Managing your shop should NOT be a reactive process. Not only should you get out in front of problems, you should be taking steps to keep problems from occurring. [level-members]
One area where this is particularly important is with employees. “Good help is hard to find” is hardly an empty saying, even when jobs are scarce.
In fact, a tough economy can make hiring harder because more people are badly in need of work and willing to apply for jobs that aren’t really a fit for their skills or interests.
You can weed many of those problems out with solid interviewing practices, but once you’ve hired you need to do all you can to help your employees succeed.
Provide clear guidelines and set expectations for how much knowledge they should possess, how quickly they should come up to speed in areas they aren’t knowledgable, what they should wear, how they should greet customer and answer the phone, and so on.
Don’t make the mistake of micro-managing, though. Set the guidelines above and then step back. give your employees the room to make the process their own. As long as they stay within the basic boundaries you’ve set, they’ll be happier, more loyal and more productive. (Autonomy is a key indicator of job satisfaction.)
Your customers will notice this change immediately.
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