Empower Your Employees

TheVoiceNewsletter.com Common sense from a common man. Issue 806b Copyright 2006  by Steve T. Carper   Inform (Empower) Your Employees but Teach Your Employees Not to Empower Others Part Two   In Part One we explored the Why’s of the importance of retaining information—once we release information we just empower others, rather than retaining the information that empowers us.  Now comes Part Two and it is inherently important that you, being the manager of people, know that there are situations where you must impart information—in the form of knowledge—that will benefit not only your business but your employee’s attitudes.   The Why’s of When to Empower Your Employees   Every business has leaks in the dikes, the dam, the canal of cash flow that allows that business to survive.  Plugging these leaks requires a system, a method, a joined principle of thought and a constant effort on management’s part.  One way to do this is to: 1.      Educate your employees on the cost of running your business and 2.      Continue to emphasize the importance of teamwork, the continued focus on efficiency, and reinforce 3.      The underlying responsibility of all employees to concentrate on keeping the doors of the business open; every employees’ income directly correlates to this reality.  Ingraining this train of thought requires constant management pressure (teach, teach, teach the principles of teamwork, efficiency and professionalism).   Let’s discuss the importance of educating your employees on the cost of running your business:   One of the severe problems of managers today is getting their employees to relate to the needs of the manager.  A good manager finds common ground so that her points can be easily conveyed and understood thoroughly.     Every employee, just like you, has cash flow problems: this is the main driver of bad attitudes and the proverbial “me, me, me” mantra that you find yourself fighting constantly in your employees’ train of thought.   Use this to your advantage.   Connect with your staff by comparing the costs of your business’ “life” with their own cost of living.  Let’s say your business is a small restaurant. Start with bills that they also pay every month so that they can easily relate to your expenses: ·        Do they know your water bill can approach (or go over) 4 digits in a single month? ·        Let them know your gas and electric cost (power). ·        Is your property leased?  If not, what is your mortgage?  Won’t your employees relate to the costs of rent? ·        Let them compare your cost of trash removal with their own.   Would it benefit you to let your workers know how much money is spent on meat you purchase, monthly?  Do they know what you spend in canned goods monthly?  What about dry goods?  How about your produce bill?  Dairy?  Do they know the cost of a single wrapped patty of butter they so easily throw into a bus tub?  Your employees know the cost of groceries that it takes to feed their families every month, so wouldn’t they relate to the same costs in your business?    Floor your employees by telling them what it costs monthly just to stock your bathrooms with paper goods and soap.   Inform them of the total cost of payroll; weekly, then monthly and finally yearly (don’t forget to add in benefits you provide).    Do they know what it costs the business to contribute to the payroll income taxes?   Do your employees have a clue as to what janitorial costs are, total?  They need to know.   What are your parking lot maintenance costs?  The cost of maintaining your building?  Landscape maintenance?   Most restaurants are required to install large grease traps that must be pumped out monthly.  Would it be beneficial to share this cost with your employees?  Do they even know you have a grease trap that needs to be maintained?   One of the large checks you write every month is for your liability insurance.  Let your workers compare this “must-have” with their own required insurance costs (like auto insurance).   What about your “smaller” costs like guest cheques and all paper products needed in your business?  Ink cartridges for your registers and register maintenance?  To-go containers and that nice heavy sack to carry them in?  How about your monthly cost in bar supplies?   Maybe your angle might be as simple as revealing your cost in the myriad of different light bulbs your establishment requires you to have on hand every month, and the restocking of.  Could this help shine a light on the importance of conservation?   Would your dishwashers treat your equipment and serving-ware better if they knew the capital outlay of that equipment?   We could go on and on about your monthly expenditures and the possibilities of sharing each of them with your employees as your list is much longer, but I think you get the picture.   It is up to you to decide which costs you have that you would like to communicate to your employees in trying to empower them, but choose wisely: your main goal is to imprint on them the importance of keeping the doors to your business open.           In trying to stretch their own household budgets most of your employees conserve greatly at home; by explaining your costs you can easily convince them the need to conserve while working in your business.   May you prosper in your family, your friends, and your finances.     Steve T. Carper Servant of the Food and Beverage Industry Anti-Socialist/ Pro-Capitalist TheVoiceNewsletter.com     Technorati Tags : business, management, restaurant, bar, employees, empower, knowledge   Powered By Qumana

