You have to have faith, you have to be encouraging. While reamaining as the figure head of the group you have to let your employees know that they are here to work with you not for you. (There is a huge difference there)

It is when an employee starts to feel that they are robots in a grand plan, when they start to become disconnected from the sense of team that they become disenchanted and unmotivated. Sure they are going to show up everyday and do the work that is asked of them, that’s it. Shortly a feeling will start to creep in, a feeling that they could do it better. That someone else would be more likely to listen and allow them to have more control over the project. That is when you will begin to notice that you have an employee who is on his/her way out. That’s when you start to loose your most valuable assets.

In my experience it makes a lot more sense to play the coach than it does to play the traditional manager. You are there to facilitate the forward motion, develop the common goal and facilitate the improvement.

Happy employees who feel useful want to keep up the good work and constantly improve the work. They are motivated to come to work everyday. They feel a part of something.

Motivated employees are productive employees who in turn make you the boss a better looking guy in the grand scheme of things.

It makes a lot more sense when people want to work for you not have to work for you.

Think about it.

Chunk it

Think about it. I let my financial transactions pile up for two weeks. Let’s say that on average I have two a day, after two weeks that is approximately twenty transactions give or take depending on if you count weekends. Twenty transactions all pile up and ready to be entered. You sit down to enter them and find yourself wasting time in two ways. One, if you are like me and account really isn’t your idea of a good time, you will probably find yourself procrastinating a bit at this point. At this point you will probably drift over to see what your friends are up to on twitter and before you no it you have put of the task for another hour. Second thing, with a pile like this staring in the face there is a good chance that a few things have gotten buried. Now you find yourself having to sift through pile, causing each transaction entry to take a bit longer than usual. It’s a no win situation. You have let an ant build a colony when you could have just handled the ant.

How do you tackle the beast before it multiplies. Simple, set aside a good 10 to 15 minutes at the end of each day for simple data entry. Break the process into smaller more manageable and less daunting chunks of time. You will probably ending up saving yourself an hour minimum over the course of two weeks. (Guess more like 2 to 3 hours)

Automate

Think about how you can cut down the time it takes to do regular tasks and then find a way to automate all or parts of them. This can go for the simplest of tasks, for me deciding to save a tiny code snippet that I use on a regular basis just might do the trick. If you start to add up all of these little tasks that are not automated, you will start to see a drastic improvement in production. Don’t cut corners, make it your own, but automate.

Reduce Waste

I can’t even begin to estimate how much waste I might have have on a typical day. Switching back and forth between browser windows, trailing off on a link totally unrelated to the search at hand, social networking. I know find myself doing simple things like opening a simple text file and pasting links to it for later reading. Keeps me focused on the task at hand, but lets me know that there is something of interest here that I should revisit later.

Social networking on the other hand is a touchy subject. It is in fact an integral part of my marketing plan and business model, but there is a point at which it becomes to much of a distraction. There has to be a way to cut down some of the waste involved in this arena. Find what works for you and begin reducing, turn your social networking time into smaller yet more meaningful bits. But beware, one thing I advise against is automating this process. It removes the personal touch that social networking is and people start to recognize this after awhile. It’s your avatar, but someone else is doing tweeting for you? Lame. That kind of trickery is reserved for myspace, where the most important thing in the world is the size of your friends list. Reduce but make it meaningful, that’s the key. Here’s a great ten part series on Social Media, I recommend you read it.

There is nothing wrong with finding little shortcuts in your daily workflow as long as the quality of the final product does not suffer. If you find a way to do something smarter, then buck the worn out habit and bring the new. Streamline your operation, and after you find yourself doing so for three weeks straight, go ahead and give yourself 4 hours of on that third Friday. It’s a reward for the new, more productive you!

My weakness happens to be sales. I have done my share and have been able to establish some decent accounts but after two years of business I often question how this has gone on as long as it has. Bottom line is I need to realize greater sales. I need someone who can get out there and pound the pavement, undaunted by the prospect of being shot down. My time is far better spent designing new product, finding new suppliers, keeping an eye on trends and creating new ideas. That is what I am good at, that is what I enjoy. Ok so you have reached the point were you are willing to admit a weakness and you even realize that there are plenty of people out there that could solve your problem pretty easily. Now for the hard part, how do you create a compensation package that is both desirable to the prospective employee or contractor and affordable for your business. I have started exploring several options and continue to find the following to be the best possible route for my current situation.

