It is no surprise that in business the greatest pressure is – of course – on the boss. Whilst staff enjoy up to 14 days per year paid sick leave with 4 weeks annual leave, and cumulative long service leave, the poor business owner who has their house on the line often is unable to take a sick day, rarely gets a holiday and certainly gets little choice when to be able to manage this. However, being a “super human” boss isn’t the path to prosperity – just the path to a heart attack.
So here are some tips to get the organisational management and people structure right.
Today’s generation is about a flat management structure, the flatter the better. A meritoracy, where position is based on performance. Bullsh!t seems to come as a bi-product of hierarchical structures. ( You know the sort of thing – I need a car parking space/an assistant/better car / should be promoted to the same position as him/her etc. )
Here are some rules:
Rule 1 No assistants
Rule 2 Pay is measured against performance
Rule 3 Bonus all the staff on group performance
Rule 4 Have regular team meetings
Rule 5 Promote self help and survival tactics and don’t hide the bad news (or the good news) from the staff
Rule 6 Do not tolerate system abuse or bullsh!t from the staff (and occasionally use the f-word to get your point over – see next post, Management by the F Word)
Rule 7 Use contract staff wherever possible (No risk, no politics, pay on performance, no payroll tax, no hassle)
