Creating Structure in Small Business through Managerial Training

 Any business will rely on it's managerial employees to serve as a solid foundation to improve upon and grow, both as a team and as a company. Any manager or person of power (this could include the owner if he/she spends a decent amount of time on location) serves as more than a decision maker; these people guide your entire workforce and act as the liaison between all key points of your business or franchise. By taking all possible measures necessary to provide your managerial employees with a better understanding of the goals and policies or decisions of your business, you create the base that will help your entire company to flourish.

A manager of any sort will always be at least slightly more informed than a standard employee. They might know how to count and close out the register at the end of the night, they might be able to make difficult decisions on the spot or place orders for new merchandise. Whatever demands you have of your managerial staff, their training should include further insight than simply what to do and how to do it. You want employees to understand why they perform certain tasks, or the reasons behind you making certain decisions.

Starting From Scratch: A Guide to Small Business

As an employee of any level, understanding why you do certain things will not only help you to make split-second decisions with customers or anyone else, it will also make you feel as if you are part of a team, thus becoming more committed. Depending on the size of your workforce, managers should be instructed to pass this information on to the other employees. Creating a flow of knowledge throughout your entire franchise will help to initiate team effort and overall production while leaving nobody in the dark.

Imagine you were in the process of training your managerial staff for a high-end, new restaurant. As the owner, you have probably made thousands of small decisions about every aspect of your business based on a number of factors including the surrounding area, competition, budget, and many other things. Although you are aware of all these small tweaks to the way you would ideally want your restaurant to be managed, it can be difficult or even impossible to explain all of these small instructions to a new employee.

Instead of instructing your managerial employees on 'how' to do certain things, provide them with the same thought process that you yourself possess. If you know that local customers generally want their napkins to be folded a certain way, explain that to your employees before you show them how to fold it. Not only will they take greater pride in learning and applying certain skills, they will be much less likely to neglect to adhere to these guidelines if they know precisely why certain tasks are performed. Keep in mind that although these samples primarily refer to the food service industry, these principles can be applied in virtually any business situation.

• Focus on bringing employees together by actively speaking out to multiple individuals at once. A true leader disciplines in private, so speak only of positive changes or upcoming events when communicating with multiple employees.
• Make sure that every member of your team understands the importance of their particular job as well as the roles of others. By allowing your employees to have a clear understanding of all that is going on around them, the quality of work will surely strengthen.
• If you are having trouble with managerial employees specifically, consider hosting a monthly or bi-monthly meeting to discuss current issues and affairs that are pertinent only to employees at a higher level of authority. This sense of organization will help to keep the minds of your employees on the right track.

Training New Employees

 A very important aspect of the job of a manager will be the training of new employees. This informed chain of command becomes crucial in larger business situations and will usually require additional staff assigned particularly to ensuring that the current training received by new employees is up-to-date and effective. Since the actions and training methods of your managerial team will directly reflect onto you as the owner, you really have to be certain that they are making the right choices.

1. Begin by gathering all the main decision-makers involved in your company and agreeing on every aspect of your business. If people in power feel that the business should be ran in two different ways it will be very detrimental to your business as a whole, especially during the training of new employees an the initial stages of incorporation.
2. Take a look at the decisions you have made and match them up to the way your business currently runs and the employees who run it. Who is doing the work and what work are they doing? If you have already been observing your business and are looking for ways to improve, apply the results you get from that to a list of areas that your business is lacking or excelling in.
3. With all of these results compiled you can begin to make changes or tweaks that will actually make a difference. Replacing or phasing out weak links entirely from your team is always an option, but you never want to throw away a dedicated employee. Consider using private, constructive criticism to better guide your key players in the right direction in all areas of their work. If you don't feel comfortable or feel as if it is inappropriate to single out any employee for the particular problem, consider addressing the entire workforce as a team to discuss the changes that need to be made around the workplace.