by Barry
I was fortunate in my career to always have a great staff. It didn’t always start out that way with some employers, but it always ended up that way. And just so you’ll know, I don’t tolerate incompetency, laziness, or poor attitudes. (Yes, I believe ‘attitude’ is a good behavioral performance measure!)
Naturally, there would be some staff members who were keepers to start with – lucky me. And, there were some who had to be terminated and replaced. Finding the right ‘fit’ for my team was very important since my success depended on them.
When looking around for the right person, I started by looking for trouble makers. No, not the raw problem-children who couldn’t be fired soon enough. I’m talking about the employees who were frustrated by dumb rules, stupid managers, and were on the verge of either being fired or quitting. Those were the people who knew a better way to get things done, but were unable to reach anything close to their potential because of circumstances. Those were my targets.
When I spoke with the manager of the trouble maker, it wasn’t a hard sell to get them transferred to my department. It was often a harder sell to get the trouble maker to stay and give it one more shot. After a few weeks, they were glad they stayed and I was glad to have another hard-working staff member.
My staff were told what needed to be done, but were free to do whatever seemed to work best to achieve the results. With some time and a little coaching here and there, the trouble maker was now a very valued and productive team member. And, with a little more time, they were often the target of inter-departmental raids for top talent.
Yes, I like trouble makers … they’re the ones with the vision and the desire to make things happen! What’s been your experience?
I was fortunate in my career to always have a great staff. It didn’t always start out that way with some employers, but it always ended up that way. And just so you’ll know, I don’t tolerate incompetency, laziness, or poor attitudes. (Yes, I believe ‘attitude’ is a good behavioral performance measure!)
Naturally, there would be some staff members who were keepers to start with – lucky me. And, there were some who had to be terminated and replaced. Finding the right ‘fit’ for my team was very important since my success depended on them.
When looking around for the right person, I started by looking for trouble makers. No, not the raw problem-children who couldn’t be fired soon enough. I’m talking about the employees who were frustrated by dumb rules, stupid managers, and were on the verge of either being fired or quitting. Those were the people who knew a better way to get things done, but were unable to reach anything close to their potential because of circumstances. Those were my targets.
When I spoke with the manager of the trouble maker, it wasn’t a hard sell to get them transferred to my department. It was often a harder sell to get the trouble maker to stay and give it one more shot. After a few weeks, they were glad they stayed and I was glad to have another hard-working staff member.
My staff were told what needed to be done, but were free to do whatever seemed to work best to achieve the results. With some time and a little coaching here and there, the trouble maker was now a very valued and productive team member. And, with a little more time, they were often the target of inter-departmental raids for top talent.
Yes, I like trouble makers … they’re the ones with the vision and the desire to make things happen! What’s been your experience?
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