Following on from the last edition of The Organised Times where we spoke about developing the people in your business, this week we're focussing on the importance of the continual development of your managers.

Leadership comes from the top down. Poor management skills is the cause of most employee dissatisfaction and results in their poor performance.

The following article by Nathan Chanesman from My Profile is worthwhile reading:

Poor management skills lead to poor employee performance

It's disheartening to read that poor management skills is the cause of most business dissatisfaction. You'd think that with all the training and investment that has gone into this topic that we'd learnt by now to get it right.

Employees have lost trust in the companies they work for Kelly Services Survey published in October last year indicated that 47% of Australian employees believe "that companies do not have their best interests at heart".

Dissatisfaction seems to be the order of the day. 50% of Australia's workforce want to quit it's job and nearly 40% reported that they often "woke up in the morning not willing to face the day".

SEEK, the online job board survey of October 2003 reported that 75% of employees questioned are not happy with their current job.

Asked what they liked most about their job 51% said "the people I work with". And what did they hate most? 60% said "the quality of management". Not surprising, dissatisfaction with management increased as people got older.

The Solutions

Get Profiled

Visit www.myprofile.com.au They'll help you find the right person for the job, and help you understand yourself and your employees and how you can work together as a cohesive team to achieve your business vision and goals.

360 degree Pirihi Productivity Profile

Discover how effective a leader you believe yourself to be and receive feedback from your people stating how they see you. This can be a real eye-opener and extremely beneficial.

You'll be able to utilise that feedback and in areas requiring attention, we can help you become the best you can be. Email lorraine@office-organiser.com.au for more details or see our special offer below.

Ask for direct feedback from your people.

This can work however it may also be very confronting and you may not get the real truth. Often people will not voice

Get coached

A good coach will help you enhance your skills to be the best you can be. Ensure whoever you use is external to the business. We can also help you in that area. Just send us an email lorraine@office-organiser.com.au for more details.

Be Aware

Take a look around you. Are your people happy? Do they enjoy coming to work? When you speak to them are they generally positive or negative in their responses? Is there a high turnover of staff or is your team stable? Consider the absenteeism rate. Are your people often away from work? These are a few questions to ask yourself.

Encourage regular feedback from your people. Ask them individually and as a group what they think & how can you be a better manager? What can be improved? What do they like about their work, the people, the industry, the management etc.

You can also choose to do nothing, which is not a good option. Don't wait until a crisis occurs.

A business owner I know said everything was fine. He said his staff were happy although he never did anything to pro-actively ensure they were. His perception was that he believed all was well because no-one complained. He only acted if a problem was brought to his attention. One week, three of his key people resigned. They had enough of the owner's poor leadership skills. The loss of those people nearly brought the business down.

So stay on top of things, be proactive, ask questions and take nothing for granted.

The success of any business is a reflection of its leadership. Lead from the top.

Lorraine Pirihi, principal of The Office Organiser (http://www.office-organiser.com.au) is Australia's Personal Productivity Coach

Lorraine specialises in working with businesspeople showing them how to dramatically boost their productivity, reduce the stress and the mess in their lives and have more time for enjoying their life.

We Offer a Broad Range of Services and Products including:

• Coaching for small business owners and professionals

• Keynote presentations and workshops

• Books, CD's, DVD's and on-line learning programs

Take action today! Contact Lorraine to discuss your specific needs at lorraine@office-organiser.com.au