The people responsible for the growth and success of businesses have to deal with frustrations and challenges every day. These things keep them from doing what they do best and steal time from their daily responsibilities.
All internal challenges and frustrations are triggered by one or more of four root causes. There are a multitude of symptoms, but only four causes. Creating strategies for eliminating or minimizing frustrations and challenges starts with understanding the causes.
One root cause is a lack of understanding or attachment to the purpose of the business and the values, standards, and principles that guide the business. This has nothing to do with a mission statement or marketing messages. It?s the lack of a complete buy in to ?This is who we are,? ?This is why we exist,? and ?This is the way we behave while serving our customers and interacting with our co-workers.?
People give freely of their time, money and energy to charitable, volunteer and service organizations because of a belief in what these organizations stand for, the way they conduct themselves, and the results they are focused on achieving. The best work place results are achieved by employees who have the same type of attachment to the businesses for which they work.
The employees of every business should be strongly attached to the purpose of that business. Nothing keeps people going in good times or bad better than attachment to a purpose they believe in. When an individual?s attachment to a purpose is weak, indifference develops and productivity and morale suffer.
Another root cause is a lack of belief in the reality of stated expectations and the reasonableness of the evaluation process. I once worked with a business owner who told his sales force that he expected the sale of 28 units every month. A total of 28 units was a reasonable expectation based on marketing results and opportunities generated. However, twenty units were the most ever sold in any given month. The sales people didn?t believe they could sell 28 units so they didn?t even try. I suggested that the goal be set at 21 for a month. Twenty units had been sold more than once so 21 was a believable goal. I know it was believable because I asked. Once 21 units were sold the goal could have been moved to 22 or 23. The owner refused to give the idea a try. His expectations were never met. I?m convinced the 28 unit goal could have been reached over time by starting with believable expectations.
Napoleon Hill said, ?Whatever you can conceive and believe you can achieve.? Believe is the key word. If there is no belief, expected results will never be achieved.
We are all constantly evaluated by others according to the spoken or unspoken criteria of the evaluators. While we?re being evaluated we also evaluate others based on our criteria. Problems arise in the workplace when people don?t know the criteria against which they?ll be evaluated or the criteria are subjective rather than objective.
Employees who aren?t attached to the business purpose and believe the standards of measurement are unreasonable have a tendency to under-perform.
A third root cause is a lack of buy in to the guidance employees receive that helps them perform well. This is a function of the completeness and clarity of policies, processes and systems, and the management philosophy of the business. Employees who believe the business is structured to help them be successful as individuals, and offers them opportunities to grow and advance always perform better than those who don?t have the same view.
The fourth root cause is an ineffective communication management system. I believe that the three root causes mentioned above exist because of ineffective communication. So, in my opinion, this is the BIG one. Unclear, incomplete communication can create problems and frustrations daily. Verbal communication delivered in an inappropriate tone, regardless of intent, can create daily hassles. One theory is up to 90% of workplace problems are caused by tone of voice.
The communication management system is the most important system for any business. Even the smallest glitch in this system can cause huge negative effects.
The good news is that all of this is fixable. The first step is learning the perceptions of employees in these areas. Once that information is known strategies can be developed to correct wrong perceptions and to create effective policies, processes and systems to eliminate these root causes.
We specialize in eliminating these root causes to help create businesses that work better and are better places to work.
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