Personnel problems are among the greatest business problems managers and owners face. They include not having enough people, having too many people, and having unproductive people.

A couple of years ago, an advertising company placed a national ad for a headache medicine. In the ad, Jane, the manager, enters her department to see a line of very unhappy customers at the counter and the sales clerk on the phone (I am sure that none of us have had this happen before). When Jane approaches the clerk, she tells Jane that her friend just broke up with a boy and she can’t hang up. Jane grabs her head and runs for the headache medicine.

There are two types of sales staff members -- sales associates and clerks. Clerks are those people you hire to punch numbers into a machine. These are the people who give retailing a bad name.

Outside of terminating and disciplining your personnel, the hardest part of a manager’s job is hiring and training. Both fall under a human resources program.

No matter what its size, every company must have a human resources program. A good program can be instrumental in the continued development of positive morale and a training program, besides reducing turnover.

However, other situations can cause high turnover and bad hiring. A colleague and I were talking the other day about bad owner habits. We both agreed that this is unintentionally the stem of most hiring and training problems for small companies.

Small business owners take every aspect of their business as personal -- causing the belief that no one else can be trusted or can handle a given job. In a way, some owners don’t want to have a proper training program, believing they will have to give up authority. It is easy to forget why you hired your staff -- to work!

Delegation through training is the key. Providing your employees with proper training programs, job descriptions, and responsibilities provides a productive working environment.

Delegation is what makes a good manager, but there are some important things to keep in mind when delegating. Keep your lines of communication open, don’t overload the person you’re delegating to, and praise a job well done.

If the job is not accomplished, refrain from coming down hard. This discourages your staff and will inhibit their ability to accomplish future tasks. Remember that, as the owner or manager, you have your own ways of doing a job. Do not attack a staff member for going about a project differently than you would; let them accomplish the work in their own way.

Show your staff that you have the confidence in their ability to do the job. Allowing them the chance to succeed and fail not only helps retain good people, but also makes your staff stronger and more stable.

Stop running for the headache medicine. Let your staff do the jobs that do not require your time and energy. This will allow you to accomplish the tasks that really do require your time with out sacrificing your time.

Copyright (c) Elements of Success; David Wing and Retail Advisors. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, contact David Wing at david@retailadvz.com or 1-800-624-5261. Visit the Retail Advisors at http://www.retailadvz.com. Helping Independent Retailers Since 1988.