleagues who can react in a variety of ways, hopefully it fades out (you hope) but if it multiplies the ongoing effect on productivity and morale can be devastating. The worst part is you may not even know about it until it’s too late.

Of course there is always the issue that you may have introduced a new procedure, policy etc and forgot to tell people “For major issues a written warning on a blue card is all about raising awareness of our Duty of Care… note it’s not for disciplinary action purposes, but simply serves as a reminder.” but you wouldn’t forget to tell the folks now would you. Of course you would also make sure that someone else reads the info first to see if it appears threatening, but no it has in BIG letters Written Warning across the top and it looks like a disciplinary action.

You can’t be perfect, but one way to resolve an issue like this is to get regular feedback on what’s being communicated, to you from them and from them to you. This way you can be on active alert for issues when they arise.

You have learned the hard way that life is not full of successes, you now know that winter can last a long time, and being out in the cold requires more than a warm jacket and thick socks. You also know that summer can be a fizzer and spring and Autumn can feel like hell has frozen over as creditors come knocking at your door, they want and you probably don’t have to give.

To be sure you know what you are looking for, check for warning signs, so you can see the trend before things go too far.

• Profits are dwindling – You started out making good margins and could ride out a tough business season, too many periods without profit and you start to feel the pinch.
• Turnover has dropped – Items are sitting on the shelf longer than usual, packaging in the window is fading in the sunshine and customers know the dust on the shelf is not from a recent dust storm and the small amount of stock on the shelves is a sure fire indicator of things going sour.
•  Staff come and go – Mainly they go and you probably have a hard time getting new staff to replace them, word is out that your business is not doing so well.
• Suppliers and the banks are saying no – You want more credit but no one wants to play your game anymore. They are tired of having to chase you for money.
• Your partner is asking too many questions – You don’t want the hassles or pain, you just want things to move forward, you want to have a solid income and great prospects. The nagging is getting to you and you want to be free of it and no, divorce is not something you want to take on.

What do you want to do?

Fold up and walk away, get a ‘real job’ settle down to a life that says ‘ha ha you lost.’ Or do things to turn the situation around. If like many people you take failure hard and don’t bounce back well, you may need to take a look and say “What if the pain of losing is harder than the pain of not trying… “

There are no two ways about it, business can be tough for many people and it’s often not an easy thing to diagnose and prescribe a cure for its ailments.

If you have tried many things and the death rattles are loud and clear then you may well have seen the writing on the wall a long time ago and be about ready to bail out.

If you are ready to stand and fight back then you would do well to start with a solid pro active attitude, pull the business apart on paper and see what can be done to give it your best shot. If it is to be it’s up to thee…

I hate seeing things fail, especially businesses, it’s a waste of time and money (except for the learning for the business person to be…)

Here are some key points to explore, especially if you have an idea and are looking at starting up, here are some fail points.

• Business idea and research – You had an idea, but how much research did or didn’t you do before making a start? FAIL, not enough research into, who wants what you have to offer, what are their buying habits, demographics etc and can I supply to them in a way that suits them? Did you factor in a decent profit margin? Is the idea sustainable? Have other business of this type tried and failed before? You get the idea…
• Marketing, yes you need it! – Do you have the time and expertise to do it? Do you have the cash to be able to pay someone to do it if you don’t have the time etc? Marketing can cover everything from signs to promotions to sales and LOTS of things in between. It needs to be looked into early and carefully to make sure you do enough of the right things to make your business idea a raging success.
• What are you worth? – Strange question, especially in the start up phase… But what you pay  you to do what you do is vital to you being able to carry on with confidence in the business, knowing you are being paid what you are worth.
• Start up $$ – Do you have enough? Do you have investors? Do you have support from others willing to put in to your idea if things need propping up in the short term? Many start ups fail dismally because of a lack of capital to get the ball rolling. How will you pitch your idea to a prospective investor, what’s in it for them?
• How long? – How long before you succeed or fail? Many businesses fail by not sticking with a great business idea long enough, giving up JUST before seeing success. Some just keep on going by the ‘skin of their teeth’ hoping things will improve. Set yourself some goals, perhaps starting with a time frame to meet your various other goals.
• Who can help you? – Marketing advice and ideas, management ideas and advice, operational procedures, advice and ideas… the list goes on. Surround yourself with people you can trust to assist you with all this and more.
• Look at the gap/s – What you know and what you want to do is different. Will you be able to minimise this or not? E.g. marketing, you might be great at technician in the business and be able to ‘fix things’ for example, but if people don’t know you exist then you have a gap that needs to be filled. Look solidly at all these things and make sure you are really confident you can fill these gaps.

