Yes, Management Matters!
Following after my post about TV telling the truth, there are so many business lessons to be learned from these "Impossible" fix TV shows. With a basic formula that a failing property asks an expert to come in and give some tough love and turn things around, they do so - in spades.
Over and over, we see the same reasons why a location is not doing well. Training is a key issue: many featured properties fail to either provide any proper training at all or they did a lousy job of it. This showed up in major gaffes and lousy service, all of which had a very negative effect on the bottom line, and staff morale.
Another other major issue of each situation is management - or more to the point - lack of management.
IT STARTS AT THE TOP
When the owner/leader of a given business is struggling, 9 times out of 10, it's because of their own lack of leadership. They are setting the tone and standard by which all operates. When the bar is low, everyone goes low. When the manager has no clue how to manage, the staff are all over the place, and far less likely to be doing a great job. There are several sub-categories of poor management on display, including a whole list of no-nos. Here my focus is on THE BIG MISTAKE of not preparing anyone for the management role.
UNPREPARED FOR THE MANAGEMENT ROLE
It never fails to amaze me when I see or hear stories about people who have managers that sound like they're too crazy to be real. How the heck did they get to where they are, being so lousy at what they need to do? Don't tell me you've never had a boss from hell! How often is nothing done to prevent these people from being in charge??
If you are not investing in the time and effort to help managers do a great job of leading those who are their direct responsibility, you're likley going to get into trouble (if not there already).
Usually someone is promoted to a management role because they do something well, and usually what they're doing well is a technical task:
You rock a spreadsheet, so you're management material.
You outsold all other reps last quarter, so you're a leader.
Everyone likes you; you should be in charge.
These are poor reasons to be responsible for other human beings. What made you famous before promotion may well not serve you now.
ASK YOURSELF
Are your managers skilled at:
communicating in a variety of ways, and with diverse groups of people
organization, time management and productivity
providing feedback, having difficult conversations and handling discipline if needed
engaging and motivating others
problem solving
interviewing, hiring, onboarding and terminating for optimal team performance
risk and liability reduction
If you're not saying “Yes!” to all the above, you are at risk. These are benchmark skills that every manager needs to have to effectively lead their direct reports and get better results for your business.
When watching "Impossible" style TV shows, time and again many things on the list are missing. No wonder they struggle! They're not bad people, they're good people doing badly because nobody made it a priority to set them up for success.
Ask yourself how much you spend putting out fires vs. preventing fires from starting in the first place. Either way, it's in your best interest to equip anyone in a leadership role with robust knowledge and skills to be more effective.