Creating The Dream Employee
This week’s column presents the final four steps in our system for creating "dream" employees. In prior articles, we defined the "dream" employee as being one that is dedicated to his work, is energetic and, most importantly, they constantly seek to improve both themselves and the business. In last week’s column we looked at how to build an environment that encourages entrepreneurism. That is, a workplace where staff think like entrepreneurs, where they adopt the mindset of a business owner, and where their personal focus is on adding value to the organisation.
In such a workplace, each staff member should identify who their most important "client" is. The "client" is the person to whom that employee is responsible. It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone external to the business; it could be a manager.
The staff member then looks at some of the key frustrations of the "client" – those things that cause their client to bang their head against their desk in frustration. The employee asks themselves: "What can be done to solve my client’s key frustration? What would it be worth to them to have me solve it?"
This brings us to the final four steps in our process:
Step Four: Your employees need to pitch their ideas.
It’s all very well for your staff to have great ideas for solving key frustrations, but they’ve got to be able to sell these ideas to their clients. When making the pitch, they’ll need to speak in terms of the benefits that their ideas will have to offer.
Take for example a manager in a supermarket. He recognises the owner’s frustration in training new salespeople, the cost and effort involved. The manager comes up with a solution, offering to design a system for training salespeople in half the standard time.
He has to be able to explain to the owner, in the simplest way possible, what the benefits will be of implementing this solution, how it can save the owner time and money. The owner needs to be made to feel that this is a solution that’s just too good to refuse.
What you will need to do is ensure that your workplace environment is such that staff who offer new ideas and systems for doing things are acknowledged for their efforts. Innovative ideas are valuable to the business and, as such, work in this area deserves to be appreciated, if not rewarded.
Step Five: Delivering on their promise.
Once staff have come up with an approach aimed at resolving a business problem, and this offer has been accepted by their most important client, they then need to ensure that the deliver on what was promised. Their integrity and credibility are dependent upon it.
Step Six: Measure and control.
Once the ideas have been implemented, there should be standards and indicators need to be monitored to ensure that the "solution" remains on track.
For example, if a manager offers to successfully train junior employees in half the standard time, he will need to establish tangible indicators that will clearly illustrate how successful he’s been.
Step Seven: Create and maintain a Staff Growth Strategy.
The final step in the process is for your staff to invest in their own education. Get them to adopt the idea of constant and never-ending improvement. Today’s super-service enhancement will become tomorrow’s standard.
Your staff, as entrepreneurs, must always seek to be ahead of the game, always looking for better and improved methods and systems, and always on the lookout for the next entrepreneurial opportunity.
A concluding note to business owners: The effectiveness of this system for creating an entrepreneurial environment within your business and for creating dream employees will be determined by the levels of effort and commitment putting it into practice.
Patrick Lumbroso is a business development expert and CEO of The Mentor Program, www.thementorprogram.com. He can be contacted via email patrick@thementorprogram.com
In such a workplace, each staff member should identify who their most important "client" is. The "client" is the person to whom that employee is responsible. It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone external to the business; it could be a manager.
The staff member then looks at some of the key frustrations of the "client" – those things that cause their client to bang their head against their desk in frustration. The employee asks themselves: "What can be done to solve my client’s key frustration? What would it be worth to them to have me solve it?"
This brings us to the final four steps in our process:
Step Four: Your employees need to pitch their ideas.
It’s all very well for your staff to have great ideas for solving key frustrations, but they’ve got to be able to sell these ideas to their clients. When making the pitch, they’ll need to speak in terms of the benefits that their ideas will have to offer.
Take for example a manager in a supermarket. He recognises the owner’s frustration in training new salespeople, the cost and effort involved. The manager comes up with a solution, offering to design a system for training salespeople in half the standard time.
He has to be able to explain to the owner, in the simplest way possible, what the benefits will be of implementing this solution, how it can save the owner time and money. The owner needs to be made to feel that this is a solution that’s just too good to refuse.
What you will need to do is ensure that your workplace environment is such that staff who offer new ideas and systems for doing things are acknowledged for their efforts. Innovative ideas are valuable to the business and, as such, work in this area deserves to be appreciated, if not rewarded.
Step Five: Delivering on their promise.
Once staff have come up with an approach aimed at resolving a business problem, and this offer has been accepted by their most important client, they then need to ensure that the deliver on what was promised. Their integrity and credibility are dependent upon it.
Step Six: Measure and control.
Once the ideas have been implemented, there should be standards and indicators need to be monitored to ensure that the "solution" remains on track.
For example, if a manager offers to successfully train junior employees in half the standard time, he will need to establish tangible indicators that will clearly illustrate how successful he’s been.
Step Seven: Create and maintain a Staff Growth Strategy.
The final step in the process is for your staff to invest in their own education. Get them to adopt the idea of constant and never-ending improvement. Today’s super-service enhancement will become tomorrow’s standard.
Your staff, as entrepreneurs, must always seek to be ahead of the game, always looking for better and improved methods and systems, and always on the lookout for the next entrepreneurial opportunity.
A concluding note to business owners: The effectiveness of this system for creating an entrepreneurial environment within your business and for creating dream employees will be determined by the levels of effort and commitment putting it into practice.
Patrick Lumbroso is a business development expert and CEO of The Mentor Program, www.thementorprogram.com. He can be contacted via email patrick@thementorprogram.com
 | By Patrick Lumbroso Published: 11/4/2004 |
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