Super Jobs for You

As the year comes to a close, it is fitting to ask why some businesses have survived and others went by the wayside; why some businesses have done well during this downturn and others have struggled.

Some of the differences are in how a business is structured and operates and in other cases it is how the owner chooses to lead and manage. This assessment compares “the best” versus “the rest.”

The Best have strong business models. That means these organizations have clients, not customers. The best have ongoing revenue streams and strong relationships with clients. The relationship could be with the brand name, the products and services or the people that work in the business. The rest have the “hope is our business model” restated as “we hope customers do business with us.”

The Best create and work from a written plan. The plan is usually long term, strategic in nature, and includes an annual plan that all departments are responsible for executing. The rest have a semi-thought or poorly conceived plan somewhere in the owner’s head. This plan is impacted minute by minute by emotion, relationships, ability to communicate, level of trust, delegation skills, follow-up skills, a packed calendar and it relies on the owner’s memory.

The Best delegate appropriate responsibility to management for getting things done. This does not include giving away the keys to the kingdom (the company checkbook). It does mean that management is trusted and empowered to get things done to the satisfaction of the client within established guidelines. The rest suffer from ongoing underperformance because people lack the authority, responsibility and tools for getting things done.

The Best evaluate their people continuously. Performance reviews in the best organizations are scheduled and held; the people in these organizations know what is expected of them and they are motivated and incentivized to perform. When goals are achieved, rewards are given to reinforce performance. The rest don’t believe in performance evaluations because they take too much time, aren’t done well and don’t work. No one considers that the excuses for not doing these evaluations have any impact as to why evaluations don’t work.

The Best believe in “sharpening the saw.” From the owner on down, people are learning all the time. The better organizations see themselves as learning organizations. Continuing education is considered a sustainable competitive advantage. At the rest, learning is optional as in almost everyone opts out. The owner learns in the school of hard knocks and the rest of the employees suffer as a result; they are taught only what they need to know.

The Best don’t make or accept excuses. When something goes wrong, the best take responsibility, learn from what happened and move forward. The rest spend most of the time being caught up in the “blame game” pointing fingers resulting in punishment but not always of those responsible.

The Best focus on results. At the end of the day, the best understand that intention, action and activity do not equal results. Trying doesn’t count, either. The better organizations focus on results. The rest spend their time focused on everything that keeps people from achieving results.

The Best hire the best. Those companies that want to be the best hire the best; they pay more and reward more for higher performance. The rest hire those that aren’t hired by the best.

The Best have clear priorities. Everyday at the best companies people focus on the vital few things that matter. These organizations understand the key performance indicators and keep a sharp eye on those measurements. At the rest, most of each day is filled with working on the trivial many and nothing much gets measured. The clock is watched all day long.

The Best always try to find a better way. The best companies are never satisfied with how things are because they understand that to improve means they can continue to distinguish themselves for their clients and from their competition. The rest are satisfied with what they have; good enough is good enough. The rest don’t understand that fair, okay and good are the enemies of great.

The Best weed out poor and underperforming people at every level. The best companies know that allowing people who aren’t working to a high standard lowers the standards for every employee. High performing employees will soon resent the presence of those who are not keeping up and results will suffer as a result. The rest tolerate underperformers and poor performers.

Do you own one of the best companies or are you one the rest?

Super Jobs For You gives information on how to get a job and how to hire good people. If you are looking for a Die Casting Job look at this website. This Die Casting Blog will give you more information you can use for manufacturing.

What is an organization? It is, in a very broad sense, nothing more than a collection of people who are, hopefully, working towards common objectives. Any organization is no better than the people that work in and for it.

Toxic personalities on the payroll can do more damage in less time than the H1N1 Flu. The Swine Flu will disappear in a few weeks; these people could stay employed forever! Meanwhile, the damage will be done to the company’s reputation, damaging client relationships and impacting profitability.

Having toxic personalities can have dangerous consequences internally as well, particularly if these individuals are in positions of responsibility and authority. Here are eight personality types that could be negatively impacting any organization.

If someone in the organization that does exactly what they are told to do and nothing more, meet The Soldier. When it comes to processes and procedures, this person will do a terrific job because they are in heaven just following orders.

The Soldier will get most jobs done to an acceptable level. But every aspect of every task will need to be explained before getting started, down to the smallest detail. If this doesn’t happen, plan to spend copious amounts of time every few minutes providing clarification and amplification.

Don’t expect initiative or creativity from The Soldier. This type won’t win any customer service awards either. That is because their strict “by the book” approach won’t win them any thanks from those that pay the company bills.

Every business has at least one of The Whiner. If uncertain this type of person works in the business, just listen. In no time flat, The Whiner will surface with a verbal complaint. Once identified, a pattern will quickly emerge: this person constantly complains about anything and everything—nonstop.

The Whiner likes to hear a voice: their own. They complain so often that they often forget what they told people, so expect to hear the complaint several times. If this person’s lips are moving, they are complaining.

A close companion to The Whiner is The Needy. What sets the two apart is that The Whiner will complain to anyone while The Needy only wants the attention of their immediate supervisor. No one else will do. If the boss happens to be unavailable, this employee will do nothing until they can opine to the boss.

The Victim also has a claim to fame; nothing is their fault. This individual is a master of escaping responsibility by putting the blame inappropriately on someone, anyone else.

There is no evidence of The Victim’s failures. There won’t be a record of emails, reports, handwritten notes or voicemail messages. The Victim can be brought down with evidence so every effort is made to cover the tracks and eliminate anything to pin them down.

The Victim is good at giving advice and will gladly accept any given to them. But don’t expect anything to happen as a result. The Victim is outstanding at not doing much of anything except winning at the blame game. It might be hard to believe, but this type often gets promoted because they have such a great track record as being successful.

Does your business have The Defiant? What is nice about having a person like this on the team is from day one they make themselves known as to who and what they are. This is because they will challenge anyone, in public, on any subject, at any time. The Defiant One believes that diplomacy and reporting lines is for wimps and losers.

If daily drama is needed, hire The Emotional. Having this person on the payroll is bound to make the rest of the staff extremely unproductive. No one can stand the daily soap opera that makes up the life of The Emotional, so everyone hides to avoid having to listen. No one ever tells The Emotional to “get a life” because they know better; they hear about it all day long!

The Manipulator has memorized and knows by heart every word, phrase, sentence and intention of the company employee handbook. This personality type isn’t going to give the company one single second of time or one iota of effort beyond the minimum to stay on the payroll.

The General is everyone’s favorite employee. Regardless of title or position, they bark orders at people. Most of the time, these individuals do not hold a high rank, but believe that they should, so they act the part they aspire to. This does nothing but infuriate those around them.

The problem with having these toxic personality types around is that often, the symptoms are ignored until it is too late.

What can an owner do with these toxic types? First, identify. Second, contain. Third, eliminate and remove. What else would you do with something so dangerous?

Super Job For You gives information on how to get a job and how to hire good people. If you are looking for Cast Parts Jobs look at this website. This Castings Blog will give you more information you can use for manufacturing.