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Recruiting Government Workers As Franchisees
Many believe a leaner government promotes better freedoms with respect to free enterprise and the right to free contract. Leaner governments make fewer laws because of their enforcement capabilities. Under our current direction with high government debt loads and low unemployment we will begin to see a downsizing of government at every level. We see it in a few closures of military bases. The Federal Government is the United States' second largest employer behind Wal-Mart with about the same level of ambition, intelligence and energy. It employs over 900,000 people without including military, enforcement agencies, governmental administrators and or politicians. If the government (Federal) cut itself by 20% and we believe 40% is more in order: that would be 180,000 job cuts or about 3600 people per state at 20%. Larger states like California could be as high as 21,600 at a twenty percent reduction This is a significant number of losses? Yes and No. This is a lot of people who could be looking for jobs. Yet when you consider that the last month 250,000 jobs were created in the private sector and unemployment is now around 5-6%, which is good. That means anyone who really wants a job has one. When the government cuts jobs due to IT computer work being able to do most of the paper work, will these fine folks in government be good candidates for a franchise system? Obviously, these downsized government employees will have available to them monies from several other agencies to lessen the blow of being laid off. Similar to the G.I. Bill, which allows re-training monies for military personnel, they will receive unemployment benefits and special treatment from the Small Business Administration. They will be able to qualify for grants, give-aways and low interest loans. If they a Franchisor's high standards, then they will make just over three or four times what they previously made in many cases. There are some problems with government workers in many cases and they are as follows: They Haven't Had Incentives To Work Hard And Therefore Generally Don't They Don't Understand Productivity Equals More Profit One Half Of All Government Workers Have Been Brain Washed And Are Totally Stupid They Will Probably Be Looking For Another Government Job We don't mean to diminish the qualifications of civil servants, but to point out the fact that nothing the government does; it does very well. With that regard, we show that the "government model" is inefficient and is a bad influence on those who work in its system. These employees will have to re-tool their education, defrag their brain and re-kindle their hope. If we can bring back the attitude they learned in high school playing team sports, they will work fine. If not, Franchisors should pass them by (ASAP) and move on to other potentially qualified candidate prospects. There are also plus sides to government workers. Here are some of the reasons why civil servants will work despite all the negatives we associate with our inept, bureaucratic and wasteful government: Some form of government is absolutely necessary and we are better off with what we have rather than none at all. We should not condemn those who have chosen to work for the government based upon the fact that government as a whole is very inefficient. Point in fact, not all government employees are lazy; it's simply the structure that surrounds them. Many government employees are working there because they want to help people. Almost all government employees hate the bureaucracy as much as we do. There are other reasons why a Franchisor should look at downsized government workers. For instance; the bureaucratic brainwashed civil servants are good for the following reasons: They Are Used To Being Told When To Eat, Sleep And Use The Rest Room They Are Used To Following Absolute Guidelines They Are Content To Stay Where They Are - And Make Great Long-Term Franchisees This Opportunity Exceeds Their Highest Expectations by 200% They Won't Complain Because They Know Better They Will Thank You Later For Saving Them All in all a Franchisor is wise to look into the civil servants and government downsized workers as potential franchisees to grow their systems. Some in the Politically Correct World might differ in thought from the truths in this article, yet it is what it is, no matter how you wish to state it or how you wish to play it. A reality based process for determining if this strategy is right for your franchised companies growth is a must, because it does account for a huge number of potential new franchisee team members. Don't sugar coat it, think about it. "Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs
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RELATED ARTICLES
Building High Performing Teams: Putting the I Back in Teamwork Ever watched a really brilliant idea meet with resistance and die? Or been involved in the battle of wills created when two people (or two departments) meet head on with their independent agendas? Equally painful perhaps, have you ever sat through one tireless and non-productive meeting after the next? Believe it or not these issues are simply different sides of the same coin. Getting the right people talking together effectively and generating desirable outcomes is what high performance teamwork is all about. And it doesn't just happen. Think creatively about how to empower teams and reap the rich benefits of people's collective wisdom. Building Teams -You see it everywhere A college football team has it. A corporation has it. Even a growing family has it. These three organizations share a common desire to build their prospective teams. For example, a