Have you asked your employees?
How are things working out in your business? Are things going well? What could be improved upon? What area is working really well and could be a model for other areas? How are you finding out the answers to these questions? Part of your answer should be, “I’m asking my employees.” Since your employees are doing the day-to-day work of the business, they will have an idea of those areas that are working well, areas that need improvement and, likely, suggestions to make improvements to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Try this – at the start of a week, give the employees a notebook to gather information on:
- What’s working?
- What’s not?
- How can we do things better?
This collective notebook should be passed around from employee to employee in the business. Take about a week to gather input; for larger businesses – maybe two weeks is more appropriate. Ask the employees to provide their thoughts on the business – names not necessary.
At the end of the time period for collection – whether one week or two – have all of the data gathered compiled into three separate categories:
- What’s working/going well
- What’s not/weak spots
- Suggestions for improvements
Once gathered, prioritize and develop a plan for changes to take place. Share this information with your employees and get them involved in the project planning to make changes and the actual implementation. Your employees will appreciate being able to provide input, you’ll have lots of great ideas to move forward with along with an understanding of how things are going from the perspective of the people doing the work.
Your thoughts? Please share with others in the Comments field below.
