Q: “So many times, I haven’t recognized a problem until it becomes a ‘forest fire.’ With the next employee, I end up stressing over every little ember. This doesn’t create a fun workplace for either of us. How do I prevent forest fires without going crazy?”
A: There are many ways that fires get started. These can be small brush varieties as well as huge forest fires. There are many answers to prevention. One of the simplest is to make clear what you expect of your staff. Once that’s established, you have to have measuring tools in place. This allows everyone to see where they stand in your evaluation.
There are many answers to prevention. One of the simplest is making clear what you expect of your staff. Once that’s established, you have to have measuring tools in place. This allows everyone to see where they stand in your evaluation. Here is a list of the things you need to standardize in order to accurately measure each employee across the board.
- Define what their jobs are
- Define what sales numbers you want them to hit and why
- Show them how to do it or have someone else show them
- Provide positive expectations
Positive expectations are the reason most people perform. They want to live up to your expectations for them. If they think you don’t believe in them, it will affect their attitude. Attitude is 90 percent of anything great that gets accomplished.
Some Things to Keep in Mind…
There can be gaps in what the boss wants and what the employee believes the boss wants. There’s also the possibility that you’ve just hired the wrong person. This happens to everyone from time to time. What’s for certain is that you always should keep your cool and communicate. Bosses who are screamers don’t succeed. Neither do bosses who are wimps.
The Importance of the Interview Process
One way to avoid forest fires is detecting the embers before you hire someone. This is best done during the interview process. You can get a good idea whether a potential employee will work out or not during their interview. It all depends upon which questions you ask, and if you pay attention to the answers. Rather than asking simple yes-or-no questions, try making your questions more open-ended.
Here are some examples of some things you can ask applicants:
- “Tell me about a time in one of your past jobs where you had to find a way to turn around an irate customer.”
- “Tell me about a time when you had to resolve an issue between yourself and a fellow employee. What did you do to fix things?”
- “Describe the best boss you’ve ever had and what made them such a good leader?”
The answers to these questions tell you much about your applicant as a person. Make sure you’re listening! Some of the things these questions might illuminate about your applicant include:
- How they handle upset or irate customers, and how skilled they might be at saving the sale.
- You might learn how much of a team player your applicant or isn’t by the way he/she answers the second question.
- The third question might indicate how well your potential applicants can follow direction.
Happy Hiring!
Do you remember those old Smokey the Bear commercials? As a public service announcement, ol’ Smokey would say his catchphrase: “Only you can prevent forest fires.” The same principle applies to tanning salon owners like you who want to avoid forest fires at your business. Use these interview tips as you continue to look for your next salon sales superstar. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask this tanning salon business consultant.
