Five Steps to Increase the People Power in Your Business

Take some bold steps and help your employees and business partners open up to real change and help them start thinking again to the longer term. Send a message that you are ready to commit to new ways of thinking and that that includes a commitment to the success of your employees in the changing workplace.

1. Reconsider your company vision.

A vision statement uses the future to help analyze the present. It must have a message that everyone from the CEO to the receptionist to your freelance workers can understand and put into practice daily. Vision is the match that lights the fire of potential in people. To do its job, a vision must be long-term, meaningful in a human context and appeal to a higher purpose. Make several drafts of your vision and circulate them to people who's opinion you value inside your company and out.

Ask yourself and others these questions:

Does our vision lead to action?

What will your customers be looking for from your company?

Can you live with this vision? Are you willing to act in accordance with it even if times get rough?

2. Devote more time to the management of people power.

People issues only seem to capture our full attention during times of crisis. Give them the time they deserve by setting up regular monthly staff meetings to discuss HR issues only.

Try this exercise: Managers rate the effectiveness of each employee on a simple scale from one to ten. Employees you rate 4 or below are clearly not making it in your workplace. Take action to move them within the company or help them move out of the company within the next 30 days. Employees you rate 8 or higher should have ongoing leadership development plans - they are your superstars. Spend more time with these people than any others. Make sure they know how you think about them and put them in coaching programs to be sure they continue to develop.

3. Start a 360 degree performance review process.

Have employees reviewed not only by their supervisor, but by their peer group as well. Make these reviews optional for the first year, but mandatory for employees who want to be considered for promotions.

A Caveat: It takes at least 6 months of preparation to introduce a 360 degree review process effectively. Show employees the evaluation materials you intend to use up front. Train employees how to accept negative feedback by giving them a system to take it in and process it before reacting. Also train employees to give feedback that is work-related and objective with factual examples not feelings.

4. Have the employees review the company.

Ask employees to hold the company up against its own standards. Do this survey annually and check the trend over time.

Ask yourself and others these questions:

Does the company walk the talk of its vision and values? Are management employees role models for ethical behavior? Do you take short-cuts with safety? Do you encourage honesty in reporting or do you shoot the messenger?

5. Create action plans for each individual tied to your vision.

Make a direct connection between employee actions and the company vision.

Consider this process:

1. Develop a more specific mission statement from your overall vision, by defining your focus to what markets you are serving and balancing your commitments to quality, value, and service.

2. Determine the factors key to your company's success and focus on specific, but long-term, goals in these areas.

3. Create annual corporate objectives related to your goals.

4. Have each department manager develop department objectives derived from the corporate objectives.

5. Post the results of 1-4 and ask each employee to develop individual objectives related to his or her department's objectives.

About The Author

Jan B. King is the former President & CEO of Merritt Publishing, a top 50 woman-owned and run business in Los Angeles and the author of Business Plans to Game Plans: A Practical System for Turning Strategies into Action (John Wiley & Sons, 2004). She has helped hundreds of businesses with her book and her ebooks, The Do-It-Yourself Business Plan Workbook, and The Do-It-Yourself Game Plan Workbook. See www.janbking.com for more information.

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the byline is included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

janbking0191@sbcglobal.net

---

The Golden Key to Meeting Success

We all attend many meetings. I'm sure you have been... Read More

Employee Orientation: The 90 Day Difference

Why do some new managers succeed while others fail? It... Read More

Faith is the LIFE-blood of Your ACTIONS before the Benefit -

Nothing has changed. Your ancestors lived by faith. Some planted... Read More

The Paradox of Job Enrichment

Ellen was a clerk working for a large insurance company.... Read More

Overcoming Resistance

Virtually any type of organizational change involves role transitions of... Read More

3 Tests To Hire The Best

Question: What's the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to have... Read More

Structure Your Payment Offers to Sell More Products

The way you structure your payment offers can increase your... Read More

Project Management - The Traveling Product Manager

Various studies ? and common sense ? indicate that involving... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Personality Testing

Whilst tests measuring the creative or innovative personality exist, there... Read More

Delegating Responsibility

Too many managers waste both time and energy performing tasks... Read More

How to Deal With Salespeople

If you are an executive, you may sometimes feel like... Read More

Employee Retention: Its a Changing Game

As a management consultant, I have seen some poorly conceived... Read More

Classifying Motivational Needs

While there exist several useful definitions of motivation, for our... Read More

Improving Your Inter-Company Communications At No Cost

It's all very well having a flashy (and expensive) advertising... Read More

Virtual Assistance: A Money Saving Opportunity For Employers

What is a Virtual Assistant? A Virtual Assistant is a... Read More

Credibility - A Golden Key to Becoming More Influential

You have been named a new leader in your organization,... Read More

How to Help Your Company Become a World Class Company

Most people think real change in an organization occurs as... Read More

Document management : A dream of paperless office

What is document management: When we think about "Document Management"... Read More

What to Ask When You?re Invited to a Meeting

1) Where is the agenda? A meeting without an agenda... Read More

Passion for Profits

Business owners and managers are busier than ever. As their... Read More

Retaining An Expert -- What Every Business Owner Needs To Know

As an entrepreneur, hiring an expert can be one of... Read More

Three Professional Services Resolutions for 2005

With client expectations higher than ever before, and the gradual... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Training is in the Eye of the Beholder

This article relates to the Training competency, commonly evaluated in... Read More

Be a Change Agent ( Part 1)

Aligning business organizations to be successful in the present and... Read More

Work Life a Balancing Act

Australians are loosing their laidback, carefree reputation, as we continue... Read More

Stop Going to Meetings - 10 Questions to Ask Before Attending a Meeting - Get More Productive

We get invited to attend so many "meetings" but do... Read More

Group Discussion Guidelines

DISCUSSION METHODS: There are two basic types of discussion methods;... Read More

Managing Performance: Don?t Let Slackers Bring Down Your ?A? Players

As a manager, it is your job to ensure that... Read More

Hiring and Retaining Good Employees

Hiring good employees is not only important to business, it's... Read More

Human Resource Communication Pays Off

Human Resource Communications and Corporate Communications ? are they one... Read More

Can A Business Still Be Profitable When People Skills Are Absent?

In our current world of rapid and amazing technological advances,... Read More

Are You At The Mercy Of Computer Geeks?

Many business owners are sabotaging their business without even realizing... Read More

Hows Your Company RQ (Reputation Quotient)?

In light of recent corporate scandals, from Enron and Global... Read More