“Systems run the business and people run the systems.”
And absolutely every frustration you experience in your business has a systemic solution.
“Every frustration?” you ask. “But my frustration isn’t about systems. I just can’t find good people.”
Yet good people are everywhere. Some of them may even be working for you right now. And although they’re good, maybe they’re not good at what you’re asking them to do.
There could be several possible reasons for that frustration:
One is that they’re good people who don’t have the minimum required skills to do what you’re asking them to do. So begin trying to discover where their skills could be applied. That’s employee development.
Another reason could be that, even though they may have the skills required to do the work, they don’t know how that work is to be done. They don’t know what “done”, to your satisfaction, looks like. As one of our E-Myth clients remarked, “One of the skills they don’t have is the ability to read my mind.”
I suggest that’s not their fault. It’s yours, and your managers.
“But,” you protest, “I tell them what I want, and even how to do it.”
But how often? And what systems do you have in place to reinforce and remind them, and to make it possible for them to train someone else on what you want and how to do it?
When you look to systems to run your business, your thinking has to become systemic. You don’t get results by blaming people. You only get intimidated people.
So before you call in that employee for a little talk, make sure you have a system in place that makes it possible for him or her to successfully understand and achieve the result you’re seeking.
Now, a third reason you may not be finding good people may lie in your recruiting and hiring system.
What is your recruiting and hiring system?
Is it simply a sign that says “Help Wanted” or “Now Hiring”? If so, then you’re getting exactly who you deserve, although probably not who you want.
Like your good employee who doesn’t know what “done” looks like, your job applicants haven’t a clue from your recruiting system what “help” looks like either!
Give them a system that describes what you’re looking for, and an opportunity to demonstrate in advance that they have the minimum required skills to make you happy.
I love this example as outlined in the E-Myth which provides a stunning example of a recruiting system for a growing medical practice.
The posted ad read:
“I need a full-time office assistant in my growing medical practice. No experience necessary. Must enjoy following written procedures and have a passion for order. Please include with your reply your written system for preparing and consuming breakfast.”
He received several dozen responses, and considered only those that completely complied with his written instructions. Of those, one stood out. This was the candidate who’d sent an “Action Plan for Preparing and Consuming Morning Nourishment,” which described “how to determine a clean bowl,” schematics of his table setting, exacting cereal-to-milk proportions, a diagram showing the movement of the spoon to the mouth, and accompanying color pictures.
He’d found his office assistant.
It didn’t surprise me to learn that this candidate’s first job had been as a shipping clerk for a business owned by another E-Myth client!