Sharing the wealth. Because I do not have a readily available source of disposable funds I am considering the creation of a profit sharing type situation above and beyond the normal commissions. By proposing the potential sharing of end of the year profits I hope to be able to recruit a more experienced and serious minded individual. I realize that the promise of a share in the eventual profits can be a bit flimsy at best, however I look at it like this. Sales is itself an entreprenuerial venture in the sense that, regardless of the product or company you are out there selling, you are in a large sense in charge of your own destiny. If you have a product that has the ability to be sold then you make the decision concerning how much or how little time you are willing to put into closing the sale. Your eventual income is in your hands.

Outsourcing can be a intimidating prospect for some entrepreneurs in the early phases of a start-up due to money constraints as well as the propensity many of us have towards believing that it won’t be done right unless we do it ourselves. Deciding that it is time to look at the possibility of outsourcing some of your work is a step in the right direction for most business as they begin to grow and there are a number of options to consider when developing a compensation package that will make it worth while for both parties involved. Research your particular situation carefully, do a thorough check of the interested candidate and believe your gut feeling. In the end it is very important to find someone that is trustworthy and is willing to share in your vision for the company. With a bit of work you should have no problem taking on outside help.

As a manager you start each week or day with a list of tasks that need to be completed, have you made your staff aware of what lies ahead. Try starting each day by holding a meeting with your employees. Use this time to set a list of goals for the current day and the week ahead. Brief them on your vision for the end result but allow them the freedom to develop their own strategy for achieving that result. Encourage creativity and out of the box thinking when it comes to accomplishing the tasks. Clearly explain what the deadlines are and how the completion of one task may be related to the next. Develop reporting procedures so that you as a manager are informed of progress on a regular basis.

How this might work for your “team”. If you manage a relatively small group of people you may want to include all of them in your morning brief, however if your group is quite a bit larger and you have appointed supervisory roles beneath you then utilize them. Brief your supervisors who will in turn brief their teams. It seems like your morning might be taking up by quite a few meetings but once the process has been streamlined you will find that employees being fully aware of what is expected will become much more productive in their work day.

On a side note, it is very important that you understand the personalities and chemistry of your team.  Choose a team leader that encourages full participation and understands that it is not their job to tell people what to do but to create an environment in which  everyone is working together to achieve a common goal. A team leader needs to have the respect of their team. Be aware of troublesome personality conflicts. To many chiefs can be detrimental to this style of management. Understand your employees strong suits and try to group them so that the end result is a well rounded community.

Ok so your objectives have been expressed and it is now time to allow your team and supervisors to do their job. In order for this to work it is important you learn to keep a balance between micro-managing and totally unaware. Do not be afraid to stay involved, check in let them know that you are active in the process of management but that the days of consistently peering over their shoulders are in the past.

When to step in. There are several situations in which it becomes necessary to step in and take the reigns.

• When a team is just not meshing. Team A seems to be unable to agree on anything and has come to a standstill on a particular project. This may be handled by simply gathering the team and discussing how you envision them working together and what is expected or you may need to restructure your teams entirely. It is best handled on a case by case basis.
• Projects are not being completed on time. The goals are not being met in a timely manner. This can happen for a variety of reasons. Team chemistry and conflict. Perhaps you need to reevaluate your choice of team leader. Worst case, perhaps you need to re-evaluate your staff.

Near the end of each work day allow a few minutes to once again meet with your team or your supervisors and evaluate progress. go over what goals have been met and what goals have fallen behind. Keeping a firm handle on progress allows you as a manger to develop the following days strategy.

Rewarding your employees. Showing your employees that you appreciate what they are doing can do amazing things for overall moral. Bottom line is people like to feel like their hard work is being notice; that their work actually matters. I am talking about simple non-monetary rewards like allowing them some extra time for lunch to relax and revive. Letting them get out of the office a bit early and enjoy the beautiful day they have been starring at through the glass for the last seven hours. TELL them they are doing a good job and actually mean it. Hey take it a step further and take them out to lunch on you. Point is, if your employees are ahead of schedule, things are getting done and they are working towards a common goal show them that you appreciate it.

Gain their respect. All of the above will help you to start gaining the respect of your employees. Once they start respecting you for the right reasons, they will start to work harder for you.

The end result. You will start to realize a more organized, productive and satisfied work force. Don’t be surprised in people in the neighboring department start asking to be transferred.