Chad Sorenson is the President and Founder of Adaptive HR Solutions and has over 25 years of diverse business, communications, and human resource experience.
He works with companies across the state that range from 5 to 1,200 employees and focuses on leadership development, manager training, employee performance management and employer compliance in industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, construction trades, and professional services organizations.
The greatest impact business owners can have on employees, productivity and company culture comes from two questions: What can I do to help my employees succeed? AND How am I serving my employees today?
The goal of any owner is to ensure their company is running at full productivity, producing as much as possible, as quickly as possible, and with the highest quality possible. This can only be achieved by ensuring the workforce is well equipped for the job. Let’s break it down to three points:
1. Employees need the right training and knowledge for the job. We think nothing of laying down $5,000 for annual preventative maintenance on an $80,000 piece of equipment, but why is it so hard to invest $1,000 of training in a $80,000 employee. Continuous training and skill development will keep the workforce on the cutting edge.
2. Employees need to feel secure in their job. For some, they’re the sole breadwinner of the family and worrying about how they are doing at work and what the boss thinks of them can consume their energy and focus throughout the day. Regular conversations about performance and expectations go a long way in helping an employee feel secure and redirect their attention back to the task at hand. Remember, in a vacuum of information, employees fill the space with something, and it is rarely good news.
3. Employees need to like where they work. We spend more waking hours with the people we work with than we do our families at home. You wouldn’t stay with a spouse if you disliked them day in and day out. Yet, why do we expect employees to put up with a toxic culture at work? Setting the tone starts from the top but holding people accountable to the culture happens at all levels.
It’s not difficult to create a workplace people enjoy, and it doesn’t cost a lot of money. When we look at our employees in a different way, we can create a culture of acceptance, performance and accountability. Start by asking these simple questions: What can I do to help my employees succeed? AND How am I serving my employees today?
