Let’s take a look,

Mostly addiction is about chemicals – Illicit drugs are the obvious ones, but the brain is ‘excited’ by all sorts of chemicals, Serotonin, Dopamine, Caffeine, Alcohol and Adrenaline to name a few. Some seem to last just a short time, while others may be longer lasting.

The power of these chemicals is often VERY strong (some more than others) and while in most instances these lead to positive outcomes, the opposite may also true. The upshot of the chemical addiction is the physical acts which come as part of that process.

Years back I worked with unemployed people on Job Search programs, occasionally I could get them ‘excited’ and in a ‘buzz’ about jobs and life in general and see their eyes light up. I would then joke about me giving them ‘free drugs’ (Serotonin, Dopamine etc.) just from having a chat, that generally gave them a chuckle. Some came in the next day with stories of telling their partner and or families that I had given them free drugs, we got a good laugh at the shocked responses they got. After that, all I had to do was say “more free drugs!”

With workers (and yourself) it would pay to know about the administration of these drugs to enable your team to be the best they can be.

So how do you cause these ‘chemicals’ to be released, the right ones at the right time to get the right result? Read more free business tips that’s how. Then implement a bunch of initiatives to get the ball rolling. Before long you could become the drug dealer of choice! If it worked really well, customers will arrive in droves and you will have more resumes from willing workers than you can ‘shake a stick at.’

Let’s look at this in terms of staffing issues and how you might minimise ‘bad things’ happening.

So what sorts of ‘things’ am I talking about here?

Negative changes to:

• Attitudes
• Interest in the work
• Interest in work mates
• Interest in solving challenges (policies, procedures, politics, creative thinking to solve challenges).
• Interest in themselves (self-esteem)
• Enthusiasm to work
• Quality of work
• Interest in the company
• Interest in the industry
• Interest in customer services
• Interest in their work space, facilities, equipment etc.

With this many things on this list (and probably a HEAP more) you can appreciate there are many variables which people can be affected by, some of these can be long term things The big question some of you will now be asking is what causes some of these things to happen, followed by what do I do about it?

Some Possible Causes:

• Communication issues – Interpersonal – Intra-personal – Clarity of and or interpretation of the information
• Leadership – Too much, too little, wrong sort (power and control)
• Management – Too much, too little, wrong sort (micro managing – power and control)
• Management fads – Things changing again, policies, procedures, values, beliefs… oh look we reinvented the wheel, lets go back to how things ere it was better… frustrating!
• Too many chiefs – Who would you follow?
• Wants to fly like an Eagle, but is hanging out with Turkeys
• Frustrated by lack of – Progress – Systems – Planning – Politics – Idiots – Resources – Facilities
• Work changes – Things got more techo but little or poor training was put in place – more things added to the list of things you are meant to be doing
• You (the supervisor/leader) became a freak, time freak, detail freak, communication freak etc… all this simply FREAKS people out, stop doing that
• Self-image – team image – High – low
• Changes to personal tastes (e.g. once liked the industry and now not so much – liked the work environment and is now tired of it.)
• Bullying etc…
• No releif from constant work pressures
• Made suggestions but nothing happens… or little if any recognition for suggestions or just being good at what they do
• Politics in the business, got bad and never really recovered!
• Departmental rivalry (more politics)
• Travel too far to get to work
• Personal situation has altered (break ups, divorces, family hassles) yours or theirs, yours can impact on them, their own is probably more direct
• Drug issues (not enough – too much) you, them, others
• Health issues

Clearly there are personal issues you as a boss or supervisor may not have much influence over, but the work issues should be able to be dealt with. Make a list of the items and check out to see if any of them can be tweaked to make things better. Over time you might find the range of things which would normally go from good to bad will reduce, a little prevention is better than a lot of fix ups.

People will do more, if certain things happen, often these ‘things’ are not too much to consider in the scheme of things. Let’s take a look.

