Investing in Employees: Why and How to do it.

How often do you say, “I am the only person that can do this.”? It is a common thought of many small business owners and managers. I hear a bit of pain and exasperation whenever leaders say those words. You know your business would be better served with more infrastructure and better-trained employees. Still, the gravitational pull of day-to-day activities prevents you from dedicating the time needed to train your employees properly.

Why are you not investing in your employees?

It is important to acknowledge why you need to make time to train employees properly. You may believe it is better to do things yourself or that you do not have enough time in your schedule to train employees. This is short-term thinking and limits your growth. It is critical to assess how you are currently spending your time and identify tasks that you can defer or eliminate to allocate time for training and developing your employees.

Benefits of investing in your employees

Carla A. Harris’s book Lead to Win cites that taking the time to understand your team’s developmental needs and designing opportunities and projects that allow them to learn and develop expertise is vital to driving employee engagement and motivation. You want highly productive and loyal employees. To get this, you must invest in their development.

• Better performance: Properly training employees will equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to do their jobs well. This leads to higher productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction.

• Happier employees: Investing in your employees shows them you care about their growth and development. This boosts their morale, motivation, and loyalty. They also feel more valued and respected, which reduces stress and conflict.

• Improved comfort delegating: The more confidence you have in your employees’ abilities, the easier it will be for you to delegate tasks to them. This will free up your time and energy so you can be more strategic and focus on the things you do best. You also empower them to take more ownership and responsibility for their work.

• Better employee retention: When your employees know that you care about their development and provide them with growth opportunities, you are more likely to be loyal to your organization. All employees want to be valued, and there are few better ways to show someone you value them than helping them pursue their professional goals.

How to train your employees

Now that you know why investing in your employees is important, let's consider how to do it effectively. In Morey Stettner’s book Skills for New Managers, he highlights the importance of delegating assignments to employees in the right way. He emphasizes that it is essential for managers to outline tasks, communicate why they are important, provide room for employees to ask questions, and provide ongoing support.

Here are some steps to ensure you are putting in sufficient pre-work before delegating takes to employees.

• Tell them what you want to be done: Before you start training your employees, make sure they understand what the goal of the training is, what the expected outcomes are, and how they will be evaluated. This will help them focus on the right things and avoid confusion or frustration.

• Show them how to do it: Once you have explained what you want done, demonstrate how to do it yourself or use an expert or a peer. Use clear instructions, examples, and feedback to guide them. Ensure they can see and understand the critical aspects of completing the task.

• Let them do it: After showing them how to do it, give them a chance to practice independently or with a partner. Observe them closely and provide constructive feedback and encouragement. Correct any mistakes or misunderstandings as soon as possible.

• Have them teach others: The final step of training your employees is to have them teach others what they have learned. This will help them reinforce their learning, identify gaps or errors, and boost their confidence and communication skills.

Supporting Employees During Learning Process

You will find that some people you work with need to gain skills in taking instruction and retaining information provided during training. As the teacher, you can increase the likelihood of your lessons being retained by influencing your employees to:

• Take notes: Taking notes can help your employees remember what they have learned better and refer to it later. Please encourage them to write down the training session's key points, steps, tips, and questions. If you still need training material on the topic you are coaching on, give the employee the responsibility of creating a training document to train future employees.

• Brief back what they have learned at each step: Briefing back is a technique where you ask your employees to summarize or repeat what they have learned. This will help you check their understanding, clarify questions or misconceptions, and reinforce their retention.

• Encourage them to ask questions along the way: Asking questions is a sign of curiosity and engagement. Encourage your employees to ask questions whenever they are unsure or confused about something during the training session. This will help them learn more effectively and avoid mistakes or misunderstandings later.

• Commitment to executing tasks at a high level: At the end of the training session, ask your employees what commitments they are willing to make around the task. The act of giving their word can reinforce the importance of the tasks they are being assigned.

