WHAT SUCCESSFUL MANAGERS DO

Managers are concerned with a range of management activities from planning for the future to helping ensure that their team’s performance goals are met. Luckily, there are some specific actions you can take to keep your organization strong and healthy. Among the most important are:

1. Create a vision of what you want your team to accomplish. If you don't have a target, then no one can follow you.
2. Keep your people aware of their goals. Monitor their performance consistently.
3. Recruit outstanding people. Mistakes in recruiting are unbelievably costly. You need to blend different personalities to get the best results. Outstanding employees and team members come in all sizes, shapes and colors and it is your responsibility to get them working together.
4. Take an advisory role. As a manager, you become a coach, a parent, a teacher or a cheerleader, depending on the situation. What you call it isn't important-what is important is that you have to be there when your people need you, and you also have to know them all as individuals.
5. Constantly work on upgrading your skills. You'll succeed if you have the attitude that you never stop learning.
6. Accept that part of your job will be to terminate poor performers. It is up to you to determine when termination becomes necessary. You must learn to handle this professionally when required and you cannot hesitate a moment in this crucial responsibility.
7. Implement an ongoing, effective training program. Training is the best way to ensure your people will represent you professionally. It is imperative to start new employees off on the right foot.

Let me emphasize this last point again; do NOT neglect effective, ongoing training. You set the stage for success or failure with the approach you take to training. The majority of new employees who quit, do so within the first 45 days. Keep this statistic in mind and you'll see why it is imperative to instill the right attitude, skills, and product knowledge, goals and work habits in new hires. It is important to mold them.

One of the areas in which companies hemorrhage money is by hiring employees and investing time and energy in training them, only to see them quit in a matter of months, when you were just about to see a return on that investment. Good training will get a new employee started on the right track and keep her there. Training sets the stage for the years ahead in the life of everyone in your organization. If you conduct training thoughtfully, you will prevent turnovers.

One easy way to Launch! your thinking about the way you would like to approach the training process for your employees is to give some thought to the following questions. Write down your answers and use them to guide you as seek ways to improve your training process.

1. What are the five key skills or goals you want your new employee to develop within the first six months on the job?
2. What are the five most important attitudes or values you want to help your employee develop within the first six months on the job?

If you will take these simple ideas, expand on them, and implement effective ways of imparting these skills and values to your people, you will be on your way to developing a great training plan, and a great team of employees!

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December Management Quick Tip of the Month: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

If you are a smart manager, you already know that the main reason people quit their jobs is because they feel disrespected by their supervisors. Sometimes they might give other reasons – money, schedules, family issues, etc. But the dirty little secret is that eventually people get tired of working for “The Man” (whoever that is), trapped in a system where their opinions aren’t valued, their efforts aren’t appreciated and their needs are being met. Companies lose good people every year, not to mention good money training replacements, because managers and supervisors don’t go out of their way to regularly and sincerely show each employee that they are a respected and valuable member of the team. This means different things to different people, but the key is to get out of the office and get to know – and respect – your people. Productivity will go up, turnover will go down, and your bottom line will reflect the level of respect you invest in others.