Читать книгу 19 Ways to Survive in a Tough Economy - Lynn Spry - Страница 11

What is your vision of your company? What does success look like? What are you doing well? What are you not doing well? Before you can expect your team to help you meet your goals, you need to know what you want and be prepared to describe how to get there. This book is filled with ideas and solutions that business owners have used to grow their businesses, increase their revenue, and build their customer base. You will have to choose which ideas you want to implement, and when. Then, you will have to communicate these goals to your employees and make sure they are executed effectively.

It is not enough to tell employees, “This store is always messy.” You must be a proactive communicator who can provide instructions as well as constructive criticism. Providing detailed goals and objectives even in small tasks will help your employees know what you want and understand how to get there. Your team needs to understand what your goals are, how to achieve them, and why they are important.

To do this, first explain your goal, and be positive. It has been found that using negatives to instruct individuals causes people to miss the message. For instance, if you say, “This place is trashed — what a disaster!,” people tend to fixate on the fact that the store is messy, which is a negative concept. Wording the phrase in a positive way tends to have more impact, for instance, “This store needs to be clean and well ordered. Customers will enjoy it more.” In this case, you are focusing yourself and your team on the results you want to achieve and direction you want to go. Affirming positive goals and ideals is more effective then dwelling on problems and shortcomings.

Next, provide clear examples of how you expect the goal to be achieved. For instance you can say, “Please make sure the floor is vacuumed every night before closing.” This very specific instruction lets your team know exactly what you expect from them, and when you expect it to be completed. Although this sounds simplistic it ensures that you are clearly stating how you expect the team to achieve these goals. You cannot assume that everyone has a vision of how to achieve the goals just because it is obvious to you. The more up-front you are the less likely there is to be confusion.

Lastly, explain why you want these tasks completed and why it is important; for example, “Having a clean store is more comfortable for the customers and will lead to more sales.” Adding why you want something accomplished lets your team know that you have a goal in mind that will benefit the business. No one likes busywork. If possible, always try to include how the business revenue will increase with this change. By making your changes about increasing sales revenue, the team will start to realize that a business is about servicing customers and everything a business does should encourage revenue.

Lifesaver: As you are redesigning your organization, you will find many opportunities for improvement. Unfortunately, you will be unable to execute all the ideas at the same time. Some tasks cannot or should not be completed immediately. Add these items to your planner in future months, or just a few weeks ahead. This will give you the ability to remember the great ideas, without letting them get in the way of your current tasks.