“My staff never cleans up before they go home.” “Our front office is a pigsty!” “No one returns phone calls or emails quickly.” “NO ONE cares except for ME!” If you struggle to get consistent action from your staff, there are two possible causes. The first probable cause is your process. The second probable cause is your people. If anyone on my staff is failing to perform at their highest level, I first assume it’s my fault: the process isn’t clear enough to them. I ask myself: “Have I told them exactly what to do, and how to do it?” As founders, we frequently assume that everyone knows what we do, or that our knowledge is “common sense.” But of course that’s not the case: no one knows how to write a compelling quote for a client until we tell them. Often, our instructions are too complex, or contain gaps that our own brains skip right over. I once had a cleaner named Sean. His checklist said “Mop the floors”. So he did, but didn’t use any soap, because I didn’t write “Pour a cup of soap into the hot water”. The dirty floors were my fault: Sean was just following my poor directions. If I’ve told the staff person clearly how to do a job and they’re not meeting expectations, the next question I ask myself is: “Have I shown them what “perfect” means?” My definition of “clean” is different from your definition. To my kids, “clean” means “tidy”. To my wife, “clean” means the involvement of bleach and rubber gloves. To me, “on time” means fifteen minutes early–at minimum. But to a teenager, “on time” might mean two minutes after nine. If my front desk staff arrives at two minutes after nine on the weekend, and I’ve only told them to be “on time”, I’m allowing a subjective consideration into my process. Clearly spell out the gold standard ...
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