Is this you?
Are you ending your days like this? Feeling like you didn't get enough accomplished? Going home late again? Don't have enough time in a day to get your business tasks accomplished? Missing precious time with your family or personal interests?
Well, I know exactly how you feel! I've been in Management/Supervisory roles for 20+ years and I've had to learn the same hard lessons I'm about to share with you. But, let's get this out of the way right now, there is no "quick fix" to feeling this way. It probably took years of growth or career advancement to get you to this spot where you feel overwhelmed. And, it's not going to go away overnight either! However, there are a few steps towards clearing the load, allowing you to have a more productive business life and satisfying personal life. Here are three subjects that will need addressing in order to help you along your way:
The Game Plan -
Sometimes you have to stop, evaluate and plan for what you want to come in your day, week, month, year, etc. in order to accomplish anything. So many Managers handle their daily tasks by playing the proverbial "Fireman or Firewoman" instead of attacking their business with an actual "plan." Some crisis or issue comes your way... and you make a quick decision to "put out a fire" and move on. Unfortunately, that is only a "temporary" fix... and not a viable business strategy. A Reactive Management style never prospers in any business, especially one that hopes for any longevity. Being proactive and planning out your goals, both long and short term, is the way to go!
Often, this means calling a "Timeout" from your daily business, which is a struggle for many Managers & Business Owners. But, struggle or not, if you're the guy in the picture above, it needs to be done! If you think that's tough, buckle-up because here's the best part, it needs to be done often! Taking the time to set Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Annual goals are essentials to a successfully run business. Write it down! Draw yourself a Road Map of where you are and where you want to be in certain time frames. Map out the steps it will take to get there. Then, make sure to keep it handy so you can check it from time to time.
Set calendar reminders on your cell phone, email, etc. so you stay on track. Evaluate where you are at each reminder and if you haven't accomplished the goal set for that time, plan how to do it and set a new reminder. Failure in accomplishing a goal or two is acceptable, but only if you learn from it and make a new plan on how to get there. You will need to really commit yourself and set-aside the proper amount of time each day to accomplish your goals. This will take dedication and discipline! Once a day, budget the time it takes for you to make a Daily Plan and set-aside that time each day so you can plan the next day. Once a week, set-aside the time it takes to plan your next week's tasks & goals. And so on, and so on!
Letting Go -
For me, this was one of my most difficult lessons as a Manager/Supervisor! I have heard from and observed many more Managers than I can count, taking-on WAY more than they should on a daily basis! And what is the biggest reason they give, and I gave, for doing this? "I want it done right, so I do it myself!" I can't begin to tell you how many times I have heard that over the years! As admitted, I said it a few times myself before I learned the importance of employee development and delegation. Well... Stop the madness now! Here are two areas to focus on:
1. One of the most important abilities required of a Manager/Supervisor is the ability to make decisions. Unfortunately, most Managers, Supervisors and Business Owners don't realize the most important decision you will probably ever make in business... It's the one where you decide to let someone else decide! This is HUGE! The biggest problem we face when "deciding to let someone else decide" is that we need to have the right People, Processes, and Policies in place in order for those people to stay within the navigational beacons of what we would want them to do. This requires some time investment on your part because you have to build and implement the Processes, Policies, and Training that will be required for success.
Just as, if not more important, you have to employ the right People to receive that training! Not having personnel with the correct Skill-Sets, Intellect and/or Personalities for their positions will ALWAYS result in a failure here! Also, another great way to fail is to build those Processes or Policies around the People instead of acquiring and training the People who can follow the Processes and/or Policies that best suit your business needs! Many Managers/Supervisors make this mistake because instead of "Hiring Right" they try to fill positions like they would fill potholes! This simply won't work! You have to be proactive in your hiring practices and give yourself time to train these new employees. That is a step towards success!
2. Once your decision-making burden has been eased a bit, you have to get rid of the tasks that don't require your skill-set. This is another time-saving strategy that will allow you to focus on "your" level of tasks. Make sure that you have clearly defined Job Roles for your employees. Make sure that you have set clear, written expectations of what their performance should be on a daily basis (Example: All Calls must be answered within 3 Rings). Constantly having to answer the phone because your Appointment Setter is texting on their phone, personal emailing, flipping through Social Media, taking extended lunch times and/or jabbering on with another employee about things that aren't business related... get ready... is nobody else's fault except your own! If you haven't prepared your employees through documented Job Descriptions, Training Materials, Performance Expectations and regular reinforcement of those things in the form of Written Reviews, you will never realize your true potential as a Supervisor and as a Business!
