Want a Thriving Business? 2 Strategies that Promote Positive Management Outcomes

When you have been in business for a considerable amount of time and you have built your Hotel, Restaurant or gastro pub to a medium sized operation or operations, chances are you have several managers on your team.

I am confident within your team some managers deliver better results than others. Some managers you get on well with and some you don’t. We are all human after all.

So, what can you do to maintain the results your strong managers obtain whilst improving the other manager’s contributions. Remember no matter how good or bad the current situation is, it can always be improved.

Perceived Results versus Actual Results

Results like beauty are in the eye of the beholder. What I mean here from working with my clients and from my own experience of being a senior executive manager there can be a big difference between perceived results and actual results.

But how do you know which is which? For me, NOW, I find it always best to focus on the verifiable results. That is the results that are backed up with proof. In the past I suffered under the illusion if I liked someone who reported to me they would work hard and have great results. Also, if I did not like them they would skive off and the results would be poor and my opinion would be vindicated.

Look at the facts

Oh, how I suffered when the results came in. Other things that impacted me was when the people I liked did not perform, I was too soft on them and the ones I did not get on with were barley recognised for their achievements, if at all. Of course, in some cases the opposite was true. In hindsight, I had it back to front and lost some great people who reported to me. Thankfully I learned to park my opinion and look at the facts. Some of the best results I achieved were through strong team members that I did not particularly like but due to them doing a great job I could get beyond my personal differences.

How to Assess

When assessing the strength of your team focus on the facts. The first thing is always look to the achieved verifiable results. A few to consider.

• Sales are up or they are down.
• Gross profit is rising or falling.
• Net Profit is up or its down
• Staff retention is high or it is low.
• Customer reviews are great or poor or non-existent.
• Agreed actions get completed in a timely fashion or they seem to take forever.

There are many more things you could look at but these are the main areas of focus to determine the strength or weakness of your management team and in turn the predicable success (or decline) of your business.

So, what can we do to assess these things and take decisive action to move it in the right direction?

Performance Requirements 

There are many key requirements to create a great performing team here are the main ones

• Clarity on responsibilities. Everyone’s role is defined and their main responsibilities are clearly outlined. This would usually be in place at the time of hiring. Click 10 keys to attract, keep and develop your people for more on this
• Clear objectives in line with overall vision. There are targets set, based on the role and responsibilities of each manager.
• Focus on key result driven activities. There is priority given to the most important urgent items and less urgent items are dealt with fast or removed or delegated. We don’t want our managers working on low value activities.
• Accountability – Follow up and follow through. There is a review of results and there is a checking policy to ensure we are on track and important activities are completed on time.
• Dealing with the inevitable. The law of unintended consequences. No matter what we plan and put into place when we act things happen that we could not foresee, but we deal with them.

Assuming your managers have been with you for a considerable amount of time and they fully understand their role, responsibilities and have shown the ability to do the job. What needs to happen to ensure they are firing on all cylinders and any issues that arise are resolved.

There are two areas of focus when constructed and delivered yield improved performance, personal and organisational growth and improved key results. What are these magic solutions. Simply they are the management meeting and subsequent one to one meetings. I will separate these two tools as both on their own can have a massive positive impact.

#1 The Management Meeting

The management meeting itself deserves serious consideration. Badly constructed meetings can end up demotivating the management. Reduce productively, be perceived as a completed waste of time a box ticking exercise so to speak. I won’t bore you with the statistics around the damage caused by poorly constructed meetings but suffice to say it isn’t good.

So, let’s look at properly constructed management meetings. The purpose of a management meeting is, in a nutshell is to make decisions get work completed and course correct when new information comes to light. Keep in mind , time is valuable when your managers are attending meetings they are not doing other things. Make it impactful to your business.

9 Keys to Great Management Meetings

Key 1 – Relevance.

The first key is ensuring they are relevant – A meeting needs to have a specific purpose. Be clear in advance what you want to achieve as a result of conducting a meeting. Is it to keep your people in the loop for impending changes? Do you need to have input from them? Is decisive action required? Is a specific discussion needed on an area? The clearer the better. Where meetings are conducted with no clear objective they usually end up with little agreed, less acted upon meaning frustration is the order of the day. For managers and owners alike there is nothing worse than feeling you have wasted your time or your time is being wasted.

Key 2 – The right attendees.

Have only the relevant people – Many meetings are held with too many voices being heard around topics that are not relevant to them. Think on who needs to be present and why? People like to be involved in areas they have responsibility over and can input into. They really hate it where they have no input to make.

Key 3 – Advance preparation.

