How to Avoid the Four Biggest Organization Mistakes
People think that just by screening candidates carefully, their organization ideally won’t have any problems. But what do you do about the people who have been at the company long before the stationery was even created or people that were hired based on personal connections and are managing the company in improper fashions?
The most recent issue of Today’s CPA magazine (which you can access as a TSCPA member here) includes an article titled “How to Avoid the Four Biggest Organization Mistakes," that gives tips to companies with staffing issues. The article goes on to describe how even the most careful companies are susceptible to huge internal errors.
The Four Organization Mistakes:
- A failure to understand the skills required to execute the organization’s strategy
- Failure to recognize those people in key positions who are incompetent or have contrary agendas
- Failure to remove and replace incompetent or contrary people
- Every company or firm, regardless of size, needs an organization plan
Not only do these mistakes hurt the company morale, it also takes a toll on the company financially. In these tough economic times, companies can’t justify these hiring mistakes as write offs to their investors.
Skills required to execute the organization’s strategy
Much like snowflakes, there is no two organizations alike. Every company needs skills and goals specific to the business in order to achieve success. The biggest challenge is being able to define these characteristics as well as communicate them effectively to all employees. The clearer the message of what the company needs, the more likely the employees will follow suit.
Failure to recognize key people in power and failure to remove them
This seems to be the easiest and hardest task for most managers. Sure, after constant complaints on a certain manager’s work from multiple sources, it only makes sense to remove said manager from that position. But how can you move the person that has been at the company longer than you can remember or who has been a close family friend for years? To quote one of the most epic scenes from The Godfather “It’s not personal, it’s business.” As strong as friendship and loyalty may be, your ethics needs to be stronger to face the hard decisions to cut people when they’re past their prime.
On the other hand, when these key toxic people are recognized and you still fail to remove them, you are in turn putting the company at risk for further harm. Not only will you receive backlash from employees, your managers will more than likely not be able to trust your ethics and thus their future with the company. By removing the tenured dangerous employees, you are showing that you value your company above all else.
“Best defense is a great offense” : Create an organization plan
The last mistake is a company’s failure to have an organization plan. The original plan you drafted when you first started the company will not apply once the company grows and gains personality. As such, you should plan accordingly and plan for the unknowns.
Plan for the employees, plan for the building, plan for sales people, plan for goals, plan your lunch. Ok so maybe not plan for your lunch, but you should anticipate anything and everything so you are prepared to handle it all. Need a hand with your business' rapid growth? G&A Partners can help - give us a call at 800-253-8562!