observations and reports

Sandra is sprinting as fast as she can down the hall so she isn’t late for her Chemistry class. Halfway down the hall she approaches a table staffed by the Student Soccer Club who are trying to recruit new members. Sandra has always had a passion for soccer, but knows she can’t be late for the class. As she goes by the table, there aren’t any paper handouts for her to grab, instead she pulls out her cell phone and takes a picture of a 2D barcode sitting on the table. “Thanks!” she yells as she rushes on to just make it to class on time. Moments later her phone vibrates with an incoming txt that lets her know when the next soccer pick up game is, a link to the soccer club Facebook group, and a link to RSVP for the next game.

over the top but I do wonder how it’s working out…

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Useful and seemingly useful things, from bail-out bags to keychain screwdrivers.

First, show the employee exactly how you want the job done. If you want the employee to just replace water heaters, just show them how to turn a wrench.  If you want the employee to be courteous to the customer and explain things in detail, show them how to do that, too.  You can’t expect greatness if you don’t provide an indication of what greatness is.

Second, encourage them to work on their people skills. The classic book How to Win Friends and Influence People is a real home run here.  The book effectively breaks down the mechanics of interacting well with others into little bite-sized pieces.  Every once in a while, drop one of these pieces on an employee and show them how to use it on a customer - or another person - to positive effect.  Quite humorously, the business owner was a single guy and he said that he often illustrated Carnegie’s points by using those exact mechanisms to pick up women at a bar when going out with employees.  He’d then encourage the employees to copy that success - and when they did, they’d also be practicing a “people skill” that could be utilized in the workplace.

Third, don’t be afraid to compliment good work. Many employers are afraid to compliment too often, as it may give an employee an inflated sense of worth.  Instead, a better approach is simply to compliment improvement.  This means that when an employee is first getting started - and has low confidence in their work - you’ll dole out lots of compliments, as their work is improving rapidly.  Later, though, when they’ve built self-confidence, you don’t need to dole out compliments nearly as often.  A self-confident employee is a reliable one, one that will make you money.

Fourth, don’t completely knock down bad work. Every employee - especially a new one - is going to do it wrong to begin with.  Instead of starting off by informing them where they went wrong, tell them first where they went right. Then identify just a small number of the biggest flaws in what remains and tell them - don’t make a long laundry list of mistakes for them to process.  End with an encouragement.

Finally, show trust. If an employee repeatedly shows that they’re capable, show them you know it by extending your trust.  Allow your employees to handle some of the billing themselves.  Allow your top employees to supervise new ones.  Allow your trusted employees to make minor situational decisions on your behalf.  Showing someone worthy of trust that you trust them results in a positive for both of you - you have less of a burden to carry and their self-worth gets a large boost.