JANUARY 2011
11 Resolutions for 2011:
Small Resolutions Can Yield Big Results
Prepared for the PHCC Educational Foundation by TPO, Inc.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail
what you resolve.” Good advice for the New Year. It can be applied to business as well.
Small resolutions or changes in the way you do business can yield big results.
Take some time to sit back and review the previous year. What did you accomplish?
What did your organization wish to accomplish? Where did things go off track and why?
Once you’ve got your creative juices flowing, jot down the answers to some of these
questions. The following resolutions can help you address those concerns and more.
1. Start new employees off on the right foot. Your organization is only as good as
your employees. Review your employee orientation program or develop one if you
don’t have one. Make sure your orientation conveys company culture such as how
you conduct business and how things actually work at the company. Do you describe
what the job entails and what good performance looks like? Are benefits information
and policies and procedures shared? Does your orientation communicate a welcoming
and respectful environment? First impressions are lasting and if your new employees
feel animosity or disrespect, they won’t be very productive, which can be transferred
to your customers. Additionally, don’t stop at the orientation process. Solicit feedback
from new employees at their one month anniversaries to find out how things are
going.
2. Make expectations clear to all employees of your company. In addition to the
specific tasks and duties of positions, have a clear vision of how you want your
employees to work together and what results you expect. Be as specific as possible
when you share your expectations. More importantly, lead by example and hold them
accountable for the results.
For example, if as a company you need to continually improve and update technical
skills, attend workshops to enhance your skills too. If processes need to be more
structured than in the past, be sure you are following the new procedures even when
it’s inconvenient.
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When the inevitable happens and someone does not meet your expectations, address
is as soon as possible to avoid lowering the bar. If an employee sees a peer getting
away with underperforming, they are de-motivated to do their personal best. After all,
why should one person do all the heavy lifting while their peer skates by? When you
don’t address a performance issue, that’s the message; it’s OK to not meet
expectations.
3. With the improving economy, focus on retention. Small businesses must employ
good people in all positions; there is nowhere for a mediocre person to hide.
Regardless of whether the unemployment rate is zero or 10%, good people are always
in demand. As the economy warms up, your best people will have options to work
elsewhere. Focus on employee retention techniques by creating an engaging
environment, recognizing good performance, giving benefits and rewards, and
promoting mutual respect. Demonstrate your respect for employees by treating them
like adults.
It is easy to over do policies and procedures or assume the worst and accidentally
disengage your best employees. For example, if everyone in the office knows one coworker is abusing the leave policy and getting away with it, its tempting to put in a
heavy handed policy like all unscheduled absences the day after holidays are unpaid.
This actually worsens the work environment because now the abusers have punished
the entire team. Top performers want to work with other good employees so spend
your time and resources on your best workers rather than the bottom few.
4. Build/foster good customer service skills. In this economy, businesses need to
maintain their customer base and rely heavily on customer referrals to grow. This
means maintaining a positive, helpful, caring demeanor with every customer, every
time, no matter what. Model it yourself and insist on it from your team. Internal
customers, our co-workers and employees, are sometimes over looked. Somehow we
figure we can let our guard down internally or that they will understand if we are
short or ill-tempered with each other. Remember culture is what employees see and
feel at work, so a strong customer service culture has to be pervasive.
5. Embrace family-friendly policies. Want a surefire way to attract and retain good
employees? Foster a reputation as a family-friendly company. Ask five people what
their New Year’s resolutions are and you’ll hear at least a few say, “Spend more time
with family.” Some policies that are low cost yet high impact include flex-time
options, job sharing, Flexible Savings Accounts for health and dependent care, time
off for parental or family demands, and support for volunteerism.
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6. Involve employees in the decision-making process. When you listen to employees’
needs, concerns and suggestions, you’ll see morale, motivation and productivity rise.
Think about it. It makes sense. Shouldn’t you solicit feedback from the very people
who are in the trenches day in and day out? Incorporating their opinions and ideas is a
major boost to the overall health of a business.
7. Encourage your employees to develop at least two goals to help them grow and
develop as a more achievement-oriented employee. Stagnation is the kiss of death
in today’s economy. If costly outside training courses are not an option, consider
cross-training between positions or using peer mentors to expand an employees skills.
Facilitate learning from each other; hold lunch and learn sessions to swap real life
experiences and lessons learned.
Personal development also contributes to an achievement culture. If an employee
wants to learn how to teach as an apprentice program instructor, or meet a personal
challenge like improved physical fitness, you can encourage that too. It is important
to let the employee share his or her goals to ensure commitment and improve success.
8. Encourage your employees to assess their daily routines. Let’s face it. We all do it.
We check our email and voicemail countless times. We face numerous interruptions
throughout the day. Challenge everyone to streamline their daily routines. Perhaps it’s
as simple as checking email every three to four hours as opposed to every hour. It will
save plenty of time throughout the day. Compartmentalizing activities can free up
some of the mental nagging about incomplete tasks. For example, if you carve out a
specific time to make those personal calls that have to be done during standard
business hours, you can spend less time trying to remember them and worrying about
how to squeeze them in between other tasks.
9. Nurture real lunch breaks – with co-workers. Taking a break during the workday
is a good thing for both managers and employees. In doing so, you will be
reenergized and have a fresh perspective to tackle a problem or revisit a project. As
an added bonus, camaraderie among staff will increase. Did you know one of the key
indicators of employee work satisfaction and engagement is whether they have a
friend at work? You can’t make employees become friends but you can create
opportunities. If you eat alone at your desk or recognize staff that work through lunch
as “hard workers”, you might be unintentionally preventing friendships.
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10. Strive for specific goals each day. Even God didn’t create the world in one day.
Focus on the important tasks (not just the easy ones!) and spend a few minutes at the
end of each work day creating a prioritized to-do list for the following day. Cross off
items as they are completed. It will give you a feeling of accomplishment. Remember
to cut yourself some slack if you don’t finish all the day’s tasks. Some actually may
be resolved on their own.
11. Show your appreciation. Last, but certainly not least. Your employees want
recognition. It costs so little, yet means so much. However, the key to a successful
show of appreciation is to poll your employees about what motivates them and what
makes them feel appreciated. Your understanding of gratitude and motivation might
not be their idea. If you have an introvert on your team, he or she might cringe if you
make a public display of your appreciation. Take the time to develop a well-planned,
well-run appreciation program and your employees will express their appreciation
ten-fold.
This content was developed for the PHCC Educational Foundation by TPO, Inc. (www.tpoinc.com). Please consult your HR professional or attorney for further advice, as laws may differ in
each state. Laws continue to evolve; the information presented is as of December 2010. Any
omission or inclusion of incorrect data is unintentional.
The PHCC Educational Foundation, a partnership of contractors, manufacturers and
wholesalers was founded in 1987 to serve the plumbing-heating-cooling industry by preparing
contractors and their employees to meet the challenges of a constantly changing marketplace.
If you found this article helpful, please consider supporting the Foundation by making a
contribution at http://www.foundation.phccweb.org/invest.
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