People put in when…

• They can see the business is well led – People respect good leadership, clear decision making and planning is taking place and they know about it.
• The business is secure – They know they have a solid income base and can see the products and services they provide are of value to the consumers. They also sense the future is rosy because of good planning, use of innovation and the profits not being squandered somehow.
• They are respected – People who sense they are respected often go the extra mile, “You respect me – I respect you”. This happens from the leaders in the organisation and is infectious across all in the team.
• Communication is clear, open and honest – Keep people in the dark for too long they may not see the light at the end of the tunnel. Therefore keep them in the light, let them know what’s happening.
• They know the business cares by… – They provide quality resources, tools, technology, good work environment, good systems, policies and procedures. This of course includes OHS as a given, not a ‘have to have’ add on.
• Their work environment is stimulating – Comfortable, well maintained, safe, secure and interesting enough to keep them engaged in what they do.
• The cultural values and beliefs provide a solid foundation – At the core of the business, the culture is driven by the values and beliefs, if your team know these have suitable guidelines to live by they will fit to and often exceed expectations, especially if these values and beliefs are spelled out and details provided of scenarios of the values and beliefs in action to serve as positive examples.
• Sense they are part of the solution – Customers have wants and needs and if these can be met and the team feel as though they were a positive contributor to the solutions then the results can be the team feels they have a sense of purpose.

Now set to work and focus on each point as a matter of urgency so your people can be all they can be and set stunning examples for new team members. Your customers will love the people who go the extra mile and return with more cash more readily in the future. That can only spell one thing, more business success.

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.

Leadership: The courage to shape a better future by taking positive actions – The ability to motivate people to explore excellence – Lead by example “see something, do something”.

Take action to be all you can be as a leader, even if you don’t think you have what it takes, learn fast, get better at communication, making decisions, building rapport, service, motivating, influencing (Positively!)

How will you encourage others to lead, so that others can see things happening and take action to create a better outcome, (see something, do something). How will they respond when you ask them to ‘step up to the plate’ and take the lead?

Your ability to take action may mean you have to make a time commitment to learning something new (in a book, a class or online.) as well as having to sacrifice some things in the short term to get better business results. Your ability to be an ‘exceptional leader’ will make the difference between a group of people who work together and get results to a team of stunning individuals who come together and work on incredible projects everyone loves to be a part of. The difference between the two, HUGE, the catalyst, you… go ahead and lead, knowing that your goal is to create an awesome team right now.

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.

What I’m thinking of here is the structural side of the business idea, rather than the sort of business it might be. So no it’s not the far out super freaky pizza business that serves east west Tex-Mex surprises with a Thai influence.

Imagine a business, where you have made things tick over nicely the staff are stable (and happy), your customers like what you provide and the way forward looks good. Income and profitability tick over nicely and you wonder about the bigger picture now you have more time to, you replaced yourself multiple times with great people and can sit back and “enjoy the view”. Now it’s time to look that bit further, or perhaps differently to cause your business to do more of what you want it to.

You know when to put on new staff, knowing when the rest of the team are pushing the limits, and you can handle the ‘lag time’ until they are ‘up to speed’ in the role. You have great measurement tools in place to know what’s working and what’s not. You know what the profit margin is and where it goes to.

What next? Is this it, is this the holy grail of your business goal/s? Are  your challenges at an end? Do you simply sell it off and retire (early?) or do you go for the thrill of the chase… the adrenaline injecting process of doing more, and creating anew to push yourself that bit further.

Let’s go for the latter… Lets explore how you can replicate the process to explore success in business and do more, be more have more. After all we live in a world of abundance and by the sound of things if you have read this far you have probably said to yourself yes I do all these things and I am in that lovely lofty position to be able to do more.

You have created an ‘organism’ which grows, it’s more than just sustainable and you can stand back and enjoy the benefits of it’s growth. Now take out a pen and pad and jot down the mechanics of the business, what makes it tick, what makes it profitable? What sets it apart from your competition to the point where you don’t have to even be there anymore to enjoy it.

Take that list and ask, Can I develop a formula from our current successes to be able to reproduce that in other businesses… short answer will probably be yes.

