Business would be simple if it weren’t for those pesky people, eh?
Whether