Once again, before you can accomplish any of that, you have to have the right foundation. And again that means, having the right people who can handle the tasks you require of them! Replacing an existing employee and/or hiring an additional employee can seem like a very costly process. But, you have to ask yourself, "What am I coating my business by doing their tasks and having to screen candidates at the same time?" You should quantify this! Take a moment to write-out what tasks you "could" be doing to generate revenue for your business instead of working on these things! You should add some general calculations to figure out what you may be losing each Day, Week, Month or Year. I bet you'll surprise yourself!
Once again, before you can accomplish any of that, you have to have the right foundation. And again that means, having the right people who can handle the tasks you require of them! Replacing an existing employee and/or hiring an additional employee can seem like a very costly process. But, you have to ask yourself, "What am I coating my business by doing their tasks and having to screen candidates at the same time?" You should quantify this! Take a moment to write-out what tasks you "could" be doing to generate revenue for your business instead of working on these things! You should add some general calculations to figure out what you may be losing each Day, Week, Month or Year. I bet you'll surprise yourself!
Hire Right -
Many Managers, Supervisors, Business Owners and even HR Executives are not very adept at all aspects of the Recruiting, Screening, Interviewing and Hiring process. Many of them are good at one aspect, but horrible at 3-4 others. For example, let's take an HR Manager who is great at keeping Payroll, Vacation Logs, Performance Reviews, Etc... but is absolutely horrible at Interviewing. Automatically Business Owners & Hiring Managers expect this "HR" person to properly Advertise Positions, weed through a pile of Resumes and conduct the initial Screening of Candidates, most of th time including a 1st Interview. This is actually a very common situation in today's professional environment because businesses think that that just because someone works in "HR", they are automatically good at this. Unfortunately, that's just not reality!
You have to ask yourself, is this the person you want conducting your Initial Candidate Interviews? Maybe he/she is great at maintaining employees once they are with the company, but are they right choice in helping a new employee get in the door? Do they know what questions to ask in Interviews? Do they know what screenings & testing to perform? Do they know you as a business owner and what's important to you when screening a potential employee? Do they agree with your decision to bring on another employee? Maybe you're replacing someone and they don't agree? Wil they put the effort in that you expect when they are silently protesting the replacement of a fellow employee?
I know this is a lot to think about! I've been there! And this is when I started considering having an Outside Recruiter work on certain positions for me. And, maybe like yourself, I found that even though many of them have great processes, they are REALLY expensive! I mean, 20%, 25%, even 30%+ of a new employee's First Year Salary offer? Meaning that for a $40k Employee, I'm paying $8,000 plus? Wow! And here's the next kick, does the Recruiter really work 100% in your best interest? Let's ask, did that candidate really demand $60k or was it $50k? If I'm a Recruiter working on a Percentage, why not try to get the highest Salary possible? After all, it's their business income potential we are talking about and they will more than likely work both sides in an effort to make more money! That's just real world!
Ultimately, how you decide to seek out, test, screen and hire an employee is your choice to make. But, as a Manager who is already pressed for time and needs to focus attention on his/her business making money, isn't hiring someone who is a professional a decent idea? If you think so, read on!
So, here's the pitch...
HBR (Humans Being Resources) is different! We do all of the things the overpriced Recruiting Agencies do, with one exception... We don't charge ridiculous Percentage-Based Fees for Professional Level Positions! Instead, we have three optional Hiring Packages that are all based on Flat-Fees! And... they are all very affordable! We have our processes down to such an amazing efficiency level that it allows us to offer our services at much lower costs than traditional Recruiters. As a matter of fact, it's typically almost a 50% cost reduction from what most Recruiters quote! Best of all, it's all extremely hands-off for our clients and only requires 3 main interactions with us:
1) Initial Client Interview 2) Feedback on candidates sent to you 3) Your final hiring decision.
We make it easy! We make it affordable!
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