Let your employees know how they
fit in the organization. The first
thing we do is identify the needs
of the business. What is it that
needs to be accomplished?
Every organization is designed
or set up a little bit differently.
So the roles and responsibilities
start first with the needs of the
business. We then match that
with the skill sets of the people
inside the business. When we
have a match of skill sets and
needs, that is easily definable.
Annual performance appraisals
aren’t enough. Communicating
on a quarterly basis on the performance of the individuals is
very powerful. It keeps everybody on their toes and provides
clarity to the individual.
(In those meetings) their personal objectives are outlined
and written down. So if there is
some confusion about the direction of your objectives in the
company or the things you’re
working on that aren’t in direct
line with what you’re hearing,
the individual becomes that
much more proactive to clarify
that because they know they’re
about to get measured on it.
If your people can’t do it, hire
someone who can. Identify holes
in the business, things that aren’t
being done that could be accomplished by current skill sets. You
then assign those objectives or
needs into the skill sets required.
Then, what’s open, you have to
go find.
Next, we determine if the skill
is inside the business. If we
don’t have the specific skill set,
we may have the capacity to
bring that skill set on. If it’s simply a training issue, then we figure out a way to train that individual, whether it’s cross-training or outside training.
If we can’t do that, then we’ll
look outside through normal
operations. Depending on the
skill set level, that’s going to be
either a recruiting firm or looking on Monster.com.
You have to add costs to grow.
You’ve got to either believe or
not believe you’re going to grow.
If you believe you’re going to
grow, you’ve got to have the
wherewithal to invest in that
growth ahead of the growth.
So if you feel like you’ve got a
big plan, you’ve identified the
skill sets required, then you
have got to bring those skill sets
on or the technology resources
required to do it. What ends up
happening is you add cost to the
business.
Adding costs to the business
is not a big deal if you are
growing. … If you run into
some stagnation inside revenue, then it doesn’t look so
good, because you’ve added
cost without growth.
It’s a tough time to be adding
cost because of the market conditions. But if you have the
wherewithal and you believe in
the business and your team,
then you do it.
HOW TO REACH: U.S. Auto Parts Network Inc., (888) 810-9229 or www.usautoparts.net
