Are you tired of staff drama? Does all your time seem to be spent resolving staff issues? If your answer is yes, then this article is for you. It’s time you claimed your role as team leader and these three steps will help you end the drama.

Claiming your leader role sounds easy, but may actually be the hardest step. You must stop and take an honest assessment of your current style of leadership and be willing to change. Albert Einstein’s quote sums it up best: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

The good news is you can make the shift easily using a model you may already embrace in the dog areas of your operations…benevolent leadership.

Claim Your Leader Role
It’s time you assert your own leader role and create the company culture that you want for your business. You must lead by example, so if you expect no drama or negativity from your staff, you must be positive and hold staff accountable when drama starts to creep into a situation.

Key to this approach is to act quickly so issues don’t fester and to be consistent in your approach with all staff members. Be specific in outlining your behavior expectations for team members, just as you do for the dogs in playgroups. Raising the bar on your expectations from staff may result in most of them rising up to meet or even exceeding them.

Your business mission and values contribute to the core policies and procedures of your operations. Upon reflection, your best performers probably align and “buy-in” to your company’s mission and values. It’s easy for them to comply and perform well as they feel like a good fit in your business.

There are two primary reasons for the complacency of your under performing employees. First, they may not truly align with your business mission and values or they are not clear to them. Second, their specific role in the business may not be a good fit to their personal goals and strengths.

Use this knowledge to take the emotion out of your staff coaching sessions; there is no blame here on either side. Your business is the round hole and the square pegs just won’t fit.

Document Your Requirements
Detailed job descriptions that specify responsibilities and expectations of each job are an important tool in holding staff accountable for their job performance. When hired, each employee should read and sign their job description as evidence that they know and understand what is expected.

Employee Handbooks are the second key resource of documenting expectations of employees in your business. Your handbook should clearly outline employment policies, benefits and consequences of policy violations. Like the job descriptions, it is important to retain record that each employee has read and agreed to abide by your employee handbook guidelines.

Last, but equally important, are documented policies and procedures that employees are to comply with in completing their assigned job tasks. Make sure your documented procedures reflect accurately how each job is actually being performed in your business. Keeping procedures up-to-date can eliminate the source of a lot of staff drama as you can refer to written documentation when employees disagree on how and when tasks should be completed.

Your Proven Leadership Model
In the pet care industry we have a great model to emulate in becoming great leaders…benevolent dog leadership. Emulate the same benevolent leadership with your staff that you require with the dogs. People deserve the same compassion and you’ll find the same tools do work.

Let’s translate the benevolent dog leadership model into a staff leadership model:

Qualities - The four key items from Off-Leash Dog Play: A Complete Guide to Safety and Fun all apply to good staff leadership:

• Posture (carry yourself as a leader)
• Attitude (calm & confident)
• Consistent in enforcing limits or boundaries (policies & procedures)
• Using proactive intervention to prevent undesired behaviors.

Tools - As a leader you must have the right tools in your toolbox:

• Controlling resources converts to providing equipment, supplies and education for staff to succeed in their roles
• Utilizing obedience cues converts to documented policies & procedures
• Setting each staff member up for success by knowing them as individuals.

Events - Key events that require strong leadership for your staff includes:

• When they are new and learning your organization
• Each situation where changes are made to policies and procedures
• Conflict resolution
• Peak periods when you need teamwork.

Poor performance is a red flag of disconnect and someone that is in survival mode. In these situations, benevolent leaders first look in the mirror to confirm they have fulfilled their responsibilities. Next, they serve as a compassionate leader for their employee; helping them achieve their goals which in turn helps the business to succeed.

Managing staff can be challenging, but also very rewarding. As you focus on changing and improving your own leader skills, you’ll spend less time on drama and more time on developing employees that energize you.

Susan Briggs provides business management and training resources for the pet industry. As “The Dog Gurus,” Susan and Robin Bennett’s mission is to improve safety in the off-leash dog play industry through their membership site at www.SafeOffLeashDogPlay.com. Susan’s career in the pet industry began as co-founder of Urban Tails, a large multiservice pet care center in Houston Texas. Staff training is a passion for Susan resulting in development of Crystal Canine, a consulting and training resource for the pet industry (www.crystalcanine.com). In 2008 her first book Off-Leash Dog Play: A Complete Guide to Safety & Fun co-authored with Robin Bennett was published. She is also author of Counting Noses, the only accounting and financial guide customized for the pet industry.

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