We ran across this very interesting post on a NY Times small business blog called It’s Never the Employee and thought we’d share. Here are some key points:
“To those who complained that employees were coming to them with simple problems to be solved, had the employees been given training on options to solve those kinds of problems? No.”
“It’s never the employees who are the problem. It is the training they didn’t get. It’s the oversight that wasn’t given. It’s the lack of structure. It’s the boss who can’t let go.”
Success in standardizing operations and improving organizational performance is all about setting expectations upfront — for management AND employees. If your employees are not achieving the expected result, the problem is usually the system (process, procedure) itself or the fact that management didn’t communicate it clearly, thoroughly, and accurately.
One of our Zavanta users shared their strategy to deal with this communication challenge. After their company began standardizing operations by developing standard operating procedures (systems) some of the employees resisted using them, so management adopted the following mantra:
“If you follow the procedure, you’re off the hook.”
That simple approach worked!
If you want to capture and standardize best practices — make your operation or business more “turnkey” — we can show you how to build a web-enabled system that you can manage with and train from. Learn about the method:
Operations Mapping, learn about a specialized software tool:
Zavanta.