“We don’t invest in our workers because they frequently leave and our money would be wasted.”

Someone recently said this to me at a dinner, and I was blown away at what it said about the organisation and the quality of its managers.  But then again, perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised.

I’ve trained many up and coming managers in the Diploma in Leadership and Management, and found that after 1 day a month for 8 months, they were already much better managers than those who appointed them.

Why is management quality so low?

Think about it.  What qualifications do managers need to be appointed?  Unlike electricians, plumbers, accountants, lawyers and the like, managers don’t have to study to become managers, they don’t have to serve apprenticeships, and they don’t have to pass exams either.  They are just appointed for reasons like – their boss likes them; they seem smart; the people like them; they have good product or process knowledge, and similar.

They are never given the instruction and tools  in all the different areas of management that they need to perform their duties well.  They haven’t learned risk management, planning, best practice leadership, proper hiring procedures and considerations, project management or any of the myriad other skills they will need in the course of their work.  And the result is pressure on them, bottlenecks and pressures in their departments, missed targets, compromised quality and shipments; departments rife with strife, good people leaving, the list of costs go on and on.

When the workers get fed up of the work environment, as they no doubt will, they become destructive at work, they spend working hours doing personal tasks, including looking for other jobs, and their level of customer service nose dives.  Then they leave, and take with them knowledge of processes and customers, and the relationships they might have built with customers are gone with them.

In a competitive environment, if you are experiencing high labour costs, poor customer service and loss of custom, your business is doomed.  It is only a matter of time.

How does one turn around a situation like this?

Firstly, the quality of management needs to improve.  Managers should go through a Diploma in Leadership and Management course to become effective.  Their improvements will be multiplied by the number of people reporting to them.

Leadership means becoming someone others want to follow.  It means making correct decisions, based on understanding fact before commenting or acting.  It means being fair, but firm; taking appropriate action to fix or weed out inappropriate behaviour in their staff; communicating well and supporting staff so they will be able to do their jobs properly; taking an interest in each staff member so they know their motivations and situations, what has driven them and what will drive them.  It means giving each staff member the opportunity to learn and grow in their position, and to become the best they can even if it means they move to other roles.

This leadership creates a happy, team oriented workplace, where the staff keep trying to improve the quality of their work and that of the department.  It means that the best people come to you and stay with you; customer service improves, sales improve, costs of hiring and keeping staff drop, mistakes and waste are reduced and profit improves significantly.  Isn’t that a better outcome?

Now you know why I thought the quote was so remarkable and revealing.  Just that one line told me so much about the organisation.

As Management Consultants, we recognise that staff are in nearly every case an organisation’s most expensive resource, and at the same time its most strategic asset.  We find that often the most productive suggestions we can make relate to improving the quality and effectiveness of the staff while reducing costs considerably.  Doing this along the lines discussed here can make an organisation into a powerhouse, one of the most profitable in its industry and least likely to succumb to economic cycles.

If you recognise elements of what I’ve discussed in your organisation, we would love to hear from you   We get tremendous satisfaction from leaving a grateful customer, one who has seen their working life transformed into a joy and their staff’s lives improved through collaboration, growth, meaning, respect and friendships.