Why Managers Fail To Manage!

Why Managers Fail To Manage!

In Trouble Before They Start

The saddest thing about employee failures is not so much that a particular person may not have made the grade, but that it was more than likely avoidable. The problem almost always starts in the interview process. Far too often that process is conducted by one person and is singular in scope. In other words; one interview, pass-fail. Invariably, if an applicant makes it through or passes this antiquated process and gets the position, we automatically believe that they are capable of succeeding. Wrong answer!

We set our selves up to fail before we even attempt to succeed. So anyway, now you have an employee, or worse, multiple employees who are then given a start date. It usually goes something like this… 8:00am: arrive at the appointed time, usually when everybody else reports to work. This is without a doubt the most disorganized part of any company’s day. Your new hire(s) get to see firsthand, your company at its worst. 8:15am: once everybody has straggled in and settled down with a fresh cup of coffee, then all the paperwork necessary gets placed in front of the newbies and someone, usually the lowest person on the totem pole, walks them through the process. Usually incorrectly.

By now it’s probably around 9:15am and if they are really lucky, I mean overly blessed, they may now get a short orientation into the company and its history. This orientation almost never includes any description of their duties or what the real “pecking” order is in the company. This is because the person doing the orientation is in a hurry to move the person(s) on to the next level and get back to their regular daily routine. 9:30: it’s time to meet the boss. This is almost always the person who the newbie will report to. They are more than likely the person who hired them. This person is not only never ready for these folks and worse yet, has zero plan for training. Training is done more and more by video, computer modules and self-study. This is better known as the self-destruct method. It usually begins with the manager saying to the new hire(s). “Okay, good luck. Let me know if you need anything.” What they are really saying is “Catch me if you can!”

This process can extend anywhere from an hour to multiple days. I can remember being hired by a national chain of home improvement stores back in the 1980’s. Now this was a huge company. I had been hired as a commercial accounts representative, specifically to handle builders and contractors. (Yikes) I had zero experience. None, nada, zip. After an hour long orientation and paperwork session, I was placed in an unfinished upstairs room with a box of VHS tapes, a 19” TV and a metal folding chair. I would arrive at 8:00am every day and watch these videos nonstop until 4:30 that afternoon. I could eat whenever I pleased and pause the tapes for a quick bathroom break. Every day at 4:30pm another employee, again low man on the pole, would come into the room and administer a half hour exam. I did this for four days and managed to pass the daily exam, though barely. I had no idea of what I was doing. Unfortunately it's that way for a lot of new employees. We set ourselves up for failure.

An Ounce of Planning

Never underestimate the power of planning. A plan should be well conceived by more than one mind and be well documented. Everyone who will be touched by your plan should understand it and be able to explain it at any time. Your plan needs to be consistent and fair. If your company covers multiple disciplines such as sales and service, or inside and outside staffs, you need to be consistent. Naturally there will be some things that just do not apply to everyone in every department but the basic principals you function under must be adhered to across the board. Fairness is key.

This is super important at the onset. The orientation and training of new staff must be seamless and done together as much as possible. Let every department experience a taste of what other people do in the company. Orientation should be done by the same person(s) each time for consistency. It should always start with a “welcome” from ownership or senior management. Have each new hire give a one minute introduction of themselves. The faster they feel part of the place, the better they will perform. We always feel better around family.

Have a well laid out training program; how many days, how many hours each day, what is covered? All training should be done by someone who is specifically trained to do it. Please do not ever use your “best” salesman to train your new ones. Think about it for just a minute, your “best” salesman doesn’t want any real competition out there so they are not going to encourage excellence. As a matter of fact, I would bet you that if you taped that session you would find that “best” guy telling the new hire(s) about the “good old days” and what to “watch out for”. It’s a classic set up. Your “best” guy will do his best to set the new people up for failure and believe it or not, the new people will love them for it without ever realizing it happened. And stupid us, we just keep repeating the same scenario over and over again. We reward failure by repeating it.

