HR Management Tips

If you’re planning to set up a UK company or open a UK office to expand your overseas operations, getting the best from your workforce will be crucial to your success.

In fact, there are usually just two reasons why your employees aren’t performing consistently at their best:

1. They can’t
2. They simply don’t want to

Your staff either lack that essential something that prevents them from performing with excellence, or they never achieve what they are capable of because they simply have no desire to do so.

It’s important that managers think about these causes as separate issues, requiring different approaches and strategies to remedy them.

Employees who don’t perform because they can’t

Sometimes, irrespective of how much you ask, demand, instruct or cajole your staff for a certain level of performance, you just don’t get it, because they simply are not able to give it to you. Some employees are masters of the ‘can’t’ syndrome as an excuse for laziness and lack of motivation.

Tackle this by asking them one question: “What makes it difficult for you to do your job in the way I’m asking you to, with excellence, consistently?”

There are four legitimate barriers that could be the problem: physical barriers, time barriers, wherewithal barriers, and know-how barriers.

It’s a simple task to identify these barriers. If your staff are given an opportunity to communicate their issues without fear of recrimination, it will be easy enough to compile a list of problems.

The easiest way to eliminate all these barriers to performance is to listen to your workers. Most people will offer a solution to their problems given the chance; you might often hear them say, “If I was in charge of this department, I’d …” Ask your staff for their ideas and give them the power to implement the solutions. If the solution doesn’t work, give them another chance and praise them publicly when success is achieved.

Employees who just don’t want to

Having removed all the barriers to excellence, you have effectively left nothing for the lazy to hide behind. Once the “can’ts” have been removed, what’s left are those who excel, and those who clearly need replacing.

It’s never easy to replace staff but it can be a necessary evil. Staff members who perform to a high level will not tolerate lazy co-workers who they have to carry and may eventually become resentful or even leave for fear of not being appreciated. Therefore, getting rid of slackers is a necessary part of managing excellence; in doing so you raise the bar for everyone and reward those who have been carrying the dead-wood.

The first step…

Set your employees up for success by removing barriers and listening to their challenges and you will find the mystery of HR management simply disappears. For more expert HR advice, contact Goodwille today.