As a business consultant I find it is vital to immediately establish standards with any business I support. Since when did it become wrong to want to be in control of what’s happening throughout your business? Is micro-managing really that bad a thing? Before the weekend, have a think about this:
Sometimes the reason my clients were not seeing the results they wanted from their business was because they had not taken control of daily tasks and actions. They had allowed other people in the business to find their own way of doing things (READ: The easy way) and then allowed it to become the norm because they were afraid of being labelled a control freak.
As with everything in life, balance is vital in running any business. The way in which we put across the importance of carrying out tasks in an efficient and consistent manner will often do nothing more than let the team member who was previously left to their own devices know that you genuinely care about how your business is running. Better yet, they will see you taking time to help them develop and you’re stright away into winning loyalty through those actions once you handle it correctly. The manner in which you put your message across will determine whether you get stuck with the label of being a “Control Freak” or not. Besides, it’s okay to be a control freak if you’re doing it in the right way.
When you see a member of your team doing something incorrectly with a customer order for example, SUPPORT them. We all make mistakes, so this isn’t about embarrassing your employee, that solves nothing. Instead, wait until the interaction with your customer is over and then speak to your team member about WHY they should carry out that same task differently next time. Help them to understand how it’s better for the customer and also how it makes them more professional too. Make them part of the solution and brush past the fact that there could have been a problem, then work with them to see if the interaction with the guest can be put back to your consistently high standards before the transaction is over.
This comes back to your credibility. Will you do what you say you will do? We’ve all heard every business owner in the early days talking about how they want to be better than their competitors, they want to develop a winning team around them and want to create an environment that’s fun to be involved in. I promise you, that without being a “Control Freak” when it comes to standards you will fail. By demanding attention to detail and consistency and that all tasks are carried out to an agreed best practice, you will have happy customers, happy staff and normally a healthy business too. The best way to make this the culture in your business is to lead by example and always do what’s right, not what’s easy.
When people form a negative impression it’s often more about the body language or your tone of voice used. The message can get lost in a sea of negative non-verbal communication. Worse again, you risk being labelled a hypocrite if your team know that you don’t hold yourself to those same high standards or believe that the same rules don’t apply to you as you are the boss.
Deliver your message in a positive way, help answer “Why” it should be done differently and always listen to what your employees have to say as feedback. That’s not a bad thing, is it? Think about ways in which you could improve your business by establishing more specific operating standards and then taking time to coach them into your team. If you need some help, or just some ideas, give me a call and I can share some successful strategies.