Sometimes, simple answers provide clues to areas of improvement.
How often have you asked employees or colleagues why they performed a function in a specific way only to be told that they had always done it that way? In other words, they were performing tasks in a certain way then because they had always done so.
Notwithstanding the circular logic in such answers, these replies are symptomatic of deeper business issues, which might be holding back your company’s performance.
Consider just some of the possible causes for such a reply:
- The company’s on-boarding team was deficient. An employee completing his/her work without understanding it functions as a limited task worker rather than as a knowledgeable team member.
- The training was deficient. The employee training didn’t cover how their work fits in the bigger company picture. Employees are unlikely to perform at their best if they don’t know why they are performing specific functions and how those functions fit in the overall process or require the steps that they do.
- The employee’s manager was deficient. The manager didn’t review the training with the employee. The manager was not aware of the weakness and had not corrected it.
- The company’s leadership was deficient. The company culture did not foster the transparency or the cross-training that would have exposed and addressed the issue, or that culture was not effectively communicated.
As a manager, you can quickly remedy these challenges once you identify them, with more training, better communication, and more follow-up. Your team will appreciate it and your company’s performance will improve.