Are You Making This Mistake With Staff?

Once or twice a week, I’ll visit my business bank and drop off a deposit.

Over the years, I’ve gotten to know the folks at the branch I visit. As a general rule, I hate banks. However, I do like a few people that happen to work at them. Banks, in my world, are not my friends. They’re out to make a buck on my back with minimal “value-delivered” in return. And that is the part that fries me.

Anyway, I digress.

As I dropped my deposit into the tray, the gal asked and I exchanged our usual pleasantries. Then, she asked, “Has one of your employees been making deposits for you?”

Already, alarm bells are going off. Something’s wrong based on the tone of her voice.

So, I take the bait and ask, “Has she not been doing it properly?”

To her credit, the banker began to make excuses as to why she could stamp the checks, total them up and write all this down on the deposit slip. She totally tried to cover for her while letting me know I needed to train them.

Hmm…So, my office manager is making deposits but doesn’t do it right, eh?

It got me to thinking: Am I taking something as simple as this and not training my staff how to do it right, because I think it’s simple and easy? Yeah. I’m guilty.

I’m not mad at the banker or my office manager. I was peeved at myself. I should have not assumed she knew what to do.

It makes me wonder what else I have assumed staff know how and what to do and never explained or trained them how I wanted it handled.

What do you think your staff is doing on your behalf that might not be up to par with yours or your vendors’ expectations?

Goes to show us “know-it-alls” that tasks we take for granted all started out with us being shown how to do them ourselves. We ought to automatically assume others don’t know what we know and train them what to do and how to do it from the very beginning.

Good lesson for me. Hopefully, you can use my lack of understanding to help your staff with your proverbial “bank deposits.”

Oh, one last thing: before any deposit goes to the bank by any hand other than your own, you better know how much it was, what the mix of cash and checks were (I did not and now do) and you’d better get a receipt back from the bank in turn (or, also do what I do, which is monitor deposits at the bank). I’m not saying whoever is making your deposits might abscond with funds. I am saying you don’t want to be surprised, ever, by theft.