Train employees well enough that they could get another job but treat them well enough that they never want to. – from Excellent Advice for Living
This one is close to my heart. I firmly believe that you need to find good employees and invest in them. Employees can make a big difference in how well you succeed as well as how efficiently you can run an organization. If you trust employees, you can get a lot done, but takes work.
There’s an old joke that expresses a similar sentiment. Here it is as a quote attributed to Peter Drucker, a well known management consultant.
Perhaps one of the best reasons to train people is time. Time is a valuable resource, and the more it’s wasted, the less you get done, the less competitive you are, and the less your employers earn their pay.
Train them and benefit more.
If you worry about training those that might not be worth investing in, that’s hard to know. Train everyone, but hold them accountable to use that training and improve. If not, cut them loose and move on.
I’ve been posting New Words on Fridays from a book I was reading, however, a friend thought they were a little depressing. They should be as they are obscure sorrows. I like them because they make me think.
To counter-balance those, I’m adding in thoughts on advice, mostly from Kevin Kelley’s book. You can read all these posts under the advice tag.