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adhered to. If something is not running properly then it is, in
most cases, helpful that you know about it as soon as possible.
Then you can intervene and have, in most cases, the ability to
limit the damage. Your employees should know that they can
always turn to you and they should know that this is necessary
when they can no longer make any progress. Hours of guessing
can cause an unnecessary postponement or loss of production
and, consequently, this may be more serious than the time
that you would need to invest in order to correct a mistake
or to solve a problem in the first place. In this case it pays to
have close contact with your staff which then, in addition, gives
them continuously the feeling that they are competent contact
partners for you.
This does not, however, mean that you have to re-check every
individual’s work. Your employees need to learn to distinguish
between important and unimportant things. You should decide
yourself about which mistakes or problems you want to be
informed about and for which ones it is necessary for you to,
personally, find a solution. Before you are to be contacted the
employee should do a self-test by finding problems or mistakes
and, in addition, he should see if he acted in accordance with
specified instructions. You cannot control every single process
and scan over every single piece of work in order to find errors.
This is not your job but it is what the employee is paid for. To be
accessible for discussions and to offer one’s help is as important
as setting guidelines. Be consistent from the beginning, because
only this will you ensure that your employees work independently,
that they do a good job and that they know when your
help is really needed.
Good leadership takes time and you must really invest
time in this. However, it is not so that personnel management
has grown over your head. Develop a system, with regard to the
attitude of the employee, where you take the mentioned points
into account. Try to build a relationship of trust but still keep
the necessary distance. It is better if you separate professional
and private issues from each other. You can then appear more
confident and formulate your ideas better and are then also
better able to enforce them.
If you recognized that leadership is too lax or non-existent
because you have not invested enough time then you should
change your structure. This is, depending on the size and
number of employees, a considerable effort. If your staff has
understood, however, what is at stake then you will, with the
time that you invest into personnel management, gain more
time. This is the result of good working relationships and will
subsequently provide for a smooth operation; this applies
to days when everything works well but, especially, to those
days that are burdened by problems or mistakes. Only then it
becomes clear whether the work relationships are working well,
and if so, you will then benefit from quick solutions to problems
and a rapid resumption of normal processes.
Give your personnel management processes the necessary
space, and if necessary, push back other things. Take the time
to get to know your staff and find out which employees are
best suited for a particular work assignment. If everyone has
an optimal task assigned to them and is also given an optimal
work environment then the work can be carried out efficiently
and will be consistent with a high success rate. Also keep in
mind that it is difficult to find good employees and hold on to
those that you have. Also in this case, a solid trusting relationship
is very important.
Sincerely, Your Coach Nuno F. Assis
http://www.nunoassis.com
COLUMN
07/2012 OBTAINER WORLDWIDE 157