Insights & Expertise

I heard a small business owner say this about his supervisors regarding online training they were required to take. My first thought was, “You’re the one in charge, why don’t you know?”

This type of thing is all too common because leaders assume that their people act on the direction given and they do not follow up.

It doesn’t automagically happen because that’s what we want. You may operate in a way where once you’re given an assignment, you complete it without a reminder or follow up. But that is you and you cannot expect others will operate in the same way. A culture of accountability is created by -

• Implementing processes and other measurable systems.<

You are not alone so the question you’ve got to ask is why?

The thing is, people forget about all the benefits, flexibility, vacation time, raises, and training when they face something they don’t want to do. It’s worse when they also believe it’s not necessary. Simply telling them it’s required and even explaining why is often not enough to get them to do it.

You can say something is required but if nothing happens when it’s not done, then it’s not really required and your people know this. It’s hard to find and keep decent employees so I’m not suggesting the traditional 3 strikes and you’re out for every infraction, but you do need to take action. 

For required duties that are not related to safety or