Newsletter Template

Newsletter ... Volume 09 Issue 0303

Gary J. LaRoy
President/CEO

A number of years ago, I worked a part-time job as the night manager of a local diner to supplement my teaching pay. After a few months the owner remarked that the evening business was to only profitable part of the business. He just couldn't seem to get the breakfast and lunch business up to the same level. I began to talk with some of the businessmen who came into the diner at night to see if I could figure out the problem. I discovered the problem was the two waitresses that would sit at the counter and smoke a cigarette (remember ... I said it was a number of years ago) while the food was getting cold in the kitchen.

I spoke with the owner several times about these conversations, but he seemed to turn a deaf ear. The one day I got a 'brilliant' idea. I figured if I could show him the difference better help would make, he would have to listen to me. I convinced him to take a couple of weeks off during spring break and let me run the diner. I asked for full-charge responsibility and he agreed. As soon as his daughter put them on the airplane, I fired the two waitresses and brought in a couple of college students to take over the lunchtime duties. It is important to note that the waitresses were given ample opportunity to change their behavior prior to this time.

In a matter of days the breakfast and lunch business was doing great. My friends in the business community told their friends and we were off to the races. However, when Phil (the owner) returned, he said he did not believe in running a business that way and he hired the two waitresses back.

Needless to say, I resigned. Also, needless to say when he hired those two waitresses back he started the timer for his bankruptcy. He not only lost the diner, he nearly lost the farm that he used to collaterlize the diner. He literally 'bet the farm' on a couple of toxic employees.

As I noted last week, according to Jim Collins (Good to Great), it is important to get the right people on the bus. However, it is equally important that we get the wrong people off the bus. In the book Hire With Your Head, Lou Adler makes the comment that in America we tend to "hire too fast and fire to slow." He also observes that "effective hiring is 95 percent of a manager's success." I would add that effective 'firing' is also a significant factor.

As unemployment number continue to rise temp-to-hire arrangements will become more popular as businesses add to their staff. One of the advantages of this approach is the ease with which you can 'terminate' the individual. In a temp-to-hire arrangement through an employment agency, you simply tell the agency to send someone else the next day. I have successfully used this strategy to take a 'test drive' on employees and have found some all-stars this way.

The key thing to remember, though, is to rid your business of individuals whose toxic behavior poisons the morale of the other workers. Additionally, get rid of the place-holder employees who are only filling a slot on the roster, but never really get into the game. If you look at your business, seventy to eighty percent of your productivity will come from twenty to thirty percent of your staff. Your business will not suffer by eliminating the non-productive workers. In fact, the highly productive workers will probably rise to the task and welcome the challenge.

You might also find people that are being underutilized in their core job responsibility that have a talent, skill or potential ability in another area of the company where you can reduce staff or increase productivity. The focus should be on keeping the right people on the bus ... but getting the wrong people off the bus.

Your personal definition of 'right' and 'wrong' may be different than mine. However your business should be in the hands of the right people who are doing the right things for the right reason. Next week we will focus more on getting the right people in the right seats on the bus.

Gary J. LaRoy,
President/Founder
Natural Path Marketing

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