People management for entrepreneurs - because everything you hear people management is wrong

Have you ever wondered why there are so many books about managing people? Especially since none of them work. All promise to make your employees dull, unmotivated, uninspired "Robots," meat in bright, shiny, bright and very motivated, mini-entrepreneurs. Yeah, right.

On the other hand, who has not seen the transformation of an employee from a lot of lethargy in a raging ball of energy when it comes to talk about Bass fishing or tailgating ... and wondered how we could leverage the enthusiasm.

I'm not saying that "employee-motivation" workshops are a complete waste of time ... After all, how else are professional speakers should make a mid-6-figure income? I'm saying that for the entrepreneur, there are some strict rules that help to take at least 80% of your frustrations people.

Iron Rule # 1: NOTHING you owe your people and your people owe you nothing. The whole concept of "Loyalty" is a farce and lasts until the fish ... 3 days and you're done. It's not a bad thing - it's just the reality. You need to earn their respect every day ... how to make your own. Do not forget, as you compete for customers of quality, which are competing for quality employees equally or even more.

Iron-Clad Rule # 2: It's never the people that fire hurts. Entrepreneurs are always getting caught in the "should I or should not 'trap. If you are wondering if you must fire an employee, you should already have!

It 'sa bit like when you wear a pair of pants and have to ask, "Do these make my butt look big?" You can bet they do.

The No. 1 trait of all successful entrepreneurs is the ability to make a decision and act immediately. Sure, you could make a mistake every now and then ... but this is nothing compared to the errors you are doing through inaction.

Iron-Clad Rule # 3: Stop trying to motivate people. It does not work and it annoys the crap out of them. People are motivated or not, and there is much we can do. And 'the absolute height of arrogance to think that we can "fix" people from "kindly and gently" their manipulation.

On the other hand, people naturally motivated can quickly become de-motivated. Your job is to be vigilant in the search and crush these sources of motivation.

Most people want to do a good job, but quickly lose interest if they think they do not care enough to help ... and this is fair enough in my thinking.

Iron Rule # 4: to be bigger than your mood. Who has not ever worked for someone who was mad as a Junebug in August? You never knew who you were talking about any particular day - Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde.

You owe it to yourself and your people to refuse to allow your behavior to swing with your moods. Just because you had a fight with your spouse does not mean that there is no need to respond with genuine joy and support when an employee comes to you with a "Win" ... or that you may overlook misconduct just because you're in a good mood. You have a duty to be totally "here-and-now" with them - no matter what else might be going on outside work.

This can be difficult, but you'll find that with practice, it gives you a sense of poise and command you respect from your people ... because you deserve it.

Iron Rule # 5: Always assume

Can you imagine a football or pro basketball team, saying: "I'm sorry, I know you're the most talented and experienced player we've seen in 10 years ... but we are taking at this time. Back with us a while ' to see if we have openings. "Absurd! Yet we do it all the time.

And then we're in trouble. An employee leaves suddenly, for whatever reason and we are automatically forced to scrounge around and try to bridge the gap. The most common test we use is the classic, "Can You Fog this mirror?" test.

Then, of course, we bitch about the quality of people available. Not exactly a recipe for success, right?

The way around this is to recognize how vital and important this part of your business is, and then deal with this matter. This means that carve out a chunk of time each week to do nothing but recruit new talent. Period. And if you find someone who is stellar ... hiring!

Iron rule # 5A: Interview with disqualifying. The most expensive mistake you can make as an entrepreneur a "bad hire". How do you avoid making this mistake? Start by taking the attitude that the best thing you can do is to discover the person "fatal flaw" and dis-qualify them. Really, it's that simple. Instead of looking for reasons to hire ... we are constantly looking for reasons not to hire them. This makes a big difference in how you approach the 'interview and automatically force you to raise the bar.

Finally, the key here is to stop trying to "manage" people. It is not possible, then you can not even pretend ... but you can manage systems. And well-designed systems that help ordinary people produce extraordinary results. So focus your time and energy on creating systems that support your people, become a complete maniac on how to find and destroy "De-motivational" ... and, finally, remember to treat employees as human beings - just like you .......