Diary of a start-up: managing staff
In a new series of blog posts offering business advice to smaller operators and service providers, Alex Czajkowski, former marketing director at Sportingbet and current head of software company eGaming 2.0, offers his take on incentivising staff while juggling the hundred other responsibilities of someone heading a small business...
I’M A SELF-confessed lousy manager. Not that I can’t plan your every deliverable and sit on you to make sure it gets done… but even typing those words gives me an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. And having tried the alternative “ saying to people “we’re at A, get us to Z, if you have any questions come and find me” “ only to discover a dog’s breakfast of unfathomable problems as a result, I’ve had to abandon that approach too.
So when it comes to managing people, I have to cheat. The best cheat is to hire really self-motivated people who share exactly your goals and are ambitious, hard-working and want to get ahead… OK, go ahead, laugh, but there are some of them out there.
But when those aren’t available, with a newly inherited staff of 50-plus, I have a simple technique that gives me an accountable but still hands-off management style.
Under this rule, everybody is given a number. Your number may be the number of new funded players, or the number of new affiliate accounts open and active, or the rise in traffic from SEO, or the per cent decrease in customer defections. But, together, we’ll look at your role, look at what you do, and together find a number that you can miss, or meet, or beat. With the right number attached to their role, to their head and to their bonus, goals quickly become clearer, distractions minimized, and success or failure non-debatable
The tough part, of course, is coming up with the right number. As a manager, it’s important that you pick the right number, because you will get what you asked for. I saw a bookmaker throw the occasional winning players out of his site, chasing away those expensively acquired customers, because his performance was measured – and bonused – on his win percentage, not his gross win.
Setting those targets isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. The target approach helps to beat the daily drudgery and time-consumption of micro management, freeing you up to get on with the rest of your job, while delivering more than a sweeping “make it so” ever can.
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