This week's leader, a manager of multiple funeral homes in Florida, asks: "When I have to constantly repeat the same refrain: Is the morning routine done? Why was the music system left on? etc. It is because those things are important to me, not them. No? So how do I create the importance in the mundane things that most of the staff could care less about?"
Please post your responses to his question. Keep in mind some options, including: shame, guilt, threats, pleading, avoiding, ignoring, the usual suspects!
Rich
Friday, December 19, 2008
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19 comments:
If it is a repeat offender, place ownership of the problem on them. Ask them to give you a reason why they can't complete their duties like they've been asked. If it is valid, you can overcome. If not, then they must take responsibility, or you can take action.
Sometimes we can follow these little details into the gates of insanity. Usually it is a combination of several offenses that have culminated into dissatisfaction with an employee. Address the whole group with your concerns about small details and create a check list of opening and closing procedures and have them sign off each day. This will give you documentation to use for employee review and possible disciplinary action.
Don't become a constant complainer. Take some of the ownership of the problem. Do you "harp" on things? The defense mechanism to this type of authority is to shut down...close off what is being said...ignore, because it's the same old gripe and I'm doing my job it's somebody else. Establishing the team concept is difficult in multiple locations. Delegate to a "captain" at each location. Use the checklist mentioned above as competition between the locations with a valued reward at the end. Bribery still works where other avenues fail sometimes. Find out why there is no pride in doing it because it needs done. Instill a sense of need by you from this captain. I need you to do this for me. If they like/respect/trust you, they will perform. Underscore the value of accomplishing the mundane. "Luck is the by-product of hustle and preparation".
TSH
ok...working with our support people is like working with children. In most cases it is necessary to go over and over the same thing and still they may not remember. Writing the items down may do the trick...but don't rely upon that. I think we need to remember that this is not their full time job. They have completed their job in life and this is just to get them out of the house. On the other hand, if they can't conform to the rules....maybe we need to look at someone else. I go over these items and hope that it clicks. Example, one forgot to turn the phones over to the answering service and I had to drive to the chapel at 10:30PM in my pajamas to turn them over. So I approached the individual and ask him what he would do if that had happened to him. He stated that he was going to show me how to turn the phones over and he did not expect it to happen again. We reversed rolls....It has not happened again. MAG
I appreciate the feedback. One of the methods I have tried to employ is the team approach. Whereas, in the example of not turning the phones over, I’d gather everyone and remind them to turn the phones over instead of addressing it with he individual. (I also had it happen recently where the phones were not turned over. I was lucky, I just had to remote forward the phones at 11:00 PM. I found out the last person to leave was a director, who presumed another director turned them over. Instead of roll playing, I made the on call director responsible for seeing the phones were turned over before they left & gave them the remote numbers. I gave them ownership. They are a lot more diligent now.) But to get back to the issue at hand, I don’t want to be that guy who begins to harp on things. I have a good team overall, but there are recurring challenges. Like today, I have a support staffer who has a bird call for his cell phone. A loud bird call. I have asked everyone to keep their phones on vibrate while at work. I have spoken to him through the group reminders, and as recently as last week spoke to him directly. And It’s like it’s the first time he’s heard it. I’d like to think the question is not what am I doing wrong, but what can I do differently?
Yes, in addition to tattoos, bling bling and dress code challenges, we have employees with rock and roll, rap and now, LOUD bird calls for cell phone ring tones. Perhaps you need required ring tones that fit your business -- like some heavenly angel sound, a gospel favorite or Van Morrison's "Pay the Devil." Just a thought.
I had a former employer who would "harp" on those daily tasks daily. It did drive all of us nuts. We knew what to do and when to do it and we did it every day. In your case though, if things are not being done, that is just lack of responsability on their parts, and like the comment earlier you have to make sure that responsability is taken, like with children. If those mundane tasks aren't taken care of then it doesn't make a difference if everything else goes well, if a family walks outside and sees a whole pile of cigarette buts and a McDonalds bag in the parking lot, that puts a downer on the finished product.
Most of my support staff is pre-WWII and I find it a challenge to communicate at times. I find them to be task driven; do this when, where, and how many times, not why…
There are some points previously made that could have come right out of my mouth. We all seem to struggle with getting all of our staff (full and part-time) to take more ownership and responsibillity for the care and upkeep of the funeral home. I try to keep on them but at times I just take care of it myself out of frustration. When we have our regular meetings, I bring these points out and it seems to help for a few days and then everyone falls back into their old ways. Certain items seem to improve but the little things that can make you nuts never seem to go away.
I think one needs to explain and review the tasks that must be done by said employee (i.e. checklist) and make sure they understand the importance of each task no matter how small it may seem. If the tasks are not done they need to understand the negative effect it has on the all involved... (families and other staff members). If things are not resolved then disciplinary action may follow. I truly believe most everyone wants to do a good job and just have to be motivated to take ownership.
Good point about ownership. Perhaps our blog question for next month will have to do with that very precise item. Sometimes we even have former business owners working for us but, somehow, they've forgotten what it means to TAKE OWNERSHIP. I agree with Patrick, we must find ways to motivate people to take ownership. I once read that when an employee is new we have a short window of opportunity in which to get them really involved in the business -- or else they become non-workers. Perhaps those first few days are where we need to instill the ownership?
I agree with just about everyone here. I do think we may have to treat the part-time different than we do full timer because, as mentioned, many of the part-timers just want to get out of the house and realy do not care about ownership because they can just move along where as the full time employee must take ownership in order not only to be an effective, productive member of a staff, but to contine to be a provider for themselves and maybe a family. The full timer should be more inclined to comply with requests but in any instance we as managers must be prepared to follow through as far as necessary in order to keep a staff functioning as a cohesive team to best serve our families.
Checklists foster accountability.
Thanks for the feedback. The point was made about support staff being pre-WWII. Most of my staff is from a younger generation, and therefore does not have a strong work ethic. I appreciate knowing others have similar challenges. I've thought about check lists. How do they work for those of you that use them? If you now use them, but didn't before, how did your staff take the transition?
Check lists are great with the younger generation, but I learned that you have to be specific as employees will try short cuts that they refer to as, "That is how I interpreted it", or "I thought you meant...". I found it important to make the objective clear to all in the check list and have other sets of eyes edit that list as well prior to the rollout.
The Role of Dominance in Leadership and Management is necessary and important.It must be used properly.It should not be strong-handed, but applied by example with both character and capability. Surrounding yourself with good people and showing confidence in them by the delegation of responsibility is also very important. Being a good listener gives you the opportunity to not only hear their ideas but also inject your idea of how the task should be done. This lets your associates know you are not only being dominant, but interested in their input. awp
Mike,
I do have a similar challenge with my support staff. I have created a check list, but I have also assigned a lead support staff person to make sure everything on the check list gets done. This seems to have helped with the details. Even the smallest detail is very important and we as leaders must make sure we are meeting the expectations of each family and the company.
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