I think we would all agree one of the greatest challenges of running a successful business is to locate, secure and retain loyal, productive and trustworthy staff.
An important part of accomplishing this is to understand that each of your employees have their own dreams, goals and objectives and if you want the best from them you need to help them see how helping you get what you want will in turn help them get what they want (goal congruency).
This is particularly important when you are implementing change in your business. Mismanage the change process and you will have mutiny! Manage it well and it can be smooth sailing. However, this is easier said than done because each of your team are individuals and they each have different needs, wants and goals. Each will act or react differently to change. I’m sure you’ve noticed that much already. What follows will help you begin the process of sorting this.
If you have not yet started to take action – should you? And in case you think you know everything already (fantastic), I would ask you to reflect on the age old adage, “To know and not to do, is to not really know”. On that basis can you honestly say that you have arrived and that you know everything?
Moving on …
If someone's intention doesn't match yours (i.e. your business’s) then you don't want to be doing business with them. Why? Mismatched intentions result in conflict. When the smallest obstacle arises, problems will occur, hindering performance. You can either find someone whose intention matches yours, or you can support someone in clarifying their intention.
Let me give you an example. I once did a seminar and said to the participants, "Honestly rate your commitment to creating value today. A ten is a total commitment. Nine is pretty committed, but you are leaving a back door open just in case something big happens. A five is average commitment; you will swing either way depending on me, your feelings, etc. A rating of three or four means you are resistant to creating value. A rating of one would mean you are totally committed to not creating value, even if I walk on water."
At the end of the day one man came up to me and said he got a lot out of the rating exercise. He went on to say that he realised he rated his commitment level at three because he felt he was forced to attend the seminar by his boss. He admitted that he gave himself a three just because he was being confrontational. But then he said to himself that he was a productive person and hated to waste time, so he simply made the decision to give himself a higher rating and that created more value for the day. I assisted him in clarifying his current intent and supported him in raising it. This is the job of any boss, owner, manager, supervisor, salesperson or head of household.
In essence, the gentleman was in a state I call compliance. Compliance is a mind set of having to do something. Basically, your intention is just to complete the task. Commitment is where you choose to do something. Your intention is to produce a result. The experience of someone in a state of compliance is fatigue, apathy or resentment. The experience of someone in a state of commitment is results, excitement and high energy. Compliance occurs with students attending school, those attending meetings and employees going to work - in general those who are following policies and going after goals handed down by those in authority over them.
You can move yourself and others from a state of compliance to one of commitment toward an activity by emphasising choice and benefits. That is essentially what I did with the seminar participant. Although I did not get him to see his choice in attending the seminar, I did get him to visualise his choice in his experience.
For more on this subject read chapter two of If How To's Were Enough, We Would All Be Skinny Rich and Happy by Brian Klemmer.
Source: Klemmeer & Associates, Inc February 1, 2007 Newsletter www.klemmer.com
Key Questions:
1. Where is the mindset of each of your team member’s (employees’) – compliance or commitment?
2. Where is your own mindset – compliance or commitment?
3. What are you going to do about making the necessary changes?
4. When are you going to start taking action?
A short reflection on a Bowral Institution:
I said above “If someone's intention doesn't match yours (your business’s) then you don't want to be doing business with them.”….
This applies not only to your external customers but also to your internal customers (your employees). As an illustration, Reina and I were in Bowral, in the beautiful Southern Highlands NSW, recently enjoying a meal at a well known Bowral institution. (No names mentioned to protect the innocent!)
The meal was great – various curries and mango lassi or hot chocolate were enjoyed by all. Yet what let’s this place down is that there are a couple of people on staff who clearly just don’t want to be there. In the context of this article, they are in compliance mode. The job is a means to an end and they will do what’s required, yet there is no smile on their dial and it comes across in their voice / manner and lack of knowledge or helpful suggestions to patrons about the menu and the uninterested way in which they serve the drinks and food to the table.
This is truly a shame because the other staff do have the right attitude and do genuinely seem to take an interest and care about what they are doing.
In this case the business owner would do well to recognise the importance of the key message of this article. The poor attitude and performance of a minority of their employees detracts from what otherwise would have been a great experience.
What should the business owner do?
1. Put up with sub-standard/non-acceptable behaviour from staff?
(Has the business owner even noticed what is really going on front of house?)
2. Deal with the issue and provide training and support to the staff in question?
3. If the staff in question do not lift their game – they should be shown the door?
Answer:
Clearly there is a process to work through and hopefully the resistant staff member(s) can be restored to congruency and productivity. If not, well, I dare say the reputation of the establishment (and Net Profit) will be negatively affected by the actions of a few and that would be a shame now wouldn’t it, Mr or Mrs Business Owner.
Finally, to each of you I trust that you and your loved ones will have a safe and blessed Christmas and may 2009 be all that you want it to be. | 