college football team continually needs to bring in new players to replace the graduating players. A corporation builds its team to help it grow and meet the needs of clients. Young, married couples who are having children are building their own family teams. Each of these results has a different outcome. In the end, the goal is to work together, help each other, and collectively reach a higher level of performance. Whatever team you are currently involved with, it is surprising at how much organization is needed to build a great team. Furthermore, the following teams have their own equally important approach as to how they successfully build their prospective teams. Team Work So much has been written on this subject; Team Work, it's almost hard to add any thing at this point. T E A M; TOGETHER EVERYONE ACCOMPLISHES MORE. That is really easy to say and it makes for a great acronym. It seems it has even hit corporate America. They have integrated it into TQM "Total Quality Management". They call it "team building". They talk about quality. They talk about communication. They talk about goal setting. They talk about productivity. They talk about this; they talk about that. That's the problem; it's all talk. The real problem is that you can't talk about team building and downsizing in the same sentence. Building means growing, expanding, planning, etc. Downsizing is tearing down, discharging, shrinking. Which is it? Either you are building a winning team or you are starting over. If they are going to do both, they should downsize first and then team build second. Otherwise, you can talk all you want because no one is listening. The people are: either laid off, fearful of their job or not interested in the B.S. anymore Top Ten Things About Team Building People who lead the best teams realise early on that they cannot run their business alone. It will either kill them or they will fail. The Secret of Successful Events Reed Employment made a survey of their clients and compiled a report called Motivating People at Work. This revealed that social events that were both organised and paid for by employers have risen by 31 percent. This included team building days for departments and fun days open to the whole company and their families. There is no doubt that this trend has continued over the course of this year with most event management companies reporting bumper years. Team Development in the Little Leagues A grassy field, two nets, a soccer ball and some playful youth is the ideal setting for a little league soccer game. You may have recalled yourself of a time when you observed these little league events. You enter a spacious field of green, housing numerous miniature soccer fields all lined up next to each other, and young athletes running after a ball. You may have been more overwhelmed by the abundance of children playing, rather than the actual soccer game itself. But what you can appreciate from this is the sight of children utilizing their endless energy and their parents and relatives rooting for them from the sidelines. Hand Out Warm Glows Do you remember how you felt after your last interaction with another person either on the phone or face to face? That person - it could have been a customer, a colleague, a salesperson, a friend or even a member of your family. Did they make you feel good, uplifted and more positive, did they leave you feeling neutral or did they make you feel down and more negative. Empower Your Trainees One of the most memorable quotes that I heard from a trainer came from a man I knew named Rizal: Corporate Team Building There is a WHOLE lot of talk these days about Corporate Team Building. There are many, many options: vacation packages, rope courses, on-going office games, ice-breakers, etc. Management can also purchase videos, books, and seminar packages to assist them in building up their organization into a team worthy of belonging. A little later I will give you some ideas of where you can go for information on these team building tools. Motivating Teams Introduction: How To Help A Sick Team Become Healthy Team Building Question: Resolving Workplace Conflict: 4 Ways to a Win-Win Solution The effects of conflict in the workplace are widespread and costly. Its prevalence, as indicated by three serious studies, shows that 24-60% of management time and energy is spent dealing with anger. This leads to decreased productivity, increased stress among employees, hampered performance, high turnover rate, absenteeism and at its worst, violence and death. Building Your Dream Marketing Team The Fantasy: Your marketing budget is packed to the brim with money to help build your dream marketing team. You hire nothing short of the best and life is good. Joy and Laughter in the Workplace: Lessons From the Land of OZ Turbulent Twisters How the P.R.I.D.E. Team Changed my Call Center Several years ago I took an assignment as a Manager in an outsourcing Call Center. Shortly after I started it became clear that several areas within the department needed improvement; absenteeism was high (19%), call takers lacked the enthusiasm about the programs to deliver quality customer service and seemed unconnected to the goals and metrics. With the overall morale of the center in a less than pleasant state the management team weighed our options. We determined that any new rules rolled out by management may be perceived as "us vs. them" by the call taking teams. Rather than try to manage down with force we decided to get the people who were doing the work involved in the improvements. It was clear, in order to make positive changes the call takers had to embrace the existing goals and embrace any changes we tried to make. What better way to do that then to include them in