Employee Knowledge is Your Biggest Asset
Shifting Employees from Expenses to Assets
The best people working for organizations are life volunteers. Since they could probably find good jobs in any number of groups, they choose to work somewhere for reasons less tangible than salary or position.” Max De Pree, Leadership is an Art.
I read Brian Minter’s column this month with great interest. His comments about hiring people with the right aptitude and attitude and then training them well are bang on. Business leaders are telling us that we have moved from the industrial age into the knowledge age, and for our businesses to survive we must invest in our intellectual and social capital – read people.
Fifty years ago manual labour created 70 per cent of the goods and services produced by a nation, today the inverse is true, and knowledge workers are responsible for 70 per cent of a nation’s output. This is not to say that we are not still industrialized nations, but we must now focus on the knowledge and skill of the workers who create the product. They are the greatest asset of any successful business.
Workroom Tips for Holiday Stress
• Take frequent stretch breaks and encourage people to move around to avoid repetitive injuries.
• Set up a humour corner – designate one corner as the space for cartoons, jokes and funny material.
• Have an ugly hat, tie or apron day. Award prizes for the winners.
• Praise profusely!
• Sing – It’s hard not to smile when you’re singing.
• Keep them hydrated – not the flowers, your staff. Provide a water cooler or bottled water.
• Have healthy nutritious snacks on site.
• Change tasks frequently to avoid boredom.
• Take them off site for coffee and a pep talk.
• Smile – it works.
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Check with your bookkeeper or accountant and you will see that our financial statements are still stuck in the industrial age where our equipment and hard goods are called assets, and our employees are called expenses. Now is the time to make the mental shift and recognize that the knowledge and creativity of your employees is the biggest asset your business has. As talented as you may be as a manager I doubt that any of you have developed a machine that can put together an arrangement as well as someone with opposable thumbs and a creative flair, and if you have please don’t send me one!
A well trained employee who has been coached in the proper care and handling procedures, has a relationship with your customers, and has been given the power to make decisions that reflect the goals of your business, will send out the right arrangement nine times out of ten. When empowered to do so, this person will also be able to solve the problem on the tenth time without disruption or loss of business. These talented people are florist’s gold.
Humans have four aspects or endowments that need to be nourished and fulfilled, our minds, bodies, spirits and hearts. As managers it is vital that we take care of the whole person and allow them to do the whole job. Allowing your employees to use their creativity in doing their jobs will feed their minds and encourage growth. Taking care of the physical aspects of their lives and work ensures a healthy and able employee. Treating them fairly and with respect allows employees to take risks without fear of repercussions, which can create new business for you. And finally encouraging their spiritual endeavors leads to a balanced whole person showing up for work.
At this busy and hectic time of the year, take some time to make sure that you are providing a work place experience that allows your employees to nourish all four aspects of their beings. This brief shift in perspective could make the difference between a so-so holiday season and your best one ever.
May you and yours have safe and happy holidays, and a prosperous new year.
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