Let them know in advance what information is required so decisions can be made and that the required homework is ready.  This alone can be a great way to enhance activity no-one likes to be called on and seen to have not done their work. To many meetings end without decisions as important information is not present.

Key 4 – Time is money.

Start and stop on time – The most productive meetings are usually short, after an hour people start to lose focus and switch off and if you are chairing you are probably talking to yourself as your team are somewhere else in their mind.

The agenda needs to be clear, prioritised and have time dedicated for each point in order of importance. Far too many meetings have the most important topic last when people are starting to tire from all the discussion points before. Avoid having an any other business section this can make impactful meetings run way over where most of the topics are of little value. Instead use important issues arising.

Key 5 – Control it, keep on task.

Park the bus – land the plane. Far too often, dominant personalities can take you off course with items all be them important have no relevance to the topic at hand. Call them on it, in a positive way. If are in fact vital, add it to the important issues arising portion at the end (will explain the important arising issues a more later) Far too often when we go off topic what we were holding the meeting for is lost meaning it is unproductive.

Key 6 – Remove distractions.

Ban mobile devices – even when people deem them to be necessary the urge to switch off and go to their social media is too strong, avoid it. It is a major irritant when someone is speaking during a meeting and notices someone else looking at their phone. Some respect please people pay attention.

Key 7 – Everyone should speak? 

Avoid going around the room- This is where some managers what to justify their existence and others want the ground to open and swallow them and the rest stay quiet for fear they will get something extra to do.  Instead review the actions that were relevant to the meeting (chances are you conduct meetings regularly and the results review is vital) be it confirming they are completed or on target or not done at all. When it is obvious that some on the team have not done their work, avoid the temptation to let fly, instead suggest a chat after the meeting.  This will show your team that there is accountability. What I mean here the people who have done their work will be content knowing their contribution is valued along with a sense of fairness that the people who have not done the work won’t get off scot-free. Its always better to praise in public and discipline in private.

Seek agreement from the relevant managers on relevant actions. Once agreement is there agree the follow up plan. I.e. deadlines progress report and the like.

Key 8 – Important issues arising.

In most meetings, additional items will come to light, new information or challenges will be voiced that were not part of the original agenda. If you have stayed on task and have parked the bus a brief discussion around these topics can be permitted once you are still within the allotted time frame. Something’s will be vital some will not so this is not a hard and fast rule use your judgement to discuss further but only keep the relevant people pertaining to the point or allocate a follow up conversation that works for the relevant people should a new major decision be required.

Key 9 – Follow up

Send the agreed actions – commonly known as minutes be careful not to have a transcription of the meeting said, e.g. Johnny said … Mary said… etc. Keep it brief and to the point. Mary to … (complete) Johnny to … (complete) with the agreed deadline. This of forms part of the agenda for the next meeting where you will be checking in on the activities and results achieved.

Where you conduct weekly, monthly etc. meetings follow the same rules work off the framework just outlined. Vagueness is not your friend.

Follow up is key to the success of any meeting – this can be achieved in many ways. Email follow up of the meeting. Progress follow up can be as simple as quick chat.

#2 The One to one

Depending on your team and the relationship you have with them or want to have, properly designed one to one meetings will go a great deal of the way to foster beneficial relationships.

A few assumptions, if you want to grow your team and ensure they are with you for the long road one to one meetings are vitally important to the development of a mutually beneficial working relationship.

Consider current relationship

Before we go running off to conduct one to one meetings we need to first consider the relationship we have with our managers.

• Is it positive or negative? From either party point of view.
• Business enhancing or restricting.
• Do they tell you what you want to hear or do they tell you truth?
• Is the truth taken on board or is shoot the messenger the norm?
• Do they engage with you or avoid you and vice a versa?

Purpose of one to one

First what should a one to one achieve. The objective of one to one meetings is 3 fold. To build mutually beneficial relationships, to refocus on key activities/results and to support the transition.

In the modern world, we are communicating faster (well at least we think we are), with more and more email, text and mobile phone calls. However there is little  that adds more value to your business and your team than properly constructed one to one meetings. One to one meetings are one of the most vital performance productivity and effectiveness tools at your disposal as an Owner/operator or senior manager.

The Importance of one to one meetings

Just to add further weight to why you would bother at all to do one to one meetings. One to one meetings are one of the best options available for business leaders to:

• Ensure their people are focused and in line with the big picture.
• Help their people understand how they are doing.
• Provide time and space to address issues (there are always issues ignoring them does not mean they go away – it usually means good people go away).
• Engage and motivate managers.
• Enhance the interpersonal relationships.

