Now and then people fail. Sometimes, some places, or with some people, failure seems to occur more often than elsewhere. Unfortunately, more of the time, someone is forced to take the blame for any shortcomings and failures that might occur, even if the problem in question is an ongoing issue, and employees will be fired over the matter and new individuals hired. However, far too often no one in a company will stop and address the issue of whether or not these failures are really due to some fault on the part of the individual or if it could in fact be the result of some more basic issue. Perhaps more often than many realize, management can set certain precedents that can make things more difficult for their employees and even set them up for failure due to a number of problems. Fortunately, many of these problems, once recognized, can be easily rectified.
So here is a look at a few of the key problems that the professionals at executive search firms have identified as leading to failure and what managers can do to help in these areas.
First, the most fundamental thing that employees must have if they are to succeed is solid and well defined goals. There can be no real successes without goals by which to measure the work done, and failing to provide employees with these essential objectives is sure to set them up for failure. Employees need goals both on a focused, day to day basis as well as on an overarching level that gives them something to really strive for. Every organization has its own set of goals, those objectives for where they hope to take the company over time and what they hope to achieve. These goals need to be shared with the company’s employees from the very start to help them better understand their role in helping the company meet these objectives. However, as focusing on such long term goals can be disheartening over time, managers should also work to provide their employees with simpler, short term goals that can be met in a day or a week to keep the employees focused on these simple victories.
Two other factors that are absolutely essential for employees to be able to meet with success are the availability of sufficient time and resources to get the job done. No one can be expected to get a job done if they are not first allotted an appropriate timeframe in which to do it, and if they are not also provided with the necessary tools as well. To expect employees to succeed when they have already been set up for failure is to expect miracles and is not a situation that anyone would hope to be stuck in, much less unfairly punished for when they cannot meet their goals.
When employers are forced to fire employees for whatever reason it means that they will once again have to delve into the executive search and hiring process, investing their companies valuable time and resources to fill the gap left behind. So, given that it does require a such significant investment, perhaps more employers should take the time to make sure that the failures for which they would fire an employee are really the employee’s fault and not some shortcoming on the part of the company or management that can be easily resolved without all the fuss.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
