Introduction
A small-medium business is not a little big business. You can take many corporate principles and apply them effectively in your small business. But there are differences merely because the business is small. People management is such as issue.
You Are the Business
To employees, the small-medium business manager or owner is the business. They interpret the behaviour and performance of the CEO as that of the business itself. For example, if the CEO is erratic, so is the business. If he or she is conservative, so is the business in the minds of employees. This puts great responsibility on the CEO to be consistent, reliable, balanced and enthusiastic most of the time. In a large company, the CEO can use other senior managers to compensate for personal or professional deficiencies.
You Control Their Livelihood
In a small-medium business, the manager’s power over continued employment is keenly felt. Employees know this. Staff will interpret the CEO’s behaviour, at least in part, in terms of its impact on them personally. This particular power is much less acute for the CEO in a large company.
Have A Performance Mindset
It’s natural that you’ll relate better to some staff than to others. It’s dangerous to allow this reality to be perceived as favouritism – accurately or not. If you have an engineering background, it’s simply human to have a tendency to favour engineering. But it’s poor management to be seen to be doing it. A clearly defined performance focus will go a long way to helping employees avoid such perceptions.
Emphasise “Working Together” Not “Getting On Well”
The textbooks call it “goal dependence” and “task interdependence”. You may call it “teamwork”. Whatever you call it, the capacity for people to work effectively together is important in companies of all shapes and sizes. But it’s absolutely essential in smaller businesses. I’m talking of people’s ability to work together not their capacity to “get on well together”. People who “get on well” may or may not achieve effective business results together. People who can work effectively together and achieve good results will find a way to “get on with each other”.
Clear Focus Is Essential
To help your people form an effective team isn’t as difficult as it first appears. Firstly, you must have very clear business goals and communicate them clearly to employees. Incidentally, “to make a profit” is merely a statement of intent. It isn’t a goal. Whatever you do, have a crystal clear business focus and convey it continuously to your people. Have unequivocal performance standards for each employee and team of people doing the same work. Build your reward and incentive programs around these standards.
Publicly Acknowledge Support Staff
Constantly remind all employees that support staff, such as “office” of “backroom” people are just as important to company success as specialists and high profile employees. Try to find a way to enable support staff to participate in rewards and incentive programs.
Conclusion
As a small-medium business CEO, you must deal with situations that a large business CEO would rarely confront. Without the total support of your people, you task will be very difficult.
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