Creating The Dream Employee Pt 1

There’s one key frustration that almost all business owners around the world share – the futile search for the "dream" employee.

Take, for example, a client of mine who runs an award-winning hairdressing salon.

He expects his staff to not only be experts at cutting and styling hair but also to be dedicated, passionate, having energy in endless supply, innovative and loyal.

Hey, I’d like to be able to wine and dine each of Charlie’s Angels, but dude, it ain’t gonna happen.

Is my client being reasonable? Does the dream employee exist? Try this quick exercise. Take out a blank piece of paper and list the characteristics of your dream employee. Try it. You’ll be surprised with what you find.

There are places scattered around the planet where "dream" employees can be found. The only problem is that most of them own their own businesses. In other words, the dream employees tend to be owners of businesses.

"Great!", you tell me or as a single lady friend of mine complains, "All the good ones are either married or gay". So what’s the solution? The answer lies in our ability to create environments within our businesses that transform existing jobs into businesses. Further, we need to develop a culture that encourages and rewards staff for being entrepreneurial.

Let me explain. What if your employees no longer regarded themselves as employees? What if they went from simply performing tasks for which they receive wages, to seeing themselves as owners of their own businesses. Businesses of one – what we call "MonoEnterprises™". Instead of fulfilling job tasks to minimum standards, these mono-entrepreneurs would focus on offering their talent, innovation, and service in return for increased profit share or higher earnings.

Like all business owners, each would consistently need to ask, "What services am I in the business of supplying? How could I adopt a high service mindset? How could I increase my value? How could I attract new clients and more business?"

As employees realise that the success and growth of their MonoEnterprise™ relies on their ability to achieve these things, their level of dedication, service and innovation in your business will massively increase.

I’ll give you an example. In my work with the hair industry, I have come across two types of apprentices. One sees herself as being an employee, the other is clearly in business. The first sticks to the basics. She cleans. She assists when asked. She goes to Technical College. She earns minimal wage and is developing her craft at a snail’s pace.

The second apprentice is in the business of providing service to each of her colleagues in the salon. She approaches other members of staff to see whether they need assistance. It doesn’t matter to her what the request is. It may be to get them some lunch, arrange for their laundry to be picked up, assist in looking after a client or to just give their tired shoulders and neck a well appreciated massage.

Apprentice number 2 enthusiastically volunteers for tasks, especially those where she will learn something new. She has a vision for herself as becoming the best stylist in Australia. Her thirst for knowledge takes her to the realms of styles and techniques of masters from around the world.

The rewards of applying an entrepreneurial approach to her work are startling: Apprentice number 2, gets more mentoring, more support, and earns 50 percent more than her counterpart. All of this has not happened by accident. Her employer has created an environment which encourages and rewards her approach to increasing her own value to the business. In fact, a requirement to do entrepreneurial work is part of her employment contract.

For most of us in business, we tend to look for great people to work in our businesses, rather than developing processes that enable our people to become great.

What we need therefore is a way of transforming average employees into enthusiastic and motivated workers who are consistently encouraged to do more for our business.

How can we do this? In this column over the next two weeks I’ll outline the steps that you can take as part of a process to create dream employees. Feel free to cut out these columns and use them as a resource for your business.

Patrick Lumbroso is a business development expert and CEO of Patcorp Power Business Systems, www.patcorp.com.au. He can be contacted on (02) 9264 6518 or dtb@patcorp.com.au