Summary

Developing people can be one of the most rewarding parts of your work. You benefit from watching someone build new skills, gain confidence, and establish new competency. You free up your time, energy, and mindshare to complete other tasks. And you build value for your organization by generating a better return on everyone’s time. Prioritizing people’s development can be challenging but worth the effort. I challenge you to identify one task you can delegate to an employee this week. Identify an employee that has potential, allocate time to train them, and see what happens. My guess is that you will enjoy the benefits of seeing your employees grow while also creating space for yourself to lead at a higher level.

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Thank you for reading this blog

Dorian Cunion is an Executive Coach and Business Consultant with Your Path Coaching and Consulting. He is a former retail executive with over 20 years of experience in the retail industry. He is a Co-Active coach who focuses on helping professionals, and small business owners overcome insecurities, knowledge gaps, and lack of direction. He does this by assisting clients to tap into their values, recognize their strengths, and develop actionable strategies for growth.

Have you been trying to improve your career or business on your own but are not seeing success as fast as you desire?

Book a free discovery call to discuss your goals and how I can help you accelerate.

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6 Steps to Handling Difficult Performance Discussion

I am so sick and tired of dealing with this employee. If you are a manager, you have likely expressed some version of this thought before. When I talk with small business owners, they frequently state that managing people is the most challenging part of their job. Finding the balance between being empathic and getting things done is the goal, but it tends to be elusive.

This is especially the case when managing people is one of many roles you must play within your organization. If you have been struggling to figure out how to start a difficult performance discussion with an employee, this article will provide you with six steps that will help you to address performance issues while still maintaining a good relationship with your employee.

6-Step Process to Performance Discussions

1. Check for understanding of the task

2. Discuss the difference between expectations and performance

3. Ask what support is needed

4. Verify expectations are realistic

5. Request commitment from the employee

6. Establish a follow-up plan

By following these steps, you can have productive and constructive performance discussions that lead to positive outcomes for your employees and your organization.

Step 1: Check for understanding of the task

When you start the performance discussion, make sure that you and your employee have a clear and shared understanding of the task or project that the employee is struggling with. You can do this by asking open-ended questions, such as:

- What was the goal of this task/project?

- What were the main deliverables and deadlines?

- How did you approach this task/project?

- What challenges did you face?

By checking for understanding of the task, you can avoid misunderstandings, clarify expectations, and identify any gaps in knowledge or skills that may have affected the performance.

Step 2: Discuss the difference between expectations and performance.

The next step is to discuss the difference between your expectations and the actual performance of your employee. You can do this by providing specific, factual, and objective feedback, such as:

- I expected you to complete this task/project by this date, but you missed the deadline by two weeks.

- I expected you to produce high-quality work that meets the standards of our organization, but I found several things that needed to be corrected in your work.

- I expected you to communicate effectively with your team members and stakeholders, but I received complaints that you could have been more responsive and friendly.

By discussing the difference between expectations and performance, you can help your employee understand where they fell short, how their performance impacted the team and the organization, and what they need to do differently.

Step 3: Ask what support they need.

After discussing the performance gap, it is important to ask your employees what support they need from you or others to improve their performance. You can do this by asking open-ended questions, such as:

- What challenges or barriers did you face while working on this task/project?

- What resources or tools do you need to perform better?

- How can I support you in achieving your goals?

By asking what support they need, you can show your employee that you care about their success, are willing to help them overcome their difficulties, and are open to their feedback and suggestions.

Step 4: Verify expectations are realistic.

As you discuss the support and actions needed for improvement, you should verify expectations are realistic and attainable. You can do this by asking the employee

-Based on this conversation, what is realistic for you to accomplish?

-If you were in charge, what would you set as the expectation?

-Is there any reason you would be unable to meet this goal?

By asking these questions, you will better understand the employee’s belief in being able to complete the task at hand. With this information, determine if the expectations are realistic, and if not, adjust so the goal is achievable.

Step 5: Request commitment from the employee.