the process of making the changes. From this idea the P.R.I.D.E. team was formed. People Really Involved in Developing Excellence The first step was to roll out the concept of the P.R.I.D.E. team to the supervisors. I explained how the team would work and what we hoped to accomplish with it. The supervisors then rolled out the concept in their team meetings. Basic Roll out: Each team on the floor votes for a representative from their team to attend the P.R.I.D.E. meetings. P.R.I.D.E representatives gather issues, concerns and ideas from their teams and present them at the P.R.I.D.E meetings. The P.R.ID.E. Team will take action for improvement based on the ideas and discussions from each meeting. Meeting minutes will be distributed to the floor. Once the roll out was complete and the teams elected representatives, the first meeting was called to order. We congratulated the new P.R.I.D.E. team representatives for being voted in by their teams and broke the ice by getting to know each other. The group agreed on some ground rules and established time limits for discussion. I reiterated that the meetings will not be a gripe session; we will focus on improvement. We began discussing the issues challenging the center. The high rate of Absenteeism (19%) was the issue we chose to bring to the table first. We asked the group why absenteeism was so high and asked what we as the management team could do to help. The representative's answers provided insight and ideas to improve attendance. Suggestions ranged from things as simple as being welcomed to work in the morning, to more challenging tasks such as supervisors building better relationships with their team members. The ideas and thoughts we tapped into gave us direction to improve this metric. Instead of pushing an elephant up the stairs, we were following the lead to reach our destination. After listening to and acting on the P.R.I.D.E. Team's suggestions we started to see some very impressive changes. Over a three month period Absenteeism dropped to 3%! People were more excited about doing their jobs and finding ways to improve. There was a general buzz around the center. Communication was one of the keys to our success. In addition to the P.R.I.D.E. Team members discussing the meetings with their team members and other co-workers, we documented the conversations from the meeting then distributed them to the floor to ensure no "behind closed door" perceptions. If time allowed supervisors would bring the P.R.I.D.E meeting notes to team meetings for discussions as well. The meetings evolved. The more meetings we ran the more root causes we discovered. We listened to every issue big and small. We created subgroups to focus on large issues. Sometimes there were issues we could not do anything about, but we always provided an explanation on why action could not be taken. Listening to the representatives' ideas and making changes based on them created buy in for change. The call takers were more apt to make the ideas work because they came from them. After the P.R.I.D.E. program was well in place, I turned it over to the senior supervisors to run. It was a great development opportunity and helped build relationships throughout the group. Overall the P.R.I.D.E Team created a paradigm shift in the center. The existence and actions of the team sent a message that everyone in the center was part of the same team. The representatives realized their importance. There was only "us" instead of "us and them". The program created involvement, strengthened commitment to the company and opened communication gateways. How To Encourage Ideas From Your Team At Meetings You're at a meeting with key staff. You want some new ideas to address the topic. Looking around at this group of creative, ambitious, bright people, you say, "Let's get some fresh ideas on this. Who's got something?" Outdoor Team Development ? Harmless Fun or Serious Learning? The Sales Director had organised a great conference; the venue was first class, the service excellent and the content of the workshops and presentations very motivational. The only potential "fly in the ointment" was the team-building afternoon which was scheduled to take place outdoors as evidenced by the memo outlining the fact that waterproof jackets, trousers and boots should be brought along to the conference. Motivation - The Benefits of Spending Time with Your Team Benefit 1 - You get to understand them better If You Can?t See It, They Won?t Do It Recently, while developing a customer service program, I asked my client to provide me with detailed descriptions of behaviors he wanted his team members to engage in. He called me back a short time later and told me that his department heads were having a difficult time with the assignment. They knew what the employees were doing wrong, but they couldn't put into words what excellent performance looked like. Team Work There's nothing that matches the power of teamwork to accomplish amazing results beyond your wildest goals and aspirations. Teamwork evokes unflagging spirit, selflessness and dedication. If any one watched one of the CBC reality shows series of "Survivor" you could viscerally feel the power of teamwork in action. This particular show was set with all the "superstar" survivors. They were single, powerful players with well honed survivor skills. The game changed when two players formed a much deeper alliance becoming a couple. As their bond grew the caring, support, and selflessness heightened their senses as they strategized to win. The other 'trojans" became almost laughable, as mere pawns of the couples' strategies. The couples results were stunning. They won almost every "challenge" they faced.
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