Starting to wonder about the whole business start up phase? Thinking that business should not be this hard? Well at least you are thinking. Now get to work and make these thing happen so you can minimse the chances of failure. Otherwise you could just stand on a street corner and throw a few thousand $$ away, because that’s how it might feel if you fail with your business idea in a few months or so.

In business you can have a range of reasons as to why you do things… To make a profit and get rich (yeah right…) to be my own boss, to feed my ego, to provide  service and products to a niche market.

Lets go deeper. In business you might decide to do some things to make your business stand out from the crowd. Perhaps it’s a promotional event of some kind, you figure you can spend some $$ invite people over to your business and at some stage they will buy. Perhaps you figured the media will come and you will get wider kudos and therefore more publicity from the event.

For me there is some form of internal ‘buzz’ I get out of doing things, projects (in my case arty projects) to the point where I will produce a range of Artworks with an aim of exploring a theme of some kind with a bigger picture of exhibiting them (rarely happens) so I pursue a dream, and I get a ‘buzz’ from it. I then go onto the next project hoping things might go further… I continue to produce.

What about you, what’s your reason for doing what you do?

• Ego -”I’m important look at me”. (What, you only lasted six months, but you were important and hey you gave it a go).
• Profit – “I’m in business and I can make a greater return than any investment I know of” (You hope.)
• You’re the boss – You get staff, they do the work, you sit back and watch (nice idea, doesn’t always work that way).
• You have a great idea you think the world will want to buy – Maybe it is the best idea since ‘sliced bread’ but what if it’s not… done any research yet?
• I want more promotional coverage for the business – You run an event to get people in, hopefully people who have not used your business before but hopefully will in the future. Perhaps the local radio station team up with you and run a sausage sizzle, it costs you a heap of $$ and you hope for the best. Was the effort really worth it? Note the key word here is ‘hope’

Your business has become big enough to have a person in this role, other businesses of your type and stature have them and it seems to work for them. So how about your business? The decision has been made and someone has to implement it. What to do next?

• You’re leading them so ask what you want them to do and how you will support them to do it. (make a list FAST!)
• Get a budget sorted their wage and ancillary costs, the resources they will need on a basic level and then the resources needed for them to excel at what they do.
• What sort of person would you IDEALLY like to select for the role. Think personality type, adaptability, flexibility, nimbility, stunning phone manner, highly courteous at all times to ALL other personality types and so much more (another list!)
• Where will you position them so they can feel part of the team but have the privacy their role may require?
• How will you support, coach, mentor and support them?
• How will they be seen by other staff who might currently do a part of this role as part of their usual duties… How will they be seen by other staff in terms of importance within the business?
• What access to the database will they have?
• What I.T. support will they get?
• What Admin support will they have?
• How will you measure their performance?
• What will your expectations be of them?
• How often will you meet with them?
• What other people will have to interact with them so they can get their job done?
• What sort of position description have you put together, does it include enough detail? Does it leave scope for them to add to the role?
• What training will they need – to start with and along the way?
• Who will fill in while they are away? Will this fill in person be able to effectively fill the gap and continue in a ‘business as usual’ kind of way or will they need to work one on one with the existing person to make the transition seamless?

• How will you make sure they are not under too much pressure from ‘moaning customers’ and those who want to yell and scream?
• What strategies will you use to keep them motivated and highly engaged in their job?
• How will you include them in planning sessions, showing them the stats, having them measure the stats…
• What control will they have over the various situations which may arise… Feeding back info  to staff, dealing with difficult customers (what sorts of gifts can they send)?
• What sort of ongoing ‘keep in touch program’ will you let them do, special occasion cards, reminder letters, promotional freebies and goodies.

Notice how what started out as ‘just another role in your business’ has become a major one, and the person has not started yet!

• What limit will be set for their budget? Is it big enough or is it a bare minimum “we don’t know yet how big it should be, perhaps we should start out low and work up from there”?
• What level of authority will they have? Can they go straight to HR to warn of  another staff member who is causing service ‘issues’ or so they have to ‘go through you’?
• Will you require them to work after hours at special customer events?
• Will they require the ability to think outside the square or is that left for the Marketing Department only?
• Do  you want them to be loaded with ideas, or a person to ‘just do the job…’?