The next step is to request a commitment from your employee to improve their performance and meet your expectations. You can do this by asking them to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for themselves, such as:

- I will complete this task/project by this date.

- I will improve my work quality by following these standards and guidelines.

- I will communicate more effectively with my team members and stakeholders by using these methods and channels.

By requesting commitment from your employee, you can help them take ownership of their performance, motivate them to act, and hold them accountable for their results.

Step 6: Establish a follow-up plan.

The final step is establishing a follow-up plan with your employee to monitor their progress and provide ongoing feedback and support. You can do this by scheduling regular check-ins, reviews, or meetings with them, such as:

- Let's meet weekly to discuss your status and challenges on this task/project.

- Let's review your work quality and feedback monthly to see how you improve.

- Let's meet quarterly to evaluate your performance and goals.

By establishing a follow-up plan, you can ensure that your employee stays on track, receives timely and constructive feedback, and gets the support they need to succeed.

Summary

In summary, having difficult performance discussions with your employees can be daunting, but it can also be an opportunity to help them grow and improve. By following these six steps, you can have effective and respectful performance discussions that lead to positive outcomes for your employees and your organization:

- Check for understanding of the task

- Discuss the difference between expectations and performance

- Ask what support they need

- Verify expectations are realistic

- Request commitment from the employee

- Establish a follow-up plan

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Thank you for reading this blog

Dorian Cunion is an Executive Coach and Business Consultant with Your Path Coaching and Consulting. He is a former retail executive with over 20 years of experience in the retail industry. He is a Co-Active coach who focuses on helping professionals, and small business owners overcome insecurities, knowledge gaps, and lack of direction. He does this by assisting clients to tap into their values, recognize their strengths, and develop actionable strategies for growth.

Have you been trying to improve your career or business on your own but are not seeing success as fast as you desire?

Book a free discovery call to discuss your goals and how I can help you accelerate.

Talk with Dorian

Have Feedback Send me a note at

Email: dcunion@yourpathexecutivesolutions.com

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Improve Your Team Culture with this 15-minute routine.

Improving team culture is a challenge that is universal to all leaders. At their roots, teams work best with a shared purpose, good communication, and collaboration. Like a rowing team, everyone must have a cadence for working together and rowing in the same direction. One of the primary roles of a leader is to bring talented people together, create an operational cadence, provide guidance, and help them to achieve more together than they could apart. Adding Recognition, Obstacle, and Win (ROW) to meetings can help leaders achieve these goals. ROW segments in meetings improve communication, encourage recognition, and bring visibility to obstacles in a time-efficient and effective way.

ROW meetings are about developing a cadence for communicating the good and bad things happening in a business. These meeting segments are typically 15 to 20 minutes long. Each participant comes to the meeting prepared with a 2-minute recap of their week. The summary should include recognizing one person for doing a great job, identifying one obstacle they needed help with, and stating one team win they wanted to celebrate. Since each participant only has 2 minutes, it forces them to be brief and only focus on the highlights. These recaps should mirror the trailer for a movie. The goal is to provide enough information for people to know what is happening, but not so much that people lose interest. If anyone attending the meeting is interested in learning more, they can follow up after the meeting with questions or suggestions.

Employee Recognition

One of the hallmarks of a good culture is recognition. Adam Grant and Francesca Gino's research has shown that expressions of gratitude can help build employees' self-efficacy and social worth, motivating them to engage in prosocial behavior. Thanking employees for a job well done is one of the best ways to improve a team's culture. Employees go to work every day, doing their job, and many never hear a thank you from their peers or boss. Organizational culture improves when leaders maintain a process for slowing down, considering the contributions made by those around them, and expressing gratitude.

A supplemental benefit of this routine is how it helps people get to know each other. During group meetings, there is a tendency for some extroverts to dominate conversations and for everyone else to listen. The communication imbalance can create group thinking and blind spots within a team. The two-minute communication requirement for each participant ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to communicate. More value is generated during the meeting because there is a greater diversity of thought and inclusion of everyone's ideas.

