Get Them What They Need to Succeed

In many organizations, workers may want to do a top quality job but simply don’t have what they needed to accomplish the task. 

If you job is to build a house, you must have a hammer and nails, a saw and most likely some training on how to build certain critical elements.  If your manager does not provide these needed items and just sends you out to “get the job done”, the reaction of most workers is frustration.  They cannot help but feel that they are being set up for ultimate failure (which will result at some point in their firing).  To avoid this as long as possible, they fall back on “looking like they are working hard” but not actually accomplishing much to bring success to the company as a whole. The one party that absolutely notices this is the Customer (who’s home is not being efficiently built which increases the cost of the work). 

This benefits no one…not the worker, not the manager, not the company and not the customer.  Seldom does depriving your workers of the tools they need to do their job right lead to satisfied customers or repeat business. Management simply must get employees what they need in order for them to have a fair chance at performing their job successfully.

I’m not suggesting that management should fund every worker’s wish list of “wants”, but rather that we will get you whatever you need for you to do you job properly and be a success at our company.  “What you need” doesn’t have to be a piece of equipment and it need not cost a cent.  What you “need” may be the proper tool or piece of equipment to do the job…or it may be adequate support from other departments, training and development, manpower help from other departments or from temps, or just support from upper management when standards need to be enforced.  The power of this statement is that it shows workers that you are not setting them up for failure, but instead outfitting them for success and are willing to invest time and money if necessary to bring their success to life.  This step alone does much to build powerful relationships between workers and management and will yield you great returns over the long haul.