Okay you get the idea, this role is vital to your business, if you are not in a big enough position to have a person in this role perhaps there are a bunch of people who are in this ‘type of role’, if so how many of the above become applicable to them… Take a look at the organisations mission, vision, values, beliefs and ideals and see how highly customers are valued throughout that. Need to make changes?

So what is all this, a customer service initiative to cause customers to LOVE what your business does. Without this sort of thinking and action going on, your business just may as well fade into the sunset.

If your organisation has guidelines about these things then it should be fairly straight forward process, or if there are workplace laws, then you will have guidelines to follow.

Interestingly even though you may have suitable policies and procedures in place it does not mean happiness all round, in fact it can lead to bigger issues.

The simple answer is to follow the guidelines and be squeaky clean in how the ‘recalcitrant’ staff member is ousted. If push come to legal shove you will have done the right thing and the situation will blow over, however if you haven’t, watch out as it comes back to haunt you in ways you probably wish you hadn’t dreamt of.

To illustrate, may I provide a story? Thanks. Let’s go back to the start, a staff member works their way up through the ranks and gets to a position of ‘responsibility’. In the main rightly deserved, having garnered extra qualifications and skills along the way. They are lauded by some, lambasted by others who find their showiness to egotistical, their ability to “fall into the spotlight” too over the top. The organisation benefits but those who see the grandstanding as too much start to build a resentment.

Other staff find the spotlight this employee “positively shines on the organisation” too much, their performance against this ‘Leviathan’ is such they feel they can not compete. Perhaps they see the person in ‘Power” as a threat to their own ambitions and carefully retreat to plot a move… conniving politics in the workplace, not good, in fact the situation can quickly become untenable, but their own gains are what they see as paramount. They mount various challenges but are caught out by a more worthy opponent each time.

They plot a ‘fresh attack’when things change in the department. So far so smooth, now it’s hotting up. In a flurry of backstabbing, murmurs and innuendoes the once ‘relatively’ cohesive team becomes some form of fire breathing behemoth. In a nasty emotion filled flurry the good people in HR are dragged into the situation (kicking and screaming), the CEO or ‘other’ is also called in to the fray.

It turns out that the whole situation brewing over time has come to a head with the staff crying foul and calling for an end, but they have played the OHS trump card “We can’t work with ‘the Leviathan’ anymore”. With the weight of numbers and short term ‘at hand’ issues to be resolved the ‘political landscape’ has altered. Now the almighty Leviathan who has championed great causes is soon to become a slaughtered ‘sacred cow’. There is blood on the streets folks and it’s getting on too many hands, hands which at the start of the day were clean, manicured, personable, reasonable perhaps, are now becoming stained deeply.

The good team in HR along with the CEO or other, put their hands up to say stop, a quick exit for our ‘hero’ ensues. They stop the short term emotional ‘bun fight’ but have failed to use a fair and reasonable approach in implementing procedures and policies.

They stand with blood stained hands and gather their thoughts, thoughts like “what have we just done?” or “whoa, glad that’s over…” While our Leviathan leaves wounded and bleeding, he is smitten and vows revenge. Wo betide those who think they can cross the warrior, not fatally wound them and think that this is the end. In fact little do they realise this is probably just the beginning.

The stained hands do not wash clean, and the vague aroma of rotting blood soon becomes an infuriating stench, burning nostrils and causing bad memories to surface and tear at their emotions. Did they do the right thing? Did they fail in their ‘duty of care’. Did they act on emotion rather than logic…

In the harsh bright light of day, our Warrior will stand accused, the organisation will have a strong hand pointing at them with malice, revenge and intent. The organisation had better be in a clear factual position to defend their scurrilous actions or face a force so driven they will rue the day they slipped and went for a short term answer to what is clearly a long term situation.

This story should serve as a reminder, do not take the short term position on what could become a long  term ‘thorn in their side’. Follow procedures good people and let a fair and reasonable approach ensue so those in positions of responsibility can stand with clear conscience on these matters, and not be watching their backs every step of the way.