Sharing of Obstacles

Each participant will share one obstacle they needed help solving. Initially, leaders might be uncomfortable voicing obstacles because of a fear of looking weak or unqualified. It is common for employees to be private about the barriers preventing their success until they have done everything possible to solve the issue independently. The hesitation to share challenges creates unneeded pressure within organizations and can slow down the removal of obstacles. By individuals being vulnerable in the group setting, other participants who have prior experience with similar obstacles can assist the person in need. In addition, when there is a commonality in challenges, participants can partner together to find solutions.

Obstacles are like weeds that prevent organizations from reaching their full potential. Employees within organizations do their best to pull weeds. Often, the process is long and complex because employees need more tools, resources, and power to address complex issues. Managers are essential in getting employees the tools they need to overcome barriers. The ROW meeting segments provided a cadence for managers to check in with employees and surface problems they may need assistance with. As they inquire about challenges, they can provide tips and guidance for addressing opportunities. If they cannot solve the problem at their level, the manager can bring it to the meeting and seek advice and support from the team.

Celebrating Wins

The final segment of the recap is a review of wins for the week. Celebrating successes is essential for locking in learning. In Whitney Johnson's book Smart Growth, she evangelizes the role of celebrations in cementing learning and strengthening relationships. Leaders work hard to drive results. Time must be allocated for them to feel the joy of their team's accomplishment. Sharing of wins provides examples of excellence for the broader group. It also creates opportunities for individuals to be more aware of success outside their direct business, which can both motivate and inspire others to greatness.

Talking about team wins during group meetings helps the team focus on the big picture. Most organizations operate in silos. For information to be shared, it has to flow up one silo to the leader and then back down another silo. The multiple communication points can be slow and weaken the benefit of the message. Often this results in team members focusing too much on their silo and not dedicating time or energy to thinking cross-functionally. Great leaders encourage 360-degree communication because they know removing bottlenecks accelerates organizational performance.

Monitoring Team Fitness

Weekly meetings can be an excellent way for a leader to monitor a team's fitness. Meetings will be super positive, high energy, and upbeat when things are going well. The meeting will feel completely different when obstacles grow or stress rises. There will be more negativity. People will struggle more with finding and discussing wins, and the group will spend more time discussing obstacles. When this occurs, it is a sign of illness within your team. Just as you try to diagnose a problem when you are not feeling well and take steps to heal, when your team is not fit, you must take action to improve team dynamics. Implementing ROW meeting segments and paying attention to how your employees communicate during meetings will help you catch potential illness before it spreads and begins negatively impacting team culture.

Putting it into Action

The ROW meeting approach can effectively establish a culture of recognition, positivity, and accountability within the team. In addition, it will ensure that every team member speaks during each meeting. It encouraged them to spend 66% of their time talking about positive events in the last week and only 33% of the time on obstacles. It challenges them to prioritize, summarize, and communicate directly. Speakers must practice bottom-lining and creating space for others during meetings.

Adding ROW segments to meetings improves engagement because multiple voices will be heard, and the conversation will focus on the remarkable things happening in the business. Team members will find it refreshing to get obstacles brought to the table, and the group will feel a greater sense of cohesion as they discuss ways to solve problems after the calls. Implementing this 15-minute-a-week routine can do a lot to improve the culture of an organization. The practices leaders establish say a lot about who they are and what is essential. Leaders who build routines around recognizing team members, capturing obstacles, and celebrating wins build a strong foundation of trust within their organization. Trust is needed to create a strong team culture.

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Dorian Cunion is an Executive Business Coach with Your Path Coaching and Consulting. He specializes in coaching services for managers, executives, and small business owners.

For tips on leadership and professional development, follow me:

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If you are interested in working with me as a coach, contact me at

• Email: dcunion@yourpathexecutivesolutions.com

• Phone: 804-220-5771

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