Inspiration Over Motivation

This next part can get a little tricky so please pay close attention; You must understand that motivation is the most overused word in the business world. It is almost as bad as the other BUZZ words, “Paradigm” and “Segue”. These words became so overused in the 1990’s that you couldn’t ride a bus and not hear them used at least once every ten minutes. The author rarely had any idea as to their true meaning. This, as it happens, was also the heyday of the “Motivational Speaker” craze that swept the business world. There is no such thing!

First of all, people do not motivate. Things motivate you, not people. Money is a great motivator. It is easy to understand and usually pretty successful. If I were to offer an added incentive for you to sell one more widget before noon today, that may motivate you to do so. The problem with relying on motivational tools, such as money or other tangible rewards, is that eventually they become entitlements and lose their effectiveness. The other big problem is that no two people are always motivated by the same things. If I were to offer you free health insurance for life as a benefit of employment it would sound pretty good, right? Well, maybe if you’re a family man in his late thirties or someone in their forties or fifties. But if I am a young man in my early twenties, that might have very little effect on me. I am invincible, after all. When you hear a speaker promise you that if you only buy his CD’s and watch his DVD’s, then you too can be filthy rich from your kitchen table, The “filthy rich” part was the motivating factor, not the speaker.

I have spoken before thousands of people in my life and can tell you unequivocally that I have never motivated one of them. It was never my intention to do so. What I strived to do on the other hand was to inspire them. I have always believed that a cup of inspiration is worth more than an ocean of motivation. We can motivate people to a specific goal with tangibles but that motivation will only last until the prescribed goal is attained. Inspiration, on the other hand, can last a lifetime and be passed on. Great coaches and great businessmen and leaders all share the ability to inspire. Take for an instance, Winston Churchill. He is considered one of the most inspirational leaders in history. You rarely hear anyone describe him as motivational. Imagine if instead of inspiring the British to “Never give up, never give in, never, never, never!” that he tried to motivate them by telling them that if they didn’t fight hard enough, they could lose the war. It might work for a while, but not for five years? Motivation is often short-lived but Inspiration can last forever.

The flip side of the motivation factor is the negative aspect of it. If it doesn’t produce the desired results, it leaves only failure in its wake. This is always followed by finger pointing and the blame game and ends with disappointment. You can actually have pure negative motivation as well. Parents use it every day. “If you don’t clean up your room, there will be no video games for a week.” You have now taken something they loathe to do, coupled it with a possibly negative outcome and given them a choice. Brilliant! Here are the possible outcomes from your weak attempt to motivate your child. Cleaning their room is an option, I am going to force you to try and cheat on your punishment and/or you are going to be at the neighbors all next week! “What about if they clean their room?” you ask. Ain’t gonna happen folks. Trust me on this one. Make sure that you use positive motivation. Don’t try to motivate with an “or else” mentality.

Set Yourself Up For Success

So here are some basic guidelines to help you succeed with new employees, no matter how big or small your company is.

· Have more than one person interview each applicant who will be familiar with all areas of the expertise. Ask planned questions and then ask some more.

· Have a designated person(s) handle all aspects of the orientation process. Orientation should consist of a “Welcome” from ownership or upper management. Should include a written plan for training, a complete job description and a full list of benefits. Give them a complete tour of the premises and explain the “do’s and don’ts” of the company.

· Allow plenty of time after orientation for Q&A. Have people present who can answer the questions.

· Train, train and train some more. If you haven’t got the expertise or manpower, source this function out. Do not skip it or skimp on it. This will save you tremendous heartache.

· Have weekly, if not daily, progress meetings with the new employee(s) for the first month and then monthly after that. In those latter meetings, don’t fall into the temptation to discuss the month gone by. Talk about the month to come. You cannot change what has happened but you can affect what will. The time to talk about last month was while it was happening.

· Offer refresher courses or continuing education course. Again, these can be outsourced if necessary. I know of one company (450 employees) where we actually created our own “University” on site. That “University” still exists to this day. Best investment we ever made.

· Create motivational pay plans and incentives. Don’t neglect to change the incentives on a regular basis but refrain from ever changing someone’s pay plan. It will almost never be construed as a positive thing even when it is, in reality.

· Be fair. The rules apply to everyone! People will follow a leader that they perceive as “fair” a lot further than one they do not trust. Loyalty is not a one way street.

Remember, none of these things will ever cost you as much a single lost hire!