The majority of business owners are accidental managers who have no formal training in managing employees. In fact, managing employees is often very far from the business owner’s mind when they start their business. Unfortunately for them, being able to effectively manage employees is a vital skill they must develop if they ever want to grow their business.
While sales and marketing skills are important in order to get customers, having well-trained, motivated employees is the key to the excellent customer service that will keep your customers coming back time and time again.
Mastering the following areas is vital to proper employee management:
– Setting goals and job descriptions before the employee is hired.
– Creating a good hiring system.
– Proper training.
– Good delegation.
– Management through weekly meetings.
– Catching your employees doing something right.
– Learning to manage systems, not people.
– Concentrating on cross training.
– Growing talent from within.
– Establishing a proper compensation system.
Two books I would start with are The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and The E-Myth Manager by Michael E. Gerber. Both of these are good places to start in fine-tuning your management skills.
Action Tips:
- Buy and read The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and The E-Myth Manager by Michael E. Gerber.
- Review your current employee management system for areas needing improvement. In particular:
- Hiring process.
- Employee training.
- Delegation process.