Creating The Dream Employee Part 2

In last week’s column we began looking at the issue of the "dream" employee.

We discussed the frustrations experienced by business owners in what is a near futile activity. This is because the characteristics of the "dream" employee tend to be those belonging to business owners rather than employees, characteristics such as dedication, passion, energy, and an ability and desire to be innovative.

That leaves us with only one realistic alternative for "getting" a "dream" employee – create a system that will enable us to develop our own.

There are seven key steps in this process. Here are the first three.

Step One: Create an entrepreneurial environment.

To get people to become "business owners" you need to establish an entrepreneurial environment. In other words, creating a culture that rewards thinking and innovation, not just doing.

Get your people to think about what they are in the "business of doing". What if they no longer had a job, but instead a business? Who would their clients be? What services would they provide? How could they improve that service?

Step Two: Have your employee determine who their most important client is.

Once your staff have become junior Bill Gateses – i.e. entrepreneurs – within the business, they then need to determine who their most important client is. Depending on what their level of responsibility is, your staff’s client could be either someone external or internal to the business.

Here is a clue: A client is that party that you are entrusted with looking after and providing a service to. For your staff, their most important client may be someone that is internal, such as their manager. It won’t necessarily be someone outside of the business, such as a paying customer of the business.

Step Three: Empower staff to become Master Problem Solvers.

Once they’ve established who their most important client is, the staff need to identify what are the key frustrations of that client. If their client is their manager, what is it that causes the manager to lose hair and bang their head against a desk in frustration? Is it the way certain things are done in the business? Is it that he’s time poor or that no one else will accept responsibility? Or maybe it’s something else?

Yes, you guessed it, this column will be continued next week with steps four to seven. But before I end off, let me offer a brief story:

A member of my staff approached me the other day with an offer. He had recognised that I was snowed under with work and always struggled to get this column finished in time each week. He had an idea that he thought would speed things along. Now he didn’t offer me any solutions that were vastly new or unique, but his suggestion did pay off and has saved me hours that I can devote to my other areas of work.

By encouraging staff to become entrepreneurial and Master Problem Solvers you’ve already made a start towards transforming ordinary employees into exceptional contributors.

Patrick Lumbroso is a business development expert and CEO of Patcorp Power Business Systems, www.patcorp.com. Have Patrick speak at your next management function. He can be contacted on patrick@zoomebusiness.com.