Ok so what was the big deal with going for open plan in the first place? Cost? Having the chance to break down barriers? More open communication? Other…

Let’s go the other way, what’s the deal with a ‘closed’ office? Greater privacy – Easier to concentrate – Cut down on noise – More wall space (for planning charts and so on…) – Your computer can be oriented so only you see what’s on the screen (ok not the best reason but surely quiet important!)

Perhaps the best way is to go halfway (is that possible?) creating spaces which offer users the ability to have privacy, a sense of security, still have some degree of communication openness, not have the cost of a full office, and provide the user with that sense of ownership or personalisation without having everyone look at your personal items etc

Maybe we could go for the cocoon, or pod, I seem to recollect back in the 70’s the Illustrator Roger Dean (Did lots of futuristic and fantasy album covers) created a whole bunch of futuristic spacey spaces and one of them included a ‘Learning Pod’ and individual cocoon shaped like a giant seed pod. Is that a way to go…

I believe the answer probably lies in clearly looking at what the business, your business, is all about and exploring the ideal way to make what needs to happen, happen, in the most effective way possible.

If your team really work as a team, then maybe a team space is required with separate areas to compile info for the team.

If your team are working directly with customers, then perhaps they just need a space where they can do that with minimal fuss.

If your team are a bunch of slackers and serve no real purpose to your amazingly big conglomerate then perhaps a bunch of hotel rooms with Wi Fi connectivity might be the go…

I guess what I am really saying is to ‘go deep’ and look at the specific reasons your team need the space they need and how they will interact (or not). I guess I am also thinking make the space adaptable so things can be altered when the need arises.

Oh and let’s not forget the concept of status, where the ‘boss’ gets the ‘closed office and privacy’ and the others get ‘open space and prying eyes’ surely we can think beyond that and come up with spaces which cause people to believe they are highly valued contributors without any loss of status.

Perhaps open plan failure is just a starting point to creating office space success.

What to do when you are staring down the barrel of staffing challenges and this is just one of your starting points?

In a previous article I looked at What Staff Want. It gives some interesting insights, but how do you figure out how to deliver the things they want or need and get to that point effectively.

Let’s go for the easy option, Brainstorm…

If you already know what they want and or need to do their job effectively, then facilitating a session with them will assist them to at least understand you want to assist them, and give  you an idea of if they want to be assisted.

The real aim is to use the “Collective Intelligence” to get information happening and ideas explored.

You could start out with the list of what people want, then jot down some ideas in advance  of things you believe might match to the job, tasks, attitudes and beliefs. Then you have a chance of connecting with them when the discussion starts and they are scrambling to find ideas. You would probably use your information to enhance their thinking processes if they get stuck, you might add in a pointer relating to an obvious task to spur them on.

Brainstorming can be easy – Set some guidelines and go from there.

• All ideas are good ideas – We can focus on the good ideas later
• Feel free to share – Let people freely add in and occasionally encourage the stragglers to also put in. Invite them to help make things better
• Our aim – To explore ideas on improving this business unit – “We have challenges what will improve things?”
• Work to a time frame so they don’t just lounge about for ages, aim to get ideas on to paper fast.
• Pose some questions to be answered – Perhaps this is the initial brainstorming, getting the issues out as THEY see them, then getting them to provide ideas to answer them
• Write fast, and prod for more ideas – Actively explore concepts as they arise
• Consider a mind map – Do an internet search on the basics of this, it can be a very visual way of getting the thought processes working.
• Collate the main ideas and share them once they are typed up – This can then lead to a plan of action or an attitude shift to some degree.

A brainstorming session should be positive and free flowing. The team should not feel like they are working under duress to come up with ideas. Hopefully after doing this session you will be able to find some excellent starting points to work from. Chances are the team had all the ideas and answers and you were able to positively, openly and honestly listen to them work through the challenges.

Now notice how all of this leads to you being the coach… working with people to get the best from them, without having to hit them over the head and force them to do things. Trust me it’s better that way. Want to be a better workplace coach, try this…

Keeping people happy is one part of the whole business matrix… customers or staff, the common denominator is that they are all people.

To keep one person happy you might find their definition is built on getting a reasonable amount of work done in a standard working day, churning through mountains of meaningless paperwork. Meanwhile the next person is kept happy by having variety and not just being stuck in an office.

So what are the core things they want and how can you provide these for them?

Here’s my list.

