Staff Performance: 3 Vital “Sleeper” Issues The Gurus Ignore

Summary

Why is staff performance suddenly declining? Do they feel under pressure, are they overworked, or simply don’t think through things? Perhaps your staff isn’t as competent as you thought. You might not be aware of a serious “sleeper issue”.

Gurus Speak

According to the gurus, employees must be dedicated, conscientious, and committed. These gurus also give tips on how to instill these qualities in employees. There are three issues that are rarely discussed.

The 3 Vital Sleeper Issues

These issues can be best expressed using three questions.

Are your employees aware that team building is more important than individual success?
Are employees able to “put themselves in the shoes of the customer”?
Are employees concerned about “what’s best for the success of the company”?

Cornerstone Issues

These are the cornerstone issues. Success for an individual is excellent. However, team success is crucial to business success. It’s OK to “look out for customers” and provide excellent customer service. It’s not enough. It is essential to understand the customer’s thinking. If employees don’t understand the customer, it will be difficult to achieve overall business success.

The Individual Development Conundrum

You can think of any book on manager development published within the past 20 years. They almost all focus on individual development. They don’t mention team development unless they are referring to behaviors and not performance. People are encouraged to improve their interpersonal skills in order to “relate well” with others and “get along well”. It is not often mentioned how important it is to have clear roles and goals for the team.

Both the Customer and The Employee

It is not about providing the best product, service, or after-sales service. It is essential that they satisfy customer needs according to their perception. Customer expectations must be met when you offer a product or service. The benefits and features of your product or service are just the beginning. It is crucial to anticipate customer needs and think like a customer.

Business Success: The Ultimate Goal

“What’s best in the business?” This is a crucial question that employees need to be able to answer. How often do you hear this question stressed by gurus?

Who sets the tone?

The manager does it. If you make the issues necessary for employees, they will be important.

It is essential to ensure

Employees should be able to clearly understand their role in achieving business goals.
No matter how talented an employee is, the priority is their success as a team member.
Satisfying customer expectations and anticipating their needs is key to acquiring and maintaining customers. That’s the essence of customer service. Customer service is more than merely earning testimonials and guru acclaim.

Expanding Competence

You will know that I have written before about competence not only requiring knowledge and skill. These “sleeper” issues further expand the concept of competence. These issues are essential in job selection, promotion, job rotation, and employee development activities.

Conclusion

Gurus try their best. Sometimes, the focus on individual success can distract from the fact that business success is a team effort. Social managers will always be the best manager.

Leon Noone assists managers in small-medium businesses to increase on-the-job performance without having to take training courses. His ideas are very unconventional. Leon challenges the conventional wisdom of people management and management training. He is also effective in job performance in small-medium businesses.