Why Most Business Owners Have People Problems?
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 and keeping people who will be valuable assets and contribute to his bottom-line.
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 
hangs around, but the chaos he would cause in his business would be too much for most people to handle. And that is directly reflected in the turnover of his staff.
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).
So what does this all mean to you? 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.
Simple stuff isn’t it? Yet it’s these basic principles that if they are NOT applied can have you overloaded in activity but not getting results. You can be chewing up your time and moving further away from where you want to be.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the little things in your business which actually have a major impact on your productivity and your profits. Being time poor, people problems and a range of other easily rectified problems. If that’s you then make sure you get a copy of “The Productivity and Profit Home Study System”. It will show you exactly how to free up your time, organise your systems and run your business much more effectively and profitably. You can read the success stories and get your own copy at http://www.productivityqueen.com/profit.html
Why work long hours, miss hidden opportunities to make more money and neglect your health and relationships when it’s totally unnecessary? This proven 6 step system will show you EXACTLY HOW TO WORK LESS AND EARN MORE!
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Lorraine Pirihi, The Productivity Queen, is Australia’s leading Productivity Specialist and creator of “The Productivity and Profit System TM” the complete one-on-one training program for solopreneurs and small businesses that shows business owners exactly how to work less and earn more! To receive your F.R.E.E. CD & Report “3 Steps to Dramatically Reducing Your Workload and Stress While Maximising Your Profit$! ($77 value) go to www.productivityqueen.com.
