TERRY McKENNA is principal and co-founder of Employee Performance Strategies, Inc. (EPS), based in Kure Beach, NC. EPS helps clients increase their competitive advantage and profitability through people. Terry provides keynotes and leadership seminars for businesses and associations. Contact information: (888) 788-9090,
perform@eps-i.com,
www.eps-i.com.
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[ THE PERSONNEL TOUCH ]
Strategy: product vs. people
Most organizations conduct year-end management meetings to assess the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. A great amount of planning and analysis is undertaken to determine if the strategies achieved their objectives, such as increasing sales and profitability, improving customer service levels, improving retailing standards and growing the business. Programs, promotions and product categories will be analyzed very closely to determine what worked and what didn’t work. Lessons learned will be identified and will be taken into consideration when developing next year’s strategies. This makes for good sound business practice.
Strategy is a two-sided coin, with product on one side and people on the other. How much time, planning and due diligence does your organization place on the people side of the strategy coin? Sadly, nowhere near the amount of time that is invested on the product side. Not even close! Which creates a real disconnect since organizations rely on their people to promote the product while executing the strategy. Most importantly, your customers will form their opinions of your business by how well they are treated by store employees, not how great your products are. People can only connect on an emotional level with other people, not products. So what keeps your customers coming back? I don’t have to tell you since you already know. So as you gather your management team together at the end of the year to assess your strategies, do yourself (and your customers) a favor and analyze both sides of the coin. Here are a few people strategies you might want to consider.
Recruiting
How effective are your employee recruiting strategies? What has been the most productive source for delivering high-performance job candidates? Have you performed a cost/benefit analysis on each of your recruiting sources? Are your store operators proactive or reactive in their recruiting approach? Have your store operators been properly trained and do they have the appropriate tools to succeed?
Job candidate interviewing
How well do your store operators conduct interviews? How do you know for sure? Do they ask behavior-based questions or closed-ended, leading questions that will provide meaningless information? Are the questions they are asking legal or will they result in a discrimination lawsuit? How do you know? What are the metrics? Have your store operators been properly trained and do they possess the right tools to succeed? If not, why not?
Employee development
Are your store operators developing future store managers from their employee ranks? Do your store managers even know that this is one of their job responsibilities? Do they even know how to develop their employees? Are your store operators a manager or coach to their employees? Have your operators been properly trained and developed to become highly effective coaches?
Systems and processes
Does your company have the right systems and processes in place to facilitate a successful people strategy? Are they working? How do you know? What are the metrics and safeguards for continuous improvement?
Year-end meetings, be they strategy assessment, personnel development or organizational effectiveness, are the best times to ask the tough questions. The only way to get better and improve your performance is by having the courage to take a long hard look in the mirror and be honest about what you see. District managers, field representatives and CEOs who have the courage to ask the tough questions, and the guts to be brutally honest, should be rewarded and cherished within the organization as opposed to receiving “shoot the messenger” treatment.
Make your organization the best by deeply analyzing both sides of the strategy coin: product and people. Your employees and customers will thank you! TR |
