Masonry Magazine February 1995 Page. 12
Substantially increase your commitment to employee training. When we explain this to contractors we are always asked the question "But what if I spend all this time and money training an employee and he leaves?" That's not the question. The question is "What if you don't train that employee and he stays?" An untrained employee will cause you to lose far more money than the money you will spend on training.
You must see your employees as a tremendous resource of information. They are the ones who are in the field and in the office doing the work of the company. They know how to improve your operations. But you never ask them. And they won't offer the information because they don't think you want to know.
You must see your employees as the way to get and keep customers. They are the ones who work with your external customers. If your employees are excited and motivated, they will keep your customers more than satisfied. Our contracting company in Atlanta has a yellow page listing (not a display ad) in the yellow pages, and that's the extent of our advertising. Our new customers come from referrals. Our employees keep our existing customers so happy that they just love telling other customers about us. Our employees are our advertising.
Finally, the biggest challenge you will have in the Quality Team-Building Process is to see your employees as your team to see your employees as a group of people who work with you and not for you. And you must see yourself as the coach. Your job is not to play the game for your employees, but rather to train them, encourage them, and motivate them to do their jobs and score with your customers.
If you can make these changes-if you can recognize these important areas of the Quality Process-then you have taken the most important step to Quality Team Building. Now let's look at why teams work so well. It's really very simple. The rationale is based on common sense and human nature.
Two Heads Are Better Than One-We pay our employees but we don't tap into the information they have about our customers and the operation of our business. In the Mason Quality Institutes, we conduct a group exercise to demonstrate the power of the team. The exercise is called "Lost At Sea" and requires the participants to rank certain items that they would want if they were lost at sea. First, we ask each individual participant to rank the items in order of importance. Then, once the individual ranking is complete, we put the individuals in teams of 5 to 6 people and ask the teams to rank the items. Then we compare the results against the expert's ranking. Invariably, the team average is better than the average of the individuals. The teams pool their resources and achieve better results. It happens every time.
People Want To Be Involved
Human nature is such that people not only want to be involved-but the psychologists tell us that they have a need to be involved. You can meet both their needs and their wants by getting your employees involved in the team concept.
The team approach works because it gets people involved. And these teams can be involved in all aspects of your business. Teams can be used to assist you in:
Planning and setting goals for your company;
Identifying problems and inefficiencies in your operation;
Determining the causes for those problems and inefficiencies;
Developing solutions for the problems;
Implementing the solutions; and
Measuring the results of the solutions.
The opportunity for teams is everywhere. Any time you have two or more people working on the same task, you have the opportunity for a team. From the installers and service technicians handling equipment to the bookkeepers and clerks preparing your financial statements, you have people who want and need to be part of a team.
Help your employees see themselves as teams and the results will improve immediately. But these teams can't come together without you. You must learn to become an effective team builder. The best way to do that is to develop the habits of an effective Quality Team Builder:
Be Goal Driven-Everyone in your organization, including your employees, must have a goal. You must take the leadership role in setting goals for your company, and making sure that the goals are communicated to everyone in your company. Once the company goals are set, make sure that everyone knows how their jobs relate to the company goals. Make their daily activities directly related to the success of your company.
Communicate Effectively-Establish an open door policy. But first, establish an open mind policy. This won't won be easy for most of us, but it's absolutely essential. People want to tell you where to improve if you will simply listen to them.
Empower People-The best way to empower your employees to take responsibility is to provide them with adequate training. You can give your employees all the authority and responsibility in the world but if they don't know how to do the job, they are not empowered.
Care About People "Caring about people" is easy to say but sometimes hard to do. Simply put, it means listening to what people say, appreciating their importance to your business, and constantly recognizing the success that they bring to your business. Two characteristics that you can adopt that show people you care: (1) Listen to what they say, and (2) Keep your promises to them. If you focus on these two characteristics-people will know that you care.
Be Totally Committed. Once you have established goals for your company then lead by example. If customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal for your company-have everything you do geared to that goal. Then ask your employees to do the same.
Sounds like a lot of work this team building stuff. Is it worth it? The companies that have implemented Quality and have committed to Quality Team Building will tell you that it is. Their people are involved and motivated-they are becoming problem solvers-not just problem spotters.
The results speak for themselves:
Re-work is down;
Typing errors are eliminated;
Estimates are more accurate;
Negotiated work increases (Customers Want You)
Customer loyalty increases (Customers Don't Leave You);
Profits increase; and
Owners are happy.
Quality works. Try it!
AL ROACH is a general partner in Callahan/Roach & Associates, a national consulting firm in the construction industry. Callahan/Roach offers consulting and training in all business management areas, including quality implementation. To receive more information about Callahan/Roach & Associates, call 800-462-8217; Fax 404-393-8185.
12 MASONRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY, 1995