Your employees in the horse business are a reflection of your facility. Your customers interact with them, your horses depend on them and your business will rise or sink based on how they perform.
Quite a load they bear, isn’t it?
Many horse business owners make the mistake of taking too relaxed an approach to managing employees. It isn’t necessary to adopt a Nazi-like attitude toward stable workers, but giving them free rein will result in the sinking we just talked about.
Staff Meetings
Communication is the key to managing a successful stable (and successful employees). If they don’t know what they’re doing right or wrong, they can’t improve and they might get worse. Staff meetings are a great way to keep the lines of communication open.
Set a date each week for staff meetings. Prepare for them the night before and decide exactly what you want to discuss.
Staff meetings are a great time to talk about:
- Client complaints
- Upcoming events (and preparation for them)
- Changes to the schedule
- Ways in which stable employees could do their jobs better
- Client praise
- New additions to the staff
A staff meeting doesn’t have to last longer than ten or fifteen minutes, and it doesn’t have to be formal. Just ask everyone to gather in the tack room or barn office, and you’re all set.
Turn-over
Turn-over is a big problem in the horse business, and your stable employees need to be able to adjust to changes in the staff line-up.
Make it clear that you expect veteran employees to help out newcomers any way they can. This might mean giving tours, explaining policy or helping out with confusing tasks.
Employee Training
This is an area that is severely lacking in many stable management program. Neglecting employee training creates all types of problems:
- Misunderstandings between employees and supervisors
- Substandard work (that will be noticed by clients)
- High turn-over (see above)
- Neglected animals
Most stable management employees have not chosen this as their profession in life. They might be between jobs and looking for a way to pull in extra cash, or they might be interested in better opportunities down the road, such as riding instruction or horse training.
This means that your stable employees are not necessarily well-versed in their job duties. It is therefore your responsibility to ensure they understand every facet of their job description.
Look for more next week on stable employees, including tips on how to pay staff members and how to create efficient schedules.
You might also like:
- 7 Things Stable Managers
Should Never Say - Horse Job Spotlight: Stable Manager
- Horse Business Consulting in Stable Management
- Do Your Employees Care?
- Interview Questions for
Horse Business Employees
About the Author: Laura Jane Thompson is the Chief Equestrian Officer of Riding Instructor University and the Feature writer for the horses section at Suite101. She believes that any horse business can succeed provided its owner practices smart strategy.
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