Staff

This is a post about hiring, maintaining and keeping the staff at your business.

This has been extremely challenging for me. Not being the typical ‘boss’ personality, I am emotional and indecisive. When it comes to being tough and strong, I am weak and honestly I feel more frustrated with myself in times of trouble then with other people. I find it hard to express if I am upset about something, I am sometimes easy on the wrong things and rough on the things that are not so important.

After the crew of CE left in 2013, I was left with cafe to find staff and people who would work there. There were many of our friends who asked to join the crew and they did, from that point on, I had many people come and go. Only a few of the original workers have remained to keep their job at CE. Some have moved on to jobs they felt they were more suited for or more passionate about. Some have left the country to start a new life. Some have left on bad terms… but not many… in fact hardly any. Despite all the ups and downs of staff recruitment and training. I have learnt a few good lessons when it comes to bringing the team together and working with people

For one, hiring your friends can be a tricky but rewarding experience. This is something almost everyone warns you about ‘don’t hire your friends, you won’t be able to tell them anything’, I don’t think its actually about not hiring your friends, but more about choosing which friends you would like to work with. Think about how long you have known them, what experiences you have gone through together, what stories they have told you from their previous jobs and how they react to criticism. If you have found them difficult to communicate with and sensitive in all the other areas of your life, chances are that it will be the same, but amplified in a working environment. I found that people rarely change, small adjustments happen, but the core of their personality is staying with them. If you find dependable, honest and hard-working people that are your friends, it could be a great way of strengthening your relationship to work with them.

I learnt also the importance of being appreciative and caring for your staff. Asking questions instead of giving orders.. if something needs to be done, ask them if they think it should be done and if perhaps they could do it. I once returned from a trip to find the Café dirty, I was very distressed and showed my disappointment and displeasure all over my face. I did not get angry, but I made it clear that it was really not what I wanted to see. The person in charge had been under a tremendous amount of strain, personally and at her other job that she was working. She was taking care of CE for such low wage, because she wanted to help me. My lack of appreciation and approval pushed her off the edge and she was very emotional and quit her job. I lost a good person on the team, because I didn’t take time to assess the situation and went ahead with my first emotional reaction. From that I learnt its better to hold back on the wave of frustration until you try to understand the situation. Look at the big picture and see more then the surface dirt before you lose your cool and also potentially lose a friend and worker. How do I choose people that will work at CE? I usually give them a short interview, ask them what they think they can bring to the team, talk to them about how they feel about our place and explain to them the way we work. We are an extremely casual business, I also work a lot of shifts and waitress, tend the bar, take out the trash and do whatever needs to be. The people who work for me.. actually work with me. I see the whole project of CE as a team effort with less bossing and more co-working. The people who come to work for Culture Exchange, whether its good or not, usually start off as friends or become my good friends during the time we work together. I genuinely love each of my staff and want to make sure they are happy where they work, I have heard from others that perhaps being too involved is not a good thing. The truth is that all their lives are important to me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

We all meet together every other Sunday in a casual meeting, we plan the week ahead and talk through any problems in the management or service areas. We mostly talk about practical things, sometimes we get serious and talk about problems within the team. I used to have a hard time being the coordinator of the meeting. It was hard for me to have confidence to lead. Nothing anyone can say or do can make you gain more confidence, for me, its always a matter of time, experience and practise. The tip for that is ‘Act the way you want to feel’ If you want to be able to communicate, take a leadership role and direct your team, you need to realise that sometimes its not natural, some personalities find it hard, I am one of those. I had to pretend that I was confident in my abilities so many time and stammer out what I wanted to say. Now that I have gone through so many meetings and discussions with the crew, I can honestly say that I do feel confident, able to be in the driving seat and have the guts to say the more difficult things. Don’t panic if you are not where you think you should be, we are growing towards our goals and everyone has to start somewhere.

What to do when a staff member is not cooperating with the team? Now the way I see this, CE is like a family, you cannot get rid of family, the crew that work there have all had ups and downs, so have I. The point is that I never fired someone, I never felt that firing someone is a solution. By inviting them on the crew, I invite all parts of their personality into the bigger family. If someone is seriously disruptive, we try every other method to try and get on the same page. Mostly honest communication will do the trick, love, patience and not getting overly critical and blowing things our of proportion. It so easy to be harsh and to criticise someone, however there is another way. Talk it out, get the guts to actually explain to them how you feel. Most of the time after I have talked with a member of staff about any problem, and they explain to me their reasons, I am no longer upset, I am calm and feel understanding of the situation in a new way.

Design by Sanja Andjelkovic