Growing Pains: Why can’t my staff do the job properly?
In this column, we address the ups and downs of being a director or owner/manager in a growing business.
A business owner writes:
“I set up the business 6 years ago and it was just me and my business partner. The first few years were tough. Now there are 13 of us and we’re got steady business coming in. The trouble is I spend most days fire-fighting because the staff keep coming to me with problems. Last week it was a customer who would only talk to me. This week it’s arguments with a supplier over terms. Why can’t they just get on with it and sort out their own problems? I could do it when I was doing the work.”
Hannah McNamara replies:
First of all, you’re not alone. This is actually a common problem among people who have built their businesses up and then brought in other people. Have you also caught yourself saying or thinking phrases like”You can’t find the staff these days” or “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself”?
Neither of these attitudes is helpful, but they are forgiveable! You may be a victim of your own success. You built the business with your partner. You know all the intricacies of how the business works. You probably care deeply about things being done right. You have a personal connection with many of your key customers and probably some of your suppliers. You have developed your skills in this business over the last 6 years and it can be painful to see other people potentially undoing all the good work that you’ve put in. Your business has needed you for the last 6 years and you’ve worked hard to achieve success.
The fact is, no one will ever be able to do the job exactly as you do it. They might mess up from time to time. The might handle a tricky situation differently. They might even do things BETTER than you can. But unless you let them try, you’ll never know.
Before you leap in and abdicate all responsiblity to your staff, you need to be clear about what you expect of them and where the boundaries lie. For example, at what point should they come to you with a problem or concern? You also need to be clear about whether if they do come to you, you’ll take the problem on yourself or whether you’ll coach them on how to handle it themselves.
There’s that saying, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” As long as your staff know that you’ll sort their problems out for them, you’re giving them the fish. It could be that you don’t think you’ve got time to train them, or teach them how to fish, and it’s quicker to do the job yourself, but this really is a false economy. All the time that you take responsibilities away from people, you are tying yourself to that role and you’ll never be able to step away.
Now, here we come to the big problem. You have been in the business doing things yourself, and certain things, such as how to deal with people situations, have become second nature. You can’t understand why people can’t do it themselves and it’s frustrating you.
You’re at a stage in your learning called ‘Unconscious Competence’. Let me explain. There are 4 stages of learning:
- Unconscious Incompetence - otherwise known as blissful ignorance! At this stage, you don’t know what you don’t know. Other people might be doing things for you and you don’t know what’s involved in them. You might even think that the things that others do is easy.
- Conscious Incompetence - there are things that you know you’re not doing properly, but you haven’t quite got the hang of it yet. Someone might be teaching you, but it doesn’t quite make sense and you feel out of your depth.
- Conscious Competence - you now know what to do and how to do them, but you have to think about it to get it right. You could explain to someone what you’re doing as you’re doing it, because you’re still focused on the steps you need to take to do things properly.
- Unconscious Competence - practice makes perfect. At this stage, you don’t even have to think about it because it comes naturally. If someone asked you to tell them what you’re doing, it would be difficult to describe it to them because you’re not aware of the steps you’re going through.
If you’re at the stage of Unconscious Competence, where are your staff?
More importantly, if you do decide to train them in what to do, where do you start? For example, if you’ve been riding a bike for years, you may think that you just get on the bike and ride. If you’re explaining how to do it to someone else, you might leave out vital pieces of information like it’s easier to balance when you’re going faster or that you need to pedal harder to go up a hill. All these things seem like common sense, but they’re not to someone who’s in stages 1 or 2 of their learning. You can’t blame them when they don’t know what they don’t know.
It sounds like you need to be clear about two things. 1. Your role in the business. 2. What you expect of your staff.
Once you ARE clear about them, then you need to seriously think about staff training. Spend some time thinking about what they need to learn how to do better and how you’ll know that they are making progress. For example, what will you see them doing differently? What will they be saying differently? How will you be feeling about them taking on more responsibility?
Ultimately, if you are in charge, then it’s your responsibility to manage your resources effectively. That includes your human resources. You get out what you put in and you need to invest more time in developing your people if they are ever going to be able to let you get on with the crucial job of running the business.
© Copyright Hannah McNamara 2008
Funding for training is available through Train to Gain. A grant of £1,000 is currently available for businesses with 10-249 staff who are based in London. For more information on how SME Academy can help you access this grant, click here.
About the Author: Hannah McNamara is a Director at SME Academy and works with business owners to be more effective at work and get more from their staff. She provides training courses, team coaching and one-to-one Leadership & Management Coaching.
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