I suggest at this stage  you take a look at the list in a way which deals with the essence of the success and not just trying to think about other businesses you might like to try out or test. Look at the structure, how information flows, the team and culture, the values and beliefs, all the things which can cause the internal structures to remain steadfast and provide the right sort of support for growth.

Now you know what makes your current business tick and the building blocks for ANY new business, it’s up to you to act on the information.

If you create a new business or five, hold this thought in your mind… “in war success has never come to those who fought on more than three fronts” (go on prove me wrong…) it’s said this was Hitlers downfall in the end. So how will you as a business owner develop more businesses without this happening.

Firstly you will be mindful of it, secondly you will probably recognise that each business will not be run by you, you simply provide the ‘right structure and resources’ then step back and advise on ways to tweak the enterprise to generate greater success.

Go on, give it a go, if things go well through great planning you will end up with a site of businesses making good profits you will be able to share around with others, therefore creating more positive abundance in the world.

Well that’s my view.

We could spend ages debating the issue, what a brilliant business is, how it’s measured and the results it provides. But I want to focus on the ethereal things which caused it to be a brilliant business. The initial points I put up are a big part of that.

Let’s go back to the start, a business you set up started with an idea, you could see what you wanted, probably saw yourself running it how things would turn out. In your minds eye you saw a plan of action coming to reality and all the key pointers I started this article with are what bought the dream to reality.

It was you in the beginning who put in the effort, you did the thinking, the planning, took initiative, explored options and provided great service to ensure prospects and customers would come back for more.

The next step in your business was a big one, you took on staff, partners and or associates who could see what you saw, felt what you felt and heard the positive accolades for the products and service you provided for customers. You managed to  encourage your ‘team’, they got motivated, excited and became driven to follow in your footsteps.

The results spoke for themselves, happy customers, great products and services and the bottom line reflects the top level positive work everyone puts in.

There it is, your brilliant business, brilliantly utilising your ‘soft resources’ to ensure the ‘hard resources’, products and services, are in the right place at the right time for your ideal prospects and customers.

Sadly all of this is not a common occurrence, in fact it’s a rare situation, one sadly lacking in a world where hope, excitement and the ‘thrill of the chase’ has been eclipsed by businesses which start up and fade, some fast, some slow.

All of the above points and so much more in formation is available to those who want to ensure their ‘business idea is given the best chance of survival in the ‘formative part of the business process’ and thriving in the maturing part of the process, yet too many fail fast.

What annoys me the most is that people who have great intentions in starting their business find the sense of loss palpable. All that was required was the right sort of research, a solid plan of action and the ability to cause people to follow your brilliant lead. Alas too many businesses do not have that and what could be a great start soon becomes millstone.

Let’s ask then, what sort of business do you want to have? One with brilliant prospects and outcomes or one doomed to failing fast? Now ask what will you do to make sure it’s not the latter!

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.

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.

There’s lots of other talk too, less Entrepreneurs entering the market place with big ideas. Then there’s people losing jobs left right and centre as businesses close up and walk away, or go offshore to chase cheaper ways to manufacture.

With all this I can sense bitterness in the air, people in business cursing those that don’t buy, (or by online…) cursing the idea of having to set up a business in a down economy, cursing the thought of having to think creatively to overcome challenges and create anew. The list goes on.

Things change, get used to that.

It’s up to you what you end up doing about it, in business there are options, generally the more cash you have the more options you have.

But wait the “bootstrap-ocracy” will tell us you don’t need money, you need ideas, followed by a great pitch to the right people and before you know it a business has emerged from nothing.

I heard a conversation the other day that suggested all business ideas are bootstrapped, even if you put a few Million into the start up phase you then have to pay that back at some stage so  you are possibly worse off than if you started with zero $$ it just seems easier.

What will make a business thrive through 2012 and on into the future. Lots of things, the ability to handle change, be creative with their ideas and explore ways to make those ideas become reality so the zero start up can become a heroic organism which can stride forward with confidence. In a word nimble.

Go on get nimble, get creative and make hay before the weather changes and the hay goes sour. The wider community is waiting for the right people to do the right things and keep things moving. “Tag… you’re it!”