Just who is in Charge Here?

What makes a leader and what doesn’t? For some people, just sitting on the fence seems to be the way they like to manage their people. The truth is, strong leaders never sit on the fence, or spend too much precious time being concerned with insignificant problems. They are too focused on making the real things become a reality. Strong leaders also remember exactly why they’re where they are and how they got there. They’re concentrating on producing successful results.

Take a hard look at some of this country’s famous and most loved political leaders. They had a focused vision and goal for the country. They where able to communicate that goal to the people. Some even motivated the people with their strong communication abilities. But that doesn’t mean they always knew exactly where the country was heading, they just knew where they wanted it to head.

Two Presidents’ that instantly come to my mind are Jack Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Both knew exactly what they wanted to achieve for this country. Both communicated it exceptionally well and inspired the people to join with them. Now I think it’s fair to say that there were many times that both men felt that they weren’t exactly sure if things were on track. That doesn’t matter because we never knew it, did we. Their strong leadership and ability to keep us focused on where we were heading was all that mattered.

The point is both of these men will get a lot of credit in history because of the way we perceived their leadership. The perception was something we could get a sense of where we were heading.

Responsibility, Authority, Goals, Accountability

Unless your employees understand exactly what it is you’re expected of them. Unless they have some authority to make decisions. Unless they can control resources you’ve given them to work with. Unless they have some goals to achieve and realize what is to be expected from them and when, you’ll never spark them into a level of “high performance”. You will always have employees who will regard you and your business “as just a job”.

To be high performers, people need to know what it is you expect from them. This means you have to take the time to outline, instruct, train, document and make them understand what success is for them and the company if they can produce the specific results you want. You have to take the initiative on this because no one else knows exactly what you want.

Not many in this business take the time to train their employees. As a matter of fact, we assume that because they worked as a Project Manager or Superintendent for someone else that they know the job. The underlying problem here is that contractors are great participants in monkey see, monkey does. If no one else is taking the time, and the schedule will never permit it, why train? Throw them to the wolves and lets hope they can do the job. The only problem here is that they are playing with your money and your business.

I have a client who truly understands the meaning of having employees who are “High Performers”. It took a while to get him to buy into this concept, but now that he is firmly entrenched in it, he loves the results. Every new employee is required to receive 40 hours of training. Not one of them can start work until they have successfully completed the 40 hours. And, my client does the training himself!

During that 40-hour training period, which is a normal workweek, each employee is trained to the company systems and procedures. How to answer the phone, handle clients, write daily job diaries and reports, letters, schedules, estimates, billing procedures, payroll requirements, you name he covers it – including how to wash and wax the company vehicles! Nothing is left to doubt. The result is that he produces quality people who know exactly what is expected of them, they achieve exceptional results and they represent the company in the highest manner. He understands that his people are his biggest asset and he treats them as such.

Training your people to your systems, procedures and expectations makes good business sense. Giving them a clearly defined arena of responsibility, authority coupled with a reachable goal and a system of accountability lets them become high performers. You can’t expect to jump your organization to any higher levels of success if you’ve got to be concerned with every little, time-consuming detail, every minute of the day that they could have taken care of for you.

Come to realize that your people make your company what it is. Take the time and review the expectations you expect from them. Ask yourself this. Have you taken the time to fully explain and train them to it? If not, consider doing it now. If your not getting the results you want, your not putting enough effort and time into it. Don’t put it off. You’ll be a lot better off with a company full a high performers than a company of employees who regard you as “just a job”.
 

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