Successful business owners and managers need to be very
clear about what outcomes they want.
Whether you call them goals, objectives or targets, these
are the factors that you're ultimately judged on.
Outcomes determine whether your business is a success or a
failure.
If you're an employed manager, you'll find them in your job
description or contract and I'm sure your boss will
concentrate on them at your next performance review.
Outcomes are what you're paid to achieve.
Many business owners and managers allow themselves to be
distracted and diverted from their outcomes. They get
involved in all sorts of situations that take their "eye off
the ball."
I regularly run a workshop for managers called - "Managing
Your Priorities."
At the start of the workshop I ask the managers to draw a
map on a large sheet of flip chart paper of all the things
they do in their job. They almost inevitably fill that page
with all sorts of tasks and activities. More often than not
they surprise themselves with what's on the page.
I then ask them to identify and mark with a large cross,
their real priorities, and the outcomes that they're
ultimately judged on. Out of all the tasks and activities on
the page they usually cross only five or six priorities and
sometimes less. (You might want to try this exercise
yourself sometime).
What we do find however is that the priorities that they
cross are not allocated the time they deserve on a day to
day basis. The managers will often blame their senior
manager for many of the tasks which divert them from their
priorities, which is perfectly fair.
However there are many tasks that a manager takes on
because:
1.They don't like to say "no" or -
2.They don't trust anyone else to do it or -
3.They just 'like' to do it themselves.
I then spend time in the workshop showing managers how to
communicate with their senior manager and their other
colleagues in order to minimise the number of tasks that
don't contribute to their outcomes.
Many managers fall into the trap of believing that their
manager will understand why they haven't hit their target or
quota. They seem to think that because the senior manager
has handed out all sorts of other tasks, then they'll accept
your failure to achieve your target.
Well let me tell you now - they won't!
Some business owners believe that their bank manager or
investors will understand all the reasons why they haven't
achieved their business outcomes.
However, as I'm sure you know, bank managers and investors
only want to hear that you've achieved what you said you'd
do.
The successful business owner or manager keeps very focussed
on outcomes and doesn't allow anyone or anything to divert
them without good reason.
It's also important to focus on outcomes as far as your team
are concerned. Sometimes the people in your team will be
only too happy to do other little jobs and tasks that you
ask them to do.
I've had salespeople say - "Oh, I'll deliver that to the
customer, it's on my way." Customer service people will say
- "I'll go and talk to distribution or finance department
about that." You have to keep asking yourself the question,
"Is what they're doing helping me to achieve my outcomes?"
If the answer is "no" then don't let them do it.
Make it clear to your team what the outcomes are and don't
concern yourself too much about how they get there. Now that
doesn't mean that you encourage a salesman to get a sale at
any cost, or a chef to use inferior ingredients. And you
obviously don't want a maintenance engineer cutting corners
that could jeopardise safety.
However it does mean using the thinking part of your brain
and not listening to your inbuilt programs. Your people may
not do a job the way you would do it but that doesn't
necessarily mean it's wrong.
I've often listened to a salesperson speaking to a customer
and found myself thinking - "That's not the way I'd do it."
The temptation then, is to jump into the conversation or
speak to the salesperson afterwards. However I've learned to
keep my mouth shut, because many times the salesperson
closed the business, the customer was happy and it probably
was better than I would do it.
I checked into a hotel recently and as I signed the
paperwork the bubbly receptionist complimented me on my
cologne. She asked what kind it was so that she might buy
some for her boyfriend.
Now I know this hotel chain and this isn't part of the
welcoming speech. I also know that some managers would
discourage this level of familiarity between staff and
customers. But I'll tell you something - as a customer, I
loved it, she certainly brightened my day. Her response was
far better than some of the stuffy robotic greetings you get
from most receptionists at the major hotel chains.
This receptionist had made me a happy customer and if I
owned this hotel that's an outcome I would want.
The successful manager defines the outcomes to the team
members and then lets each person find their way of getting
there. That doesn't mean you walk away or have no idea
what's going on. You need to be constantly out there with
the team, watching and listening and supporting what they're
doing.
I believe that two characteristics of successful business
owners and managers are -
1.They get the job done and
2.They do it in the easiest and least stressful way.
I'm just pointing this out, because to try and control your
team's activities and get them to do things the way you want
them done, is extremely stressful. It can also mean that you
de-motivate the team and then it'll be much harder to
achieve your outcomes.
About the Author
Discover how you can generate more business by motivating
your team!
Alan Fairweather is the author of "How to get More Sales
by Motivating Your Team" This book is packed with practical
things you can do to get the best out of your people.
Click here now
http://www.howtogetmoresales.com