Today I want to write specifically regarding Employee/Employer relations.
I host a Business Boot Camp on occasion. It consists of three loaded up days of reviewing business procedures and discussing pros and cons, right or not-so-right, on a variety of topics. I stand in front of the group. I do some teaching. My main objective, however, is to provoke thought. I prefer not to stand as an authority on what works best. Who am I, when in a group of inspired people, to suggest I have a new “rounder” wheel than the round one they’re already using?
When we get to the topic of employees, my favourite question is whether the group considers employees an asset, or a liability. This question always gets the discussion momentum going. FAST!
Largely, I hear that they have the good, the bad and the ugly working for them. It’s fun to work with the good. For a second or two, consider a farmer with a real good tractor. A joy to operate, with a few non-functioning work lights, intended for use after dark. Then he’s got a corn planter that has a seed tube or two that does not allow the seed to flow into the open ground. The corn planter has become a liability. The missing rows of corn will greatly affect harvest yield; not to mention an unsightly field.
In his preparation for planting, will the farmer concentrate on the planter difficulty, or the lights on the tractor? This however is frequently an example of how employers deal with employees. Too often we are afraid to address the issue of the “faulty planter” employee. If there is already resistance, the employer fears worsening the already “frayed” relationship. So, the course of least resistance is to postpone dealing with it.
It’s fine to be good at your trade. If you’re working with employees, you will need to sharpen your skills to deal with the liabilities. Not very many of us would drive to the job with a service truck that has a low tire. No one would drive on a flat tire.
Almost without fail, the remedy starts with an attitude adjustment of the one in charge.
I remember an incident from my past, where a father we knew had numerous sons. He lamented that of the three of them, the younger and the older were talented, but that the middle of the three was just plain clumsy; not meticulous; not too gifted. The middle son got an apprentice position with a builder who was renowned for meticulous work. We all watched. In short order this not-so-gifted brother was doing finish carpentry. No talk was heard that he was incapable, or all thumbs.
A few blogs ago I published the poem on the old violin. Maybe your liability can change into an asset. Just needs a bit of tuning.
