I recently met up with a friend of mine who was telling me how little time he had working on his business due to the people problems he was constantly experiencing.

He always complains to me that if he could run his business on his own, he would. Unfortunately this is not a reality so he constantly wastes at least 50% of his working week trying to overcome staff issues.

The problem with Gary is that he's a 'know it all'. He likes to do things his own way and believes that having been in business for 15 years, he knows all about recruitment.

The reality is the opposite. He's very disorganised, works long hours and wouldn't have the time to pro-actively look after his people. Sure he's a nice guy and that's probably why some of his staff hang around, but the chaos he would cause in his business would be too much for most people to handle.

Gary doesn't 'get it' that he's the source of his problems. He has to learn how to free up his time so he can focus on the people issues. Of course I'm the best person to help him but I've learnt that it's not always a good idea working with friends and family. There are many aspects involved with the recruitment process and then when you've found the right people you need to know how to keep them so they remain a valuable asset in your business.

I'm constantly amazed about how little most business owners (and most people for that matter) know and really understand about others. To have the right people on board with you, there are so many areas you need to know about including personality styles, values, attitude, their strengths and weaknesses. You cannot afford to get it wrong.

Studies by the U.S. Department of Labour revealed that a poor hiring process can cost your business 30% of the first year's earnings, and this loss can be even higher if not corrected within 6 months (Abbasi & Hollman 2000). So if your business makes $100,000, then this could represent $33,000 in lost profits by hiring the wrong people!

Here's another interesting statistic: Staff who receive formal training can be 230% more productive than untrained colleagues (Return on Investment in Training, Smith A. 2001), and top performing employees deliver 12 times the value of mid level performers (Aberdeem Group Report 2001).

It means you cannot afford to 'wing it' when it comes to recruitment. You need to get organised so you can free up your time to manage this key area of your business. Getting feedback from your people would also be an eye-opener to how they see you. In fact I've developed a very powerful tool that allows your team to provide anonymous feedback about you.

It does take courage on your part to face the real truth. The results of this proven program "The Powerful Productivity and Leadership Profile" is guaranteed to pinpoint key areas that you'll need to address to increase the productivity of your team and in turn will boost your profits.

Of course you can just ask them what they think about you, however it's highly unlikely you'll hear the truth... and even if you received honest feedback, you will then need to know how to overcome the problems.

So here's 6 simple ways to manage your people more effectively:

1. Weekly team meetings
2. Train and develop them constantly (both internally and send them off to external programs)
3. Get coached and keep developing yourself.
4. Plan time regularly to focus on your people
5. Get feedback from your team
6. Get organised... otherwise you have no hope of having a high performing team and keeping them

You can get on top of people problems, if you learn how to attract and retain them. When you have a high performing team and know how to manage them effectively, you'll be much more happier, more productive and more profitable.

OK, so you know the challenges of managing people, but how are YOU going to be more effective at doing this? You know you need help to get on track to run your business much more smoothly and profitably but what if you don't have the time, don't know where to begin or what to do first? Then it's time to take action and invest in a proven step-by-step system . The Productivity and Profit Home Study System™ avoids all the unnecessary stuff and instead gives you the most important things to do to give you more time, organise your systems and master your marketing, so you consistently make much more money, with less headaches and enjoy more time off...

It's all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you're done wit h that, you move on to step two, and so on. So easy. All the proven tips, tools and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. You can get it at www.productivityqueen.com/profit.html

Lorraine Pirihi is the founder of productivityqueen.com and creator of “The Productivity and Profit System” the complete one-on-one training program for solopreneurs and small businesses.

Lorraine is also the celebrated author of “The Productivity and Profit Home Study System” which helps you to easily organize your time, your marketing, your people and your systems so you are much more profitable and have time to enjoy life. This is available at www.productivityqueen.com Online Store.

Lorraine is a productivity expert, leading business coach, author and speaker. She’s known for her practical approach, combining a unique blend of innovative, straight-shooter, no-fluff strategies that really work. Being in her own business for over a decade she is committed to helping small business owners and entrepreneurs work less, earn more and have a life!

She is a well known and respected expert on showing small business owners how to free up their time, organise their systems and their marketing so they make more money and enjoy more time off.