Getting Effective Results From Staff
GETTING EFFECTIVE RESULTS FROM STAFF
Article prepared by Ian Munro
THREE MINUTE THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
We suggest that you read Motivating staff - "Bad bosses cause the most workplace misery" before you read this article.
Here is a short article to think about for a few minutes.
An illustration was shown to me the other day by one of our Link Management Group Business Turnaround clients.
This was in response to a request from me for an organisation chart.
This chart showed a typical pyramid structure with the directors at the top, departmental heads below this, then senior managers, team leaders and finally staff at the bottom.
Is this the way you would draw a chart for your business?
Such a chart is certainly a good way to demonstrate the flow of instructions downwards to an ever weary staff loaded down increasingly by tasks from above. The directors and managers sit comfortably wondering why their many demands seem to take longer and longer to produce a result.
Meanwhile, company results start to suffer because those responsible for making things happen; sales administration, processing orders, distribution, cash collection etc, become increasingly bogged down in instructions from above. This structure is quite common with most of the businesses we initially visit on a two/three day review to identify the key issues being faced by our clients.
So how differently could things be organised?
One of the most effective team operations I have ever seen was with a business operating in the computer components business. Based near Heathrow the venture was owned by three Americans - Chinese Americans.
Their fundamental approach was that the people whose needs had to be met (after the needs of customers) were junior staff members. The role of each team leader/management layer was to look after those who reported to them. For example team leaders looked after staff, managers looked after team leaders, departmental heads looked after managers, and directors looked after departmental heads.
In other words their pyramid was inverted, with the bosses at the bottom, not the top.
If a team member was not performing it was that person's line manager who was accountable for the non performance. If the failure continued it was the line manager who was considered to have the problem.
The role of all from supervisors to directors was to ensure that adequate support was in place to allow staff to effectively do their job and produce results.
Perhaps you should give some thought to the support and work flow patterns in your business.
If you would like some input from us click on the contact us box
See the LINK offer of a two/three day review at the start of the Business Turnaround Practice Area.
Copyright Ian Munro and Link Management Group 2006.
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