5 Ways Your New Hire Can Enjoy Helping You Build Your Business

by Doris Johnson | Feb 3, 2018 | Employee Selection

As you are building your business it’s a good idea to think about the future of your small business with your new hire. How will you integrate and maintain great employees. Thinking about this before you need it will make this part of your business building process easier. A good old fashioned rule is to treat others as you want to be treated. When you’re involved in an intense and fast moving situation, this isn’t that easy to do.

Coffee and Jones in, “Creating the Best Workplace on Earth” wrote“We call this “the organization of your dreams.” In a nutshell, it’s a company where individual differences are nurtured; information is not suppressed or spun; the company adds value to employees, rather than merely extracting it from them; the organization stands for something meaningful; the work itself is intrinsically rewarding; and there are no stupid rules.”

Planning how you want your employees to feel will help you develop a productive culture. Everyone involved can be proud to be a part of your business.

The first thing to establish in the minds of your new hire is the Purpose of your organization. In other words, they will know what you stand for. You must be dedicated to it and promote that dedication throughout your business. It’s really a type of indoctrination that’s essential to business success.

Goffee and Jones reported a statement by Jack Welch.

“There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.” – Jack Welch, former CEO of GE

Carefully relate why you are organized and what benefit you plan to bring to your customers and the larger society. Your Core Values are the elements that will help you build a strong, sustainable business foundation. Everyone involved in your operation should have a clear understanding of what your Values are and become committed to them as they perform business tasks.

5 Ways your new hire can enjoy helping you build your business

If your new hire shares your original business Purpose and wants to make a contribution to your cause, he will enjoy the work. He will work through challenges and setbacks and continue to move the business forward.

If your new hire has personal Values that match your business Values, she will enjoy helping you build the business. You can test for this fit in your hiring process. It’s important to inform all new hires, early in the process, of the importance of practicing these Values in all of their activities. Of course, you must be the ultimate model of these Values to make your intentions believable. If they know without a doubt what your organization stands for, their pride can begin to build.

If you allow your new employee to be himself with a sense of freedom to participate, he will enjoy his work. If he knows his perspective is valued, he will enjoy helping you build the business. Coffee and Jones

If you tell the truth about your business and business results, employees will enjoy their work. Employees like to know how what they are doing impact the business. They even appreciate knowing about the failures. This helps them adjust their work to what’s needed. In many situations, they can give suggestions to prevent future problems. They will enjoy working because they feel included in everything and they feel trusted.

“Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.” – Anne M. Mulcahy

If hiring, training and coaching are done well, your new hire will become proud to work with your growing business because they share the purpose and beliefs driving the business.

Most employees want to see themselves advance in your business. Designing development plans for your workers will take care of this. Just being aware of the plans is motivating to workers. Understanding where they are in relation to the developmental levels will result in a feeling of appreciation and add to the sense of pride.

If your new employees know they are doing worthwhile work, the work matches their values, and they can see themselves advancing, they will have few problems feeling proud to be a part of your business. They will enjoy coming to work.

Consequently, they will regularly tell people where they work with enthusiasm and pride. Your business will prosper.

Additional guidance in: “20 Directives for Small Business Success: Do or Die”

Critical: Develop Precise Job Descriptions

by Doris Johnson | Aug 31, 2015 | Employee Selection

Only 20 per cent of all new businesses survive.  Yours can become one of that 20 percent by following some “tried and true” processes that have led to success in the past.  One thing that is critically important is to establish a strong business core.  All business decisions will spring from a firmly established root.  As you grow, you will find it necessary to hire people for various operations in your business.  Our training and coaching processes refer to your core as a GeniusCore if it contains an excellent Mission, Vision, and well defined Values with talented affiliates.

The process of selecting talented affiliates must begin with a clear job description.  When you discover that it is time to hire an affiliate, it is extremely important to develop a clear job description for many reasons. A few of the reasons are the following:

Job descriptions are great reference points.

Job descriptions clearly define specific skills, abilities and talents required.

Job descriptions helps potential affiliates understand how the job fits into the Mission, Vision and Strategy of your business.

Job descriptions provide excellent tools for communication.

There are a few general guides that you can use when designing your position descriptions:

1. Develop a job title.  Use industry standards to determine a proper job title and make sure that it reflects the true duties and responsibilities of the job.
2. Clarify the duties.  Describe all required duties along with the time expected to be devoted to the tasks.  You can use percentages for this but try to keep the list short.
3. Identify skills and abilities.  These are separate factors because they describe two distinct behaviors.  Skills are activities gained from passed experiences.  Abilities are traits or attributes the candidate must use in performing the duties, such as, the ability to communicate well.
4. Describe relevant relationships. It is important to clarify relationships with coworkers, suppliers, customers or others.  This helps to give your candidates insight into your Mission, Values and Vision.
5. Provide salary information.  It’s best to provide a salary range in the position description rather than a particular salary.  Use an industry standard, if possible and set the salary range to allow for a variety of education and experience.

A good job description is invaluable.  It helps define your business and support your strategy.  It is also great for measuring performance, resolving disputes and correcting poor performance.  Take time to develop a great position description and it will be a helpful tool for many situations.

“A skilled worker, regardless of the job description, remains a treasure.”  Madeleine M. Kunin