The Order of Things

I have just finished reading Gordon Ramsay's second book 'Playing with Fire'. One theme that comes through his book and is key to his success, is his loyalty to his staff. He takes the time to select them based on his criteria, and when selected, he invests in them to make them high performers. Many of the chefs that work for him are Michelin Star chefs (the Olympic Gold Medal of Cooking).

I read Richard Branson's book 'Losing my Virginity' and one of the strong themes that came through his book was that he puts his staff first. If the staff are happy and well trained then the customer gets quality service and spends money - then the share holders are happy.

The Sirota Institute in the United States has surveyed over 3 million people over 30 years and found the following top three things staff want in a job.

1. Equity - a fair days pay and a say in their job and work environment.

2. Acknowledgment - staff want to be recognised for doing a good job and for the contribution they make towards success - this does not have to be money.

3. Camaraderie - the research showed that people will stay in a job if they like the people they work with and if the social aspect of the job is fun and encouraging.

Get these three things right and your business or team will thrive. The key to success is to look after your people, they make things happen. Invest in your team and they will invest heavily in your business. This does not mean baby sitting or giving them everything they want. It means treating them fairly, tapping into their knowledge, not micro managing, providing a great place to work and acknowledging the fact that success is a team effort and where possible acknowledging individual contributions to that success.

For many leaders the outcomes of profit and customer happiness are dominant, when in actual fact they are by products of staff development and quality customer service and products.

For a sporting twist (fancy me having a sporting twist to things) check out this weeks audioblog to see what I mean. It is titled 72000 minutes.