Last month I wrote about your year in review. How did you do? Were you happy with your progress? Did your faculty and staff meet your expectations? I often receive emails from members wanting to know more about the process that we use to review and evaluate our team.
Here is what we do:
The first thing that we look at is how did we do, as business owners and leaders of our team? Did we communicate effectively with our team and customers? Was this a smooth year or one of transition or drama? If you are in business long enough you will eventually have issues that pop up. It is not all your fault as a matter of fact it is probably not your fault at all! The key here is that if something is broken and your way is not working, no matter how great you think it may be, you need to be willing to change it to make it right. If you are willing to look at ways that will help you to do things better starting with yourself then you will see progress in all areas of your business growth. How can we as the leaders expect our team to change and adapt if we are not willing to do so as well? Let me tell you that after 24 years in business we still always find ways to do things better. You may not need a big adjustment but just some fine tuning. Whatever it is that needs to take place remember, it all starts with YOU! Think about this, if you found out that you were not communicating effectively with your staff and you worked to become more effective at this, do you think it would lead to more productivity and harmony in your business? Hey, sign me up for anything that will promote more of that!
Staff and faculty evaluation:
Just because you have someone who has been working with you for 10 years does not mean they can’t do it better. If you find, and this can happen very quickly, that someone who was once an asset to your business is now becoming more of a distraction and detriment, than action needs to be taken…sooner rather than later! Look, for whatever reason, people change. Maybe they are dealing with problems in their lives; maybe they have suffered a loss or are dealing with something that is overly occupying their minds. Whatever the case, if this person is not helping your business, then they are probably hurting it. Let that sink in for a minute. Sometimes business owners are reluctant to make a change because they don’t want to up scuttle things. Well I am here to tell you to make your move. Inaction is the worst thing you can do. If you are someone who doesn’t like to have change then you had better get out of the dance studio business. Change and how you respond to it will be the life line of the success of your business. If in your evaluations you find that someone is not working out then you have two choices to make. Can you communicate with this individual that they need to change? If not then you need to make a decision to cut ties and move on. I am not a big fan of reducing someone’s hours to slowly faze them out. If they were ineffective with 10 hours why would you think they would be better with only 5? For the ones you just love, find out more about what makes them tick. What makes them happy? Then try to find way to give them lots more of it.
I recommend that you have a sit down with everyone and review their overall work. Here is what we discuss:
What went well?
What needs to improve?
How can you help make their job easier?
What is their passion and how can you help them achieve their goals?
Are they willing to accept your directions?
Are they an asset to your team and business?
If you decide that this team member is not in line with your goals and vision. They need to be willing to get their act together or you need to move in another direction. I know that change can be uncomfortable, but remember that if you don’t fix a problem than you are part of the problem.