From the point of view of your managers it:

• It helps them see the impact of their contributions. Where positive it gives them recognition, where negative it gives them awareness. We can’t fix what we don’t know.
• They know how they are doing.
• It Helps them to realign when they are off track.
• Gives them an opportunity to share the issues that are affecting them (and by default their work).
• Opens them to share their goals to further develop to enhance their skills and prospects.

*Note. I am not saying here you need to be a councilor as you can’t, but when you show empathy to a manager’s situation the fact that they could share it usually reduces stress and aids them to perform again. Sometimes the issues your mangers have are work related sometimes they are not. However, do not underestimate a little time given to issues your managers are facing. Often a listening ear and the occasional advice can really help the manager feel better and from this they perform to a much higher level. In short It enhances your relationship and your position as their leader.

7 Steps to Effective One to one meetings

Some of you may already be conducting one to ones in one way shape or form, however, use the 7 steps to effective one to one meetings to see if you are getting as much from your one to ones as possible.

Step 1 –  Consider the impact.

When setting them up in the first place there will need to be the removal of fear on the part of the manager. Usually a meeting with the boss is rarely positive (assuming this is new to you) and can be a one-way conversation where the owner operator/General manager informs the people of their poor behavior and or poor results. I am not saying this is not needed but should not from the basis for good one to ones. It can be included but should not be the whole thing.

Step 2 –  Introduce it.

We now need to do is to introduce the idea to the managers. Outlining the benefits to them to want to do this. Here is a sample approach you could take. “I am planning to conduct one to one meetings with the management team. These will be 30-60 minute conversations to get more feedback from you . We can talk about anything. What is bothering you, your challenges? Your progress ? Or whatever else you find important . This will happen every (you decide the frequency but they will be of no real benefit if they are infrequent or a once off) month (start with a month as it is more realistic you will be able to schedule the time per month for your key people weekly is probably unrealistic). With anything avoid just sending an email. Talk with your people gauge how respective they are to the idea.

Step 3 –  Try not to cancel.

Assuming you feel they are on board a few things to consider. Avoid skipping meetings if you can’t make a meeting for a genuine reason re-schedule it to the nearest time. Cancelled meetings send a message to your managers that you were not serious and that they don’t really matter . Not the best way to build your team.

Step 4- Be prepared.

Have an outline of some kind, Agendas are optional however a framework would be wise. Ask them in advance what they want to discuss , this gives you the chance to be prepared as well as possible. Things to consider for your framework.

• General engagement and motivation
• Team interaction
• Learning and development
• Their Prospects
• Current feelings towards their performance
• Sharing of actual perforce (based on verifiable facts)

Step 5 –  One to One.

In the meeting, itself – Connect with them first – Construct a solid relationship with your managers to encourage an environment of trust, honesty and mutual respect. The objective here is to encourage openness and remove the fear of a backlash. Set the tone right from the start.

Let the meeting flow in a two-way style. Ask questions give feedback get to the real issues that are affecting them and their work. Ask them what solutions they might have to overcome any challenges and issues. This will guide you to taking supportive actions. What I mean here is many owner managers are highly competent and experts in their fields however as a top officer you can never come up with all the solutions yourself. Learn to consult first before coming with a ready made solution. Ready made solutions usually only work for the person coming up with them that’s why it’s important to get your team to think of their own solutions and if they are actionable and you can see a positive impact let them act on them. This alone can empower your managers to take a more active role in the business.

Step 6 –  Recap.

Before concluding any one to one re-cap on what was discussed and agree some next steps. Avoid the urge to give them a massive work pile as this will lead them to not want to open again. Instead agree what you both feel is the best 1,2 or 3 next steps and commit to moving on them.

Step 7 – Follow up.

Afterwards check in with them in the workplace, it could be just a minute here and there – How are you getting on, do you need assistance with that etc.

When you do this, your opening communication channels you will now know most of the challenges and more importantly can do something about them.

 

Conclusion.

When we do not hold constructive meetings and/or one to one meetings our good managers feel they have no voice. That they don’t have a big contribution to make. That their efforts make no impact. In short they are not engaged.

When we do not spend the time with our key people they can and some do, look elsewhere. The market place is getting harder and harder to get good people. When you work with them you engage them. They are motivated to positivity contribute to the business.

In short this is a people business, the better you are structured with your people the better the results will be. When you structure management meetings and one to one meetings in a mutually beneficial way the overall results and culture of your business becomes exceptionally strong.

 

Learn More.

We are here to help. If you are someone the realises the importance of well structured management and one to one meetings and would love some assistance in getting them more structured or started we are here to help.

Book a complimentary structure kick start session with us. On this call we will take 15-20 minutes where you will leave with a plan around the structure needed for your unique situation.

Click here and book your time now.