People management A medium sized firm that had grown from just a few people to 16 in the space of a few years was having difficulty with some of its people. Morale was low, there were lots of gossip groups and no-one seemed to feel very happy with their lot.
The business development team at Hales Douglass met with the senior managers to discuss the current business structure (which was at that time unclear) and what could be done to improve the situation in the workplace.
A new business structure was recommended, one with a little more hierarchy and a change management process outlined. A performance appraisal system was also developed. Specific people within the organisation were given expanded supervisory roles and the business was grouped into teams.
The entire team was kept advised about the process all along and the CEO made himself available to any of the team who were worried about the process. Many did make a visit to his office and all came out feeling a lot better.
The Hales Douglass business development team encouraged the new supervisors to spend quite a bit of time with their new teams, talking about the issues each person had and discussing how to meet the new requirements of the organisation.
Within two months:
> the teams were bedded down
> everyone knew where they stood
> new policies about performance expectation were developed
> new job descriptions were prepared for everyone
> a yearly performance appraisal system was put in place.
Since then the business has grown even more, become even more successful and shown itself to be one of the most friendly, team orientated businesses on the south coast.
back to top Systems Meet Jim and Barbara, a team of two who run a home-based business and are in paperwork and electronic filing crisis. Jim and Barbara are very different sorts of people. Jim is a bit of a hoarder and likes to keep his documents close by where he can get his hands on them easily (the desk drawer or desk top usually), and Barbara likes to have only what is necessary to hand, with all the rest stored away or discarded if possible.
Things came to a crunch when they found they spent more time looking for documents than actually doing any work. Both seemed to be doing lots of the same things too. Frustration levels increased and tempers frayed. To make matters worse, they’d recently moved house so the office was in a greater state of disarray than usual.
Jim and Barbara sought help from Hales Douglass.
The Business Development team at Hales Douglass immediately swung into action, meeting with the couple to find out what both their separate and combined needs were.
Shortly afterwards Jim and Barbara were provided with an outline for a new structure for all their files, both paper based and computerised. We also helped to negotiate some agreed work patterns with separation of duties so that each one knew who was responsible for what tasks and they didn’t double up. For example, only one is responsible now for filing. They were also introduced to some basic time management principles including using Microsoft Outlook to schedule their recurring tasks so they didn’t have to stress out about remembering them all.
Jim and Barbara implemented the new systems at once with:
> a new filing system
> reorganising their office
> scheduling all recurring tasks
> taking on their new specific roles.
There was still room for both of their idiosyncrasies (Jim still had lots of places to hoard his papers, Barbara had a structured filing system) but the difference now was they both knew where to find things. They knew they wouldn’t forget things (by using Outlook) and as a result their frustration levels instantly decreased. They felt much more in control. And the extra bonus was they found they had more time to pursue their personal interests.
The end result for Jim and Barbara? One and a half years later and they’re still using the same office systems with small adjustments made when necessary to suit changing circumstances. Due to the time and emotional effort saved, Jim and Barbara now spend at least one week out of every four travelling to conferences or visiting friends in far away places. Now that’s making systems work for you!
