Are you suspecting employee frustration in your business?
Here’s how to handle it.
Let’s face it. Employees get frustrated too. But how do you know they are if you don’t ask. The biggest step towards addressing problems both seen and unseen and to being an effective manager is to ask questions of your employees. Let’s say your employee is experiencing frustration because 1) he/she doesn’t know what their job really is and 2) there is inconsistent direction and instruction. The two frustrations are related, with the second almost certainly a direct result of the first. What happens in many small businesses is that the owner nominally gives someone responsibility and then takes it away, saying, “I know what to do here, let me handle this one.” The result is that the employee is never fully given the chance to manage or take on higher accountability. The missing piece here is a clear understanding on both sides of what the job entails.
With all our business coaching clients we introduce written Job Agreements.
We have a simple definition of a “job”; it is the responsibility to produce a specific set of results. You either do the work to produce the results or you do the managerial work to see that other people or systems do the work to produce the results. To do that, the job must carry enough authority for appropriate decision making, to get resources and sometimes to supervise other people in other jobs. A job agreement is an understanding between the business and an employee and a commitment to produce specific results. It has a stated purpose; it lists the different kinds of work inherent in the position; it sets out the reporting relationships and the authority to make decisions, get resources or manage others.
Having an agreement such as this in place will very quickly clarify the situation for you and your employees. You will both know exactly your roles in the business and move towards a more satisfying consistency and certainly clearer direction.
Until next time…
P.S. Learn more about working ON your business–talk to the coach! Click here to connect with me!