One Act of Kindness

TheVoiceNewsletter@carpscorner.com Common sense from a common man. Issue 608a Copyright 2006 by Steve T. Carper One Act of Kindness… A True Story So I’m sitting in my favorite watering hole one evening recently, watching some sporting event, and a guy I remember from high school (I was two grades ahead of him but was a year younger than my own classmates) named Rob plops down beside me and we started to talk. In the last few years I would see him around from time to time, then he would disappear, then he would show up again; it turns out that he now runs heavy equipment in Alaska (a very good living) and comes back to Boise every now and then for some R&R. He started to tell me a story of when he was a kid in Little League baseball. He was a little smaller than the other members of his team (now a robust and buff 6-footer) but tried to make up for that with hustle but it was his first year and he lacked the few years of experience that the other players had. He told me that because he lacked playing experience that first year was very frustrating for him. He knew he had the ability but his skills weren’t as sharp as other’s his age; a dropped ball here and there, struggling at the plate learning the techniques of hitting a moving ball. As he watched the better players on the team he would feel alienated, an outsider, because their skills seemed to come naturally and he could feel the other boys’ satisfaction at making solid contact with the baseball as they swung their bats; he desperately wanted to experience that feeling of success, of satisfaction. He told me he was envious of the better players, how everyone seemed to look up to them, how naturally they took to the role of team leaders, of how confident they seemed…and how this caused him to feel even more alienated, more separated from his teammates. But the season wore on, and Rob fought through his frustrations with small improvements here and there. The dropped balls became fewer and confidence started to creep into his fielding; the fear of that fly ball coming his way started to dissipate, as did the fear and trepidation of his teammates when the ball flew in his direction. The team would cheer loudly when he made a play, and, flush with the feeling of accomplishment, his feet would feel like they had wings when he ran off the field at innings end. Rob continued with his story, telling me of the one moment that was the turning point of his season. With about 3 games to go (in a 14 game season) he finally made solid contact at the plate—a low liner down the third base line. A sure double, but the ball hit the bag and popped straight up into the air, limiting him to a single. I imagined the other players jumping and cheering at their teammate’s surprising success, and the feeling of blessed adrenaline fueled by accomplishment pumping through him as he stood safe on first base…for the first time in his life. For the remainder of the season he was a different animal at the plate, attacking the ball, being aggressive with his swings…with more and more success. But that was not the point of his story. Rob’s eyes watered a little when he told me of a moment after that memorable at-bat that he said changed his life. Standing with his family after the game, getting ready to leave the field, he said one of the better players (the leadoff hitter and shortstop) appeared at his side, offered a cold Coke and said “Nice hit.” Rob told me of how, on the way home, he gushed to his mother about being given that Coke, of how he finally felt accepted by, felt a part of, his team. His feeling of alienation was so large that it dominated his every waking moment; the relief he felt in finally feeling accepted by his team was like being let out of prison. He told me of the confidence it gave him, that he believed how that instant in time fueled his successes in sports and in life from that moment on. We talked about the championship basketball team he was the point guard on and shared stories of the players we knew (oh, how age can dust the memory banks). He told me of one of the school letters he achieved by being the running back on the football team and of the successes in his career; the quiet confidence in his demeanor underlining the self- esteem people have when they are satisfied with the direction in their life, and their accomplishments in life. Rob told me how he felt that particular moment in time, when he was but a boy, was the single driving force in what changed his life, his demeanor, his outlook. Once he finally felt accepted, a part of his team, it gave him the confidence that he could accomplish anything. Rob paused in his story, looked me in the eye then said “The kid who bought me that Coke was you. I will never forget that moment.” I was floored. I leaned back in my chair as the memories came rushing back, on how that scrawny little kid named Robbie Herzog tried and tried and finally found limited success at the end of that season, and how good I felt for him after watching him struggle so much…I regretted not connecting that high school sports star as the little kid on my baseball team years earlier. I am not writing this piece to pat myself on the back but instead to tell of how one good act can come full circle: little did Rob know that by returning the gesture in turn, by telling me his story, his experience…now was doing for me what he claimed I did for him. As it happens with a lot of people I have accomplished some small successes but I also have a lifelong list of setbacks, failures and non-achievements. I have continued to endure living with the bad consequences of poor decision after poor decision and rightly so. But because I expect so much of myself I have set the bar higher than I probably should and this may be one of the reasons why I fail more than I succeed…and is the same reason why I dote on my failures more than on my successes. Even though I try to let my failures drive me to success I feel a stronger person would do a much better job of it. The dwelling on negative thoughts in anyone’s mind, including my own, is cancerous and can quickly snowball into an avalanche of depression and low self-esteem that could end up suffocating us mentally and sucking the desire from our hearts; until we realize there are a lot of little Robbie Herzogs out there, people whom we’ve helped without realizing our effect on them…what a wonderful mental anti-biotic that helps isolate my own “cancer”. How little do we realize that the “small” things in life are truly what matter, how they make the “big” differences? How else would Rob, a man in his mid-forties, still remember so clearly one hot summer evening over three decades ago? Or how I would remember a man named B.R. Spencer who would devote so much of his time to grade school kids through the Sunrise Optimist Club? Or when, finally in the 11th grade I would be taught math by Mrs. Schaeffer, the first math teacher I had who actually had the knack and the ability to teach the dang subject? I could go on and on. So thank you, Rob, for sharing about Robbie and inspiring me to continue to strive for my successes, however small they might be. Thank you for teaching me to share with others their effect on me; maybe I can be a part of isolating any mental “cancers” that might be draining their desires and goals, as you have with me. Thank you for reminding me to remember my successes more than my failures, and thank you for instilling in me the confidence to continue to reach for the stars, to continue to swing away, to squeeze that ball into my glove… I am looking forward to standing on first base again.   May you prosper in your family, your friends, and your finances.   Steve T. Carper Servant of the Food and Beverage Industry Anti-Socialist/ Pro-Capitalist TheVoiceNewsletter@carpscorner.com   Powered By Qumana