When you’re in start up mode (and that can last for a long time), you get used to doing everything yourself.
And you long for the day you can build a team, hire those first people to take all the work off your hands, so you can focus on what you’re really supposed to be doing!
But then you start hiring.
And this is where you can end up getting hugely frustrated.
Because you may hire one person after another that doesn’t have the same work ethic as you or they aren’t pro-active and you find it difficult to trust them.
Then you find that you’re telling them what to do, every little thing, every hour, every day.
Exhausting!
But here’s the thing – you have to be able to take a break.
Constantly working IN your business, doing all the things, even the ones you hire people for, means you are always on.
And just like a light, if it’s always on, then it’s going to run out of power a lot quicker.
That’s the same for you!
But managing people, a team, can actually mean more work, not less.
So how do you get out of that cycle?
7 mistakes in managing your team that will hurt!
- Being inconsistent with how you act and react
- Playing favourites.
- Not having clear policies and procedures written down.
- Doing the work for them because it’s “easier”
- Micromanaging because you’re scared they’re going to mess it up
- Not having regular reviews
- Being too nice!
So how do you get to that magic place where everyone knows what to do and they do it.
Where you can leave your business, go on holiday, take a day off and you’re not constantly on the phone, trying to run it remotely and firefight on all the everyday problems that always come up, whether you’re there or not.
Start with hiring the right person (which is a lot easier said than done!)
Have a clear job description and responsibilities written down.
Follow up on references.
Set out an employee onboarding process which includes not only the person being trained, but who is doing the training and how.
Be clear from the start what you will and what you won’t accept from them.
And then stick to it!
Don’t ever, ever, ever, play favourites.
We all have the member of staff that’s the star. They come in early, they stay late. They’re always the one that will come in at the last minute to get you out of the shit.
You may talk to them about the other members of staff.
This is a sure fire way to breed resentment in the whole team. Not just the ones who are’nt the favourites, but also the ones that are.
Because they still have to work with everyone else at the same level and being favored sets you apart.
Don’t forget that you’re building a team, so you want everyone working together, not bitching in the staff room that so and so always gets away with X!
Write down what they need to do.
Most people need to know what they are supposed to be doing, on a daily basis.
If they’re an employee, don’t expect them to just “know” because they don’t.
You’re a business owner. You’re independent, pro-active, know your business like the back of your hand. You’re the one that’s built it and you may well be a victim of unconcious competence.
Which is where you have knowledge that you don’t even know you have. You’ve been doing it so long, what to do is embedded in your DNA. It’s automatic.
It’s knowledge that is un-aknowledged, you don’t even have to think about, you always know what the answer is.
Because you’ve been doing it for a long time.
Your employee may get to that place, but they don’t start there.
Don’t expect them to be you!
Tell people what they need to do.
Make sure they have clear instructions, training if they need it and let them get on with it.
We’ve all done this. Said it’s quicker if I do it myself, I can’t trust them to do it right so I’ll do it myself. It’s easier to just do it.
Any of these thoughts sound familiar?
You are employing people to do a job.
If you’re doing the things that they should be doing, who the hell is doing your job?
Your job is not to do their job.
Your role is to make sure you hire the right people, ensure they have the tools, skills and training to do what you’ve hired them to do and be the boss.
You have to let people learn. And sometimes they will make mistakes or they’ll slack off.
Minimise the mistakes by setting out clearly what you expect them to do. Make a checklist, give them clear instructions on what to do in the event of X happening (because you’ve no doubt made all the same mistakes at some point in the business, give them the benefit of your experience)
And if they slack off and don’t do it, tick the box without doing the work?
Notice it, mention it, make them go back and do it and be clear that it’s not acceptable.
Don’t be tempted to just do it for them.
Don’t micromanage every tiny detail.
You wouldn’t like it!
It’s a sure fire way of ending up with a team that can’t work effectively and they’re going to resent you.
And again, you’re employing people to do a job. Because you have a load of other stuff to do, to build the business, to set out the direction, the strategy, the big picture.
They can’t do that. And you can’t manage every single detail otherwise why are you employing them?
Let go!
I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s not. In fact, it’s probably one of the hardest things to do (or at least it was for me!)
But if you want to build an effective team, then you have to show them how to do their job and let them do it.
Give them the responsibility and if they do something wrong, feedback what they did, why it went wrong and what they should do if it comes up again.
One of the big things in restaurants and shops is what to do if a customer complains. A typical micro manager will always be the one to make a decision on what to do, whether to comp them, give them something free or stand their ground.
This is bad for the customer and the employee.
That’s why when you go into a shop and return something, typically now, the person on the till will just give you your money back. They don’t need to call the manager every time, they know what the rules are and just do it.
Take the same approach. Tell them what the rules are, what the typical situation is and give them the responsibility to deal with it.
They won’t get it right every time but quite frankly, neither will you. (we all make mistakes!)
Have regular one to ones
Your team members are not mind readers and just like all of us, they need to know what you think of them.
They need to know what they’re doing well and where they could improve.
If you want a team that is passionate about your business then they need to know that you care enough to talk to them about them and their future, their hopes and fears.
Just because you’re not a big corporate with a career path they can follow doesn’t mean you should not bother with the appraisal process.
There may not be opportunities to progress up the career ladder with you but if you want people to care about you, then you need to show them that you care about them.
Don’t be their bestie!
Of course you want a happy team. You want people working for you that you like, that you get on with, have a laugh with, can talk to like a human being.
But you are not their mate. You are their boss.
And sometimes you have to tell them off, you always have to set the rules and sometimes you have to get rid of people.
It’s very difficult to do this if you’re in the pub with them every week, telling them all about your relationship woes.
Keep an objective distance!
Building an effective team is not easy and if your team is causing you headaches right now, getting a handle on it may seem like an impossible task but you can change it.
Start simply!
- List out key things that need to be done by your team in the business, every single day or week – start with the obvious, recurring tasks.
- List out the things that frustrate you, that don’t get done properly or you are constantly doing every day that they should be doing.
- List out your team and what they do well and what they don’t do well.
- Hold a team meeting and set out the plan for going forward and include them in the process.
- Set up regular team meetings and then stick to the timetable.
I’m a fan of regular team meetings, weekly or monthly depending on how your business works.
Because your team are the ones that are doing the day to day work in your business so you can focus on growing it.
It’s important to set out your expectations, give them the tools and training they need to do their job and empower them to make the right choices on a day to day basis.
Accept that there is no overnight fix, you are not going to find that all star team that knows and does what you want straight away.
It takes work to build a team but if you are scaling up in your business, your team is one of the foundational pieces that deserves as much attention as you give to serving your customers.
Further reading on this: https://www.acas.org.uk/article/4267/How-to-get-the-best-out-of-your-staff-A-step-by-step-guide