• A sense of belonging – Being valued by others, even in minor ways can help to build and maintain their workplace sense of esteem
• A sense of achievement – Some will want to work their way up the corporate ladder, set goals and achieve them
• Contributing and adding value – Beyond their basic agreement, work targets etc, they feel as though they have contributed to the whole business machine
• A sense of purpose – It’s not a meaningless job, it has a role to play and they can clearly sense that
• Organisational integrity – It’s about security, if they know the organisation has integrity they then have a foundation they can believe in and stand by. No integrity, the foundation can give way at anytime this leads to insecurity and can be a reason for staff turnover
• Control – For some this can mean the security that comes from having some measure of control over their situation, it might be minor. For others they want the chance to take control of a department, or a division depending on their level of drive or motivation
• They like be challenged – In ways which suit them, not you. For some it will be big challenges for others it will be meeting a small quota. It comes down to brain stimulus
• They have a suitable work environment – Where it can be controlled, think about it you spend 8 or so hours a day in the business, do you want to spend 8 hours in a hovel or 8 hours in paradise… The choice is a no brainer right? So what’s your environment like? Sure paradise is a BIG step but making it better might only take a few tweaks and a small amount of cash. For those out on the road for instance in a company vehicle, is it clean neat and tidy, new, old, in good repair or a rust bucket. Oh and the Lunch room, a place to relax and unwind, or a stinking cesspool of yuck… (broken chairs etc.)
• They have the right tools – Newish computer – Quiet keyboard – Suitable work chair – Effective other tools

Are there others? Probably, it’s up to you to find out. But armed with this as your starting point you can soon see the sorts of core things staff want. Go and chat with your staff and find out what their wants are.

Now you know what staff what, here’s an article on how you might explore this further.

You started to see the clues that a staff member was not quite in line with your expected range of behaviours – their efforts are slow, below quality, they resist some tasks etc. In general they become a pain to deal with and you really hope they just vanish one day and the problem is over.

However the reality is somewhat different, they hang around and keep on plodding hoping to keep on getting away with doing what they do, It’s almost as if no one notices them doing what they don’t do.

Your task is to now figure out what to do about it and do it fast so they don’t start to infect others with their attitude.

Your first step is probably underway, that is rewarding the behaviours you want “Well done with the x project…” but if things have slipped out of your grasp a little then the following should be of value.

Here’s how things generally go

• They get annoyed with something
• They develop some form of resistance as a result of their annoyance (ignore commands, put things off etc)
• Things escalate because they believe nothing is going to change back to how it was or get better (they were comfortable with how things were) now you have resentment starting to build
• Finally things build retaliation stage, the issue that has resulted in things getting to this stage spills over into them taking negative action, in extreme cases this can get VERY nasty (read workplace shooting…) On the lesser scale they will do tasks slowly, to a poor standard or avoid tasks and probably blame others

The first step is to evaluate the situation – What specifically do they do that is causing difficulties? Make a list and make it evidence based but avoid implicating others (it can get VERY messy if you do!)

Secondly – You need to figure out what may be causing this, here are some possibilities, note all of these can lead a person to be annoyed with the job or the company and therefore their attitude and efforts have strayed.

• Their job changed at some stage and they did not like the change but may not have said so, or if they did say something their plea fell on deaf ears
• They have been told off for not doing a good job, in a way which has annoyed them. The upshot is they have resented it and have now become resistant and are starting to retaliate
• They see the system as being so slack they figure they can get away with anything so they push the boundaries
• They are being bullied or harassed in some way (I hope it’s not by you…)
• They feel they are undervalued
• They have some personal issues – physical – emotional – psychological, which is impacting on their work
• The work has become too challenging for them
• The work is no longer challenging for them
• Things change too often for them, the computer system, they type of work, etc
• The work may not have altered but now they have to travel further to complete works now they become annoyed
• The list can go on.

Time to do something…

Let’s face it something needs to happen to “stop the rot setting in”. If you have built a great relationship with your team, you will be intervening early, perhaps at the annoyance or resistance stage. If not you may have a harder task to handle.

Let’s work on this in my next article on this issue.

The aim is to have a staff member who is relaxed about you chatting with them, so you can keep them onside and willing to discuss issues rather than some adversarial situation they can get annoyed about.

