Tapping Energy and Synergy in Business
On the home front, it's you, your business, and your employees. This is only a small slice of your total business picture, but it's the slice that you have total control over when it comes to your business success.
Working against you are the office politics. There's always at least one employee who is jockeying for position within the company. They're the ones doing a little brown-nosing to find a short-cut up that company ladder.
They are working their agenda to position themselves as a favorite in your eyes or another decision maker. It's natural for people to want to get in a better position at their place of work, or be recognized as a valuable employee, but you have to wear blinders to their stealth ways.
Office politics does nothing but divide your troops into good guys and bad guys and weakens your effectiveness as a company. This is not to be confused with business rivalry. Competition is healthy and tends to strengthen your team.
Management is your office politics buster, because they can be shuffled and so can the employees. This will aid you in eliminating the communication void between what is going on at the top and what is happening at the street level.
You're busy growing your business in its ever-increasing competitive environment and you don't have time to deal with office politics. You have to concentrate on getting people who are smarter than you to join your company so it can grow at an exponential rate.
If you select smart and ethical people to join you, you really won't have to worry about the office politics logjam. True, it may cost you a little more to sway some of these top choices to join you, but you will more than make up for it through productivity, competitive edge, and bottom-line fattening.
Train your managers not to be dictators, but coaches and the whole company will benefit. Keep your employees informed as to what the company wants to accomplish, which goals are priorities, and where the next breakthrough is coming from.
Hire those who have vision, talent, and can bring excitement and energy to your team.
When you invest in people it doesn't mean just money, but the tools that they need to get the job done and a schedule that energizes them, not one that puts them in a breakneck time vacuum.
Understand that the sales staffs, purchasing people, manufacturing employees, delivery drivers, dock workers, marketing and advertising people are all on the frontline every day.
They get firsthand knowledge on a daily basis that can assist you, but you have to let it be known that you are receptive to hearing from your team members. Encourage them to share with managers and be willing to sit in the lunch room and let them vent, advise, suggest, and criticize your business operation.
It is difficult for many managers and big bosses to accept the ideas and criticisms of their team members, but once they do, the company gets stronger and becomes a respected workplace, both in and outside the organization. Don't be naive to think that your employees don't talk about what they think is wrong with the company outside of the workplace.
Let them vent it all to you and your managers and they'll spread the word that they work for a company that listens to its employees and treats them with respect. That alone, can cut your employee turnover.
The more points of view you have, the better your big-picture perspective. Once they know they can share ideas, criticisms, and points of view with you, without being ripped a new ____, you will begin to hear things about what is going on in the marketplace that you never dreamed of hearing.
In order to get a great return, you usually have to make a hefty investment; invest in good people and don't be surprised when good things happen regularly.
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