Are Weeds Destroying Your Employee Garden?

I don't know about you, but I noticed the first weed of the season in my yard about 10 weeks ago.  And that's all I did - I just noticed it.  I would like to think that if I had gone and pulled it out right then; I would not have had another patch in another area of my yard a few days later.

Weeds are like that, one pops up and if left untreated your whole yard is quickly over taken by other weeds.  Next the home owners association sends a "friendly reminder" to get rid of your weeds or it will cost you.  Then the neighbors drive by and think "Those people just don't care about their yard!"

From a human resource standpoint weeds are like poor performing employees.  They get noticed more than your good employees.  They stick out as ugly and menacing to your customers, vendors and other employees.  If left untreated, like the weeds in my yard, they soon spread and start affecting other areas of your operation.  In the end they will cost you one way or the other.

As any good landscaper will tell you, the best way to prevent a yard full of weeds is a regular and professional grade treatment program, BEFORE the situation gets out of hand.  The same is true with your employees - you need to have a plan to address potential "weeds" in your workplace.  You need a treatment program to keep your employees from turning ugly and menacing and eventually choking out the good employees.

Your landscaper has a variety of tools and materials he uses to prevent and eliminate weeds in your yard.  Besides just pulling out the weeds, he/she uses chemicals that are effective on the types of weeds you have and uses the right amount so it doesn't harm the various other types of plants nearby.  I bet the really good landscapers even make periodic inspections to make sure the treatment works.

Your human resource treatment program should be thorough and effective as well.  Some things you will want to include are:

• Hiring procedures that effectively screen out potential "weeds"
• Standards and expectations of employees' conduct that are shared with all employees starting on Day 1
• Fair and consistent disciplinary procedures
• Regular performance feedback sessions; AND
• Training for you, your supervisors and employees on all of the above.

Noticing a weed is the first step in having a beautiful yard - taking action to prevent and eliminate weeds is the most important step.  I wish you a lush and attractive yard and a successful and motivated workplace.

And You Wonder Why Employees Can't Support Their CEOs

The CEO of a well known company (GoDaddy) has pushed some limits in the past and recently irked PETA and others.  Seems this popular "leader" was enjoying a much needed vacation in Africa when his "help the masses" spirit kicked in.  He decided to help the local tribes people by killing an elephant that was destroying crops.

In part of his interview he seemed satisfied that he had provided a valuable service to the people by providing them with food and saving their struggling crops.

The old story of "give a man a fish" immediately came to mind.  In my opinion he fell short of providing a truly valuable service to the tribe by not spending a little more and providing them with tools that would provide a more permanent solution.  I can't help but wonder if he treats his employees the same way.  It's important that a company leader provide tools to their employees that offer more longer lasting solutions to their work problems.  This is the best way to empower and engage employees.

Another thing I wonder about is if he even considered that some of his thousands of employees may be PETA supporters.  While he may try cloaking his love of hunting behind a curtain of supposedly helpfulness, his employees can see right through it.  PETA awarded Bob Parsons the "scummiest CEO" of the year award - I'll just give him the most arrogant CEO of the year award for not considering his employees before boasting about his exploits.