A “company” is not just bricks and mortar. It’s not just a name. It’s not just a product or service. The biggest determinate in a business’ personality (and ultimately, its success or failure) is its people.
Why, then, do business owners allow “people-problems” to go unaddressed?
Before we answer that, let’s explore some typical people-problems that surround us in our companies. Here’s a shortlist:
- A salesperson that doesn’t bring in new business.
- The staff member that likes to bring personal drama to work every day.
- Someone with a poor work ethic.
- A person who lies, cheats or deceives.
- The employee that makes a lot of mistakes; incompetence.
- A selfish person that serves him or herself first; the team second (or worse).
- Someone that resists positive change.
- The happy employee that is always extremely “busy,” but doesn’t accomplish much that’s worthwhile.
- The once fabulous team member that has slipped into mediocrity.
Feel free to take a minute here to add to this list…it’s endless! Now ask yourself candidly, “Do we have any of these people-problems at (your company)?” It’s likely you do! Now ask yourself, “What am I doing about it?” If you’re like most business owners, the true answer to that question is either “not much” or “absolutely nothing;” you’ve just accepted it.
There it is! The biggest mistake business owners make! If you’re guilty, please stay with me!
Now, we’ll answer the question, “Why do business owners allow people-problems to go unaddressed?”
How’s this for starters:
- No time or energy.
- Too busy.
- The person may quit, besides, nobody’s perfect.
- I don’t like conflict.
- He/she will only make excuses and be offended and it won’t work anyway.
- I don’t want to make waves.
- There are a lot of great traits the person has; I don’t want to be too critical.
- I’m loyal to my people for better or for worse.
The complete list of answers to why people don’t address people-problems is just as long as the list of problems people have…it’s endless! Now ask yourself, “Why aren’t you addressing the specific people problems you have at your company?”
If you answered the questions above candidly, you may be starting to squirm in your seat right now. You may be tempted to make the conscious decision to stop reading this, stop thinking about this and bury your head back in the proverbial sand. Here’s a shortlist of why you shouldn’t do that:
- It’s costing your company money.
- It’s killing the morale of the very best people on your team.
- Your customers are either directly or indirectly suffering.
- Your business is not as valuable as it could be.
- You’re losing growth opportunities.
- You’re personally suffering from stress and frustration caused by poor performers.
- You’re robbing the poor-performer of a personal and/or professional growth opportunity.
- You’re making your own life more complicated than it needs to be.
I encourage you to go ahead and take my next statement personally: If you – the business owner – aren’t addressing the people-problems in your company, then unfortunately, you are also a people-problem. Please read that last sentence again; it’s very important. The intention of this honest feedback isn’t to hurt your feelings; it’s meant to be constructive. We want to help you help yourself, which in turn will allow you to help your own company. Would you like assistance developing a plan to address your “people-problems”? Why not give us a call? We can help.