Here are a few points to consider;

• You are aiming to make an assessment not a judgement – There is a difference, assessing the situation means researching and working the facts, judging may well mean you could start off on an accusatory footing. Aim to get solid facts first.
• Avoid cornering or accusing them – They may deny anything, then you will be in a harder place trying to get information as they withdraw and may start to lay blame or justify their position – Think about if you would like to be cornered and how you might respond
• Keep things open and honest – You want them to feel as though they can readily and easily relate the information you want with no pressure, lies or any form of creative avoidance
• Ask “Is it okay if we have a chat about work…” – This way you will have a good chance of getting their permission to chat about the issue/s. Avoid asking “So how’s work going” this can set them up to say “Ok… why” and then be on the defensive
• Try the research method – “I’m chatting to a range of staff about things to do with the business, ideas for improvements, how people are going, that sort of thing. Can I do some research with you?” – This can give you permission to ask questions about the business and related info
• Spend some time with them – This may not be suitable in every situation, but perhaps you can spend some time with them “on the road”, meet them on site, or perhaps sit with them for a while in their workspace (maybe chatting about a specific task to begin with.)
• Make it happen fast – Once you have suggested you want to catch up, make sure you avoid dragging things on, this can cause unnecessary worry all round.
• Take good notes – Leaving this part until later can be a trail fraught with danger, collect facts, not hearsay and allegations. Feel free to read back the details and see if they agree with what you jotted down. Consider asking them if they want a copy.

Now that you have set up the chance to have a chat, what will you say? Well it’s going to depend a bit on the angle you take I guess, personally I favour the research method.

• Give them the chance to say nothing! – Somewhere in the opening questions if you can throw this in it can be very useful, “Feel free not to say anything if you wish, it’s up to you” this takes the pressure off straight away and allows them the option to avoid things, chances are they will actually switch on internally and answer practically any question you pose to them.
• Begin with some easy things – “if they have a new vehicle, “So how’s the new vehicle going, one of the other guys is not sure about his…” or “This last six months has been really busy/quiet   how has that been for you?”
• Look for lead ins – They answer one question and it leads on to another that fits well to you finding out more, or causing them to open up more.
• Stack questions – Putting together a bunch of questions in one hit can cause the person to start talking and not stop for a long while – basically you set their brain firing on a range of questions and they just start to respond. It could start like this…”We have been busy this past month don’t you think, It has been for me, and then the summer kicked in and we had those orders come from the retailers, do  you think the upgrade to the computer helped with at or was it just me that thought it struggled, anyway… That’s not what I wanted to ask really… any how, what’s been happening in your area?” – With practice you can stack questions with ease and sit back for a while and get more than just yes’s or no’s to your key question/s
• Work from their viewpoint – How do you see things… how do things feel for you… what do you believe is happening… Do things sound ok from your end? This works from an old American Indian saying of “Walk for a while in the other person’s Moccassions” this can then allow you to get their perspective and may lead you into more of the right questions and or give you some empathy for their viewpoint. It may also give you the real reason they are doing what they do, rather than some smoke screen cover up.
• Small talk can be useful but… – For some people using small talk to lead in to a conversation is normal, easy and very useful, for others however it can be a slippery slide to disaster, with the other person smelling a rat very fast, putting them on the defensive. Know your people, so you can craft your approach to fit to their needs and situation, use small talk for those that do and avoid it for those that don’t use it.
• What’s your biggest challenge and why? – Sit and listen carefully after you ask this one, and ask it only when you are sure you have a measure of trust with them. If they ask for clarification about the question “Personal or professional challenges?” then you are getting closer to the real question, it can get more specific after that as well and perhaps you can use that to your advantage to clarify more questions with details.
• Feed it back to them – Sometimes you can read info back to people to clarify what was said, any points they disagree with you can modify to suit. This is the best time to clarify things while things are still fresh in both parties heads.
• Ask them for answers – “Our chat has identified a bunch of things, if you could solve these challenges, what would you do?” Then sit and listen carefully, you may get some great answers to some big issues, but let them have the chance to respond. Often people will start out by saying “I don’t know…” Then launch into “Well what I would do is…” then take great notes as they unload.

Now you have some solid starting points for  your intervention, hopefully you will get some great information to work with, their views, their reasons why or why not and the chance to provide some answers, hopefully all of which was done with minimal hassle and discomfort. Your next step will probably be to act on your findings, that could raise a whole bunch of other issues for us to explore another time.

Has all of this caught your interest? Well it should and to really get a handle on things consider this, what do your staff really want? find out in the next article, what staff want.