NFIB

You Should be the Boss of Them
05/ 28/ 2004

by Jackie Van Nice

Perhaps the greatest lesson I've learned as a small-business owner came when I was still signing the back of a paycheck. Before I started my own business, I basically ran someone else's. While there, I was amazed that my boss turned his entire company over to me, and then completely checked out of the day-to-day duties of running the business. When I left, he was doomed. I vowed to never make the same mistake.

Can you afford to lose a key employee? It's a subject so frightening for small-business owners that most can't bring themselves to plan for the possibility. What they don't recognize is that by ignoring it they may be unintentionally planning their own business's early demise.

The lesson I first learned as an employee burns brightly in my mind as I run my own business today. My boss put me in charge of every key element in his small consulting firm. Yet in spite of my regularly trying to keep him abreast of issues with his business and his employees, he was always "too busy" pursuing other ventures to pay attention.

When the dissatisfied and neglected staff began to quit one by one, he refused to acknowledge the problem. "They'll be back," he claimed as he continued to be out of touch. I was the last to leave. When I gave notice he finally lost it, repeatedly yelling, "You're trying to kill me!" Within a month the practice had folded, and he lost the business he had spent years building.

What did I learn? Two things: Know your employees and know your employees' jobs. Knowing your employees is crucial. It's not just where they live or the names of their children -- you need to understand what drives them. I've never seen employees leave just due to money. They leave due to lack of praise, challenge, flexibility or respect. It doesn't cost money to breed incredible staff loyalty. You must reward the individual with what she values -- not what you think she values.

Not only do you have to know your employees, you have to know what they do at your business everyday. Knowing your employees' jobs is an insurance policy you can't live without. This means writing and regularly reviewing detailed job descriptions, cross training with other employees, and documenting key information and procedures.

In my own company, I now help business owners develop comprehensive procedures manuals for all aspects of their employees' jobs. Computer systems and other visuals are captured with annotations so detailed that almost anyone off the street could walk in the door and get things running immediately.

Paying close attention to your employees' needs and building backup plans into their jobs is a significant investment of time and effort. But it can be the best investment you'll ever make in your own business.

Jackie Van Nice is an entrepreneur, technical writer and software consultant in Naperville, Ill. Contact her at jackie@writetechnology.com.

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This article originally appeared in the June/July 2004 issue of MyBusiness magazine.

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