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Technology Versus Managing

Guest post by: Bill Boyer

Article Overview: This article is probably going to step on some toes. Many business people are becoming so focused on the “new” tools related to the internet/cyber world that they are no longer focused on the “old” solid management principles.

Technology Versus Managing

Developing a great web page, being active on social networking sites, employing search engine optimization, cloud computing, and so forth are very critical to almost all businesses today. Companies cannot realize success without these being a part of their “quiver” of good business practices. And companies must be diligent to be sure they are using the best practices to employ these tools. Too often, they let a friend of the family or other such convenient-but-not-necessarily-well-qualified person develop their web site and/or do their search engine optimization. These tasks are critical for a company’s success and cannot be left to amateurs just to save a little bit of money.

But what is happening in many companies is that the emphasis on managing your employees is being forgotten. You may have the greatest position on the internet, but if you do not have employees who can effectively manage and represent your company in the market place, you will not be nearly as successful as you could be.

Are you hiring the best employees you can? Jim Collins has written that it is critical “to get the right people on the bus”. When you do hire the best employees, your “bus” can proceed on the road to growth and success. Do you use any type of testing? Do you check references? In today’s market, it is best to perform a search on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites to see how they present themselves. You can often find out a lot about the individual from their pages. And, unfortunately, you should do a background check. The cost of hiring an employee averages 30% of their annual wages (excluding recruiter fees) and it takes 67 days to hire an employee. Can you afford many hiring mistakes?

And after hiring these people, what are you doing to develop, motivate, and retain them? Do you have a formalized training program? A four year study for American Training and Development Association found that firms that spent $1,500 per employee per year on training versus $125 (the average) have margins that are 24% higher and profits that are 218% higher per employee.

Are you communicating with your employees? Do they know what is happening in the company? What are your company goals and what role do they play in achieving these goals? Captain Chuck Hollingsworth in a recent panel discussion stated that many companies have a trust deficit. Without trust within the organization, there is no way a company can progress.

To keep these good people, you must delegate responsibility to them. This will enable them to grow along with your company. Delegation is not easy and must be handled properly.

Are you paying your employees a fair wage? While wages may seem to be a critical issue, history has proven that most employees resign for reasons other than wage. Are your employees given recognition when they perform their job well? This does not have to be a monetary reward: it is amazing how effective verbal recognition can be, especially when other employees are aware of it.

We must not ignore the benefits of technology, and we MUST NOT ignore our employees.

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Article Tags: American Training and Development Association, employee, employees, search engine optimization, social networking sites



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