Breaking the vicious circles that drain productivity

The definition of insanity is ‘doing the same thing and expecting different results’

These are some of the vicious circles that employees find themselves in and complain about on a regular basis.

• We need to improve the way we do things so we can be more productive and make more money, but we haven’t got enough time or resources to do it.
• We don’t have enough money to reward our staff but if we did they would be more productive and help us make more money.
• We haven’t got money to spend on marketing but if we did we could win new customers and make more money.
• We haven’t got the money to buy new equipment even though what we do have is not fit for the job and costs us time & money every day.
• We need to concentrate on winning new business rather than investing in people even though it’s the people that will help us win new business and increase customer retention.

So what is the key to breaking them?

1. Admitting you have a problem. Leaders! You cant solve a problem until you admit that you have one. Hoping that they will just go away or making excuses for them isn’t actually going to fix anything. Take an honest look at yourself and your business, where do your issues lie, what is at the root, then you can start to look at practical solutions and make a plan to fix them.
2. Leadership and coaching. Delegate, lead and coach your teams to help you form the solutions to your problems. Empowering your employees leads them to an amazing sense of job satisfaction which is far better than any reward and recognition scheme, that you can’t afford, anyway!
3. Motivation and communication. Why should your team do what you ask of them if you’re not going to tell them why they’re doing it. Why should they follow you? What are you trying to achieve? If you can articulate this in a way that inspires your employees, tell them, tell them, tell them again and keep telling them. There’s nothing more motivating than a good old pep talk.
4. Measuring. Without setting clear goals and targets your employees have no idea whether they are going in the right direction. Planning and measuring will help provide that direction and ensure that the activities you are doing are strategically aligned to your overall business aims. Be proactive not reactive!
5. Healthy competition. Have a passion for success and share it with your employees. Fostering an environment where employees are able to quantify their own success through measuring and planning enables recognition even if you can’t afford the reward part. This will not only make them care more about their own success but will also breed a level of healthy competition which can push your goals to the next level. Tread carefully with this one though….

If you or your business is stuck in any of these vicious circles, get in touch with [email protected] for help with were to start. Together we can audit your business and start making a difference right away.