Masonry Magazine October 1997 Page. 15
Empowering Employees Through Training
We tend to place our major emphasis on giving employees increased responsibility and accountability. That's all well and good, but if we don't train our people we're not empowering them. Continuous training is the key to empowerment.
Employees Need to Know Why Their Work is Important
We think that if we simply tell our employees what to do they'll be motivated to do what we say. After all, we're the boss and that should be sufficient reason for them to get the job done right. But whether we like it or not, our work force is better informed than ever before and they are going to challenge us to adequately explain the reasons for what they do. So, our job is to learn how to communicate the underlying basis for all of the assigned tasks, and clearly communicate those reasons to our employees.
Employees Need Consistent Evaluation and Feedback
If we don't consistently evaluate and measure our employees' performance against well-defined and well-explained goals, there is the possibility that our employees will continue to do what they've been doing - thinking they're doing what we want them to do. We need to establish a consistent system of feedback - and not just annual reviews. We must continually set goals and continually evaluate performance.
Employees May Have Better Ways to Accomplish Tasks
Believe it or not, our employees may know a better way of accomplishing a task than we do. But, unfortunately, most bosses think that they must justify their existence by knowing all the answers. That's short-sighted and simply not true. Great managers, true leaders, know how to include and involve their employees in order to come up with the best solutions. We pay our employees good wages, so why not tap into this resource of information. And, in discussing with them the various ways to accomplish a certain goal, we may find a better way. Or, if our way is better, our employees will understand and appreciate it.
Employees Need Prioritized Goals and Action Plans
If we don't set and prioritize goals then there is no way in the world for our employees to know what to do first. And, once goals are set, there needs to be a clearly-defined action plan for them to reach those goals. This setting of priorities and action planning is not their responsibility, it's ours.
Employees Need to See the Benefits of Quality Improvement
We are the bosses, the owners. Increased profitability means money in our pocket. That's great. Improved profitability should be a goal for every company. But, how does that motivate our employees? The Quality Process realizes that there must be something for your employees in their extra effort to improve. They have wants and needs that exceed the financial aspects of their jobs. They need to be involved and they need to be appreciated. It's our job to recognize their needs and their wants and to establish a formalized system for their recognition and reward. We need to celebrate success and have everyone in the company take part in the job of improving and being successful.
Employees Need to be Capable of Doing What We Want Them to Do
In some cases, we may have placed the wrong person in the wrong job. Again, at the expense of repetition, this is not their fault, it's ours. Our job is to assess the employees' capabilities and to put them in a position where they won't fail. Being assigned a job that you are incapable of accomplishing, has got to be one of the most demoralizing experiences a person can have. We must start our evaluation in the hiring process. Let's take the time to determine the capabilities necessary to perform a job, then structure the hiring process to select people with those capabilities. In our companies, we have developed a profile for all of our positions. We have done this through the DiSC
One of the Dangers of Having the Rookie as Your Partner
"Say Kid-You Seen My Lunch Box?"
MASONRY-SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 1997 15