Have you ever wondered if the attitude or behavior of your employees was really an important issue? Hasn't it been all about whether or not they can get the job done right? Like, so what if that girl on reception gossips on all day about the other girls in the office. She answers the phone with a polite voice and transfers calls correctly.
However, everything may not be as it seems. You'll find a staff member that has a bad attitude often "seems" to get their job accomplished well, but you'll often find mistakes later - sometimes too late to correct. And some business owners have had their company fall down around them, failing miserably, without ever realizing it was one employee who caused it all, behind the scenes.
When you have someone covertly destroying everything you've built up, not realizing the consequences their actions are having on your company, you may end up blaming another cause for your failures, making it impossible to turn it all around.
Not all attitudes are completely open and in full view. Some attitudes can lie hidden beneath the surface. If you don't have a way to discover a person's real attitude towards life and their job, you can be fooled. And in the interim, you've lost money, good will and much more.
Judging Behavior by the Handling of Communications
Have you had an employee that seems to relish in sharing gossip and delights in talking about others' plights? This negative attitude can extend to the capability of getting a good result in the work they do.
But looking at the opposite side of the coin: Have you had an employee who was enthusiastic about their job, went about their duties with determination and seemed always happy? This attitude, I'm sure you will agree, gave them an uncanny ability to get the job done and get it done right the first time in most cases.
Take the same two examples of employees above. Put them on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the negative employee and 10 being the enthusiastic one. You can correlate how each person will handle communication on this same scale. The person at the midpoint on the scale will likely alter communications, deliver them more negative than were received, and often upset people when delivering them.
The person at the bottom of the scale will be your worst nightmare. Give them a message to deliver and they will often not get it delivered at all. Or they may alter it so much that any instruction given doesn't get across properly, and of course, not carried out.
An enthusiastic person (at 10 on the scale) will deliver a message the exact way intended. They won't pass on very negative communications but will make them more tolerable to the recipient. You can trust someone like this with delivering a message or instruction for you in your business. They will often follow up and ensure your instructions are carried out. They take responsibility.
Look for Those "Tens"
The handling of messages and other communications by an employee is more important than you think within your company. An excellent employee is someone who will get work done properly, be able to follow directions, understand what you are saying, and will be able to pass on communication from you completely and freely.
Someone who is a "bad" employee and one that you want to avoid will pass on communications in an altered manner. What you wanted delivered isn't delivered at all, but some perverted form is gotten across. Upset will result. You may even lose personnel who don’t want to be around a person like that.
The good employee won’t forward gossip. They won’t contribute to it. They will take any upsetting communications they are asked to pass on and attempt to tone them down. This won't necessarily change what your message is, but will certainly prevent your anger from coming across. And likely all the better for your reputation as the boss!
There are Degrees in Ability to Pass On Communications
Although only the bottom and top are outlined here, there are all different levels of attitude in people. When you give someone a message to deliver, they may pass it on exactly as you intended. They may tone them down slightly, even if the message is very upbeat. They may pervert them and add suspicions and threats. They may just cut the line altogether and not deliver the message at all.
When ninety-five percent of an executive's troubles can lie in the communication lines of the business, it's something to pay attention to. You can even test your employees and judge where they are on the scale. And you can judge what sort of job you can expect from them.
You Can Test it with Your Employees
Try a test. Take one of your employees that you want to evaluate. Give them a slightly complicated message to deliver to another staff. Make sure the message is really enthusiastic and shows some reward to expect for the recipient.
After your employee has delivered this communication, go to the person who received it and ask them about it. See how it was delivered. Did the message bearer give the complete message? Was it in the spirit intended? How was the deliverer's attitude? Was anything left out?
You may have to do this more than once. But this exercise will provide some insight into your employees and how you can expect them to perform on their jobs.
Know who you are hiring
Imagine there was a way you could test your employees BEFORE you hired them. Imagine knowing how the employee will handle communications, customers, responsibilities and orders! You don't actually have to imagine this because there is a way to know all of this through simple tests. If you truly want to know who you are hiring, then you need to have them take our battery of tests.
This battery consists of the Personnel Potential Analysis™(PPA), IQ Test and Aptitude Test. These coupled with our unique interviewing skills will reveal if you have a person who will help you out or if you're hiring somebody who's going to wreck the place.
We are offering the testing service as a separate service. It is priced at $75.00 per person tested and it covers all 3 tests. We will grade the test results and give our evaluation of what the tests communicate. It is an excellent tool to get a better picture of where your current staff are at or to evaluate anyone that you are looking to hire. It is better to know before you go. These tests will show what the person's abilities are to produce a good product and can be of immense benefit to you.
Visit The People Link for more information about our services!
-Mya
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