The truth is, an employee is a product of the environment within which they work. Good employees are not found; they are made.

If your company does not communicate its needs to its employees, does not provide them the necessary tools to succeed and appropriate compensation and advancement opportunities, then your company will be found lacking in good employees.

A paycheck is the very least a company should do for any of its employees.

A manager might think she owes the employee nothing more than a weekly paycheck. But what then does that manager owe herself?

Doesn't a manager deserve the best trained, highest motivated and eager employees? Are not employees with something to gain of significantly more value than employees with only a paycheck to lose?

These are important questions to which the answer in every case is yes. A bigger question still is, "How do I get my employees to that point?"

The first step in getting there is to communicate to your employees exactly what is expected of them. This does not involve yelling at them when they make a mistake. Instead, it involves taking the time to answer the question and then conveying the information to the employee in an easy to understand, no room for argument manner.

The tool I utilize to do this is call a Skill Acquisition Record (SAR).

An SAR is like a checklist.

-It lists job skills and the date that the skills should be acquired by.
-It has a place for both the employee and manager to initial to indicate that the skill has been learned to the satisfaction of both.
-It indicates which other employees are capable of teaching the skills
-It indicates the reward for acquiring the necessary skills
-It indicates the penalty for failing to acquire the necessary skills

The idea is simple: From the first day an employee arrives at work, he/she is presented with an SAR. Under the section entitled FIRST DAY, there might be very few items listed, but they will be items of importance to both the employee and employer. Items under First Day might include TOUR OF THE FACILITY, EMPLOYEE PAPERWORK COMPLETED, INTRODUCTIONS and other important tasks for the First Day.

Once a task is completed, the employee and manager can initial the SAR, indicating that they both agree the task has been completed to their respective satisfaction. Keeping the First Day tasks simple, will introduce the employee to the SAR and they will see how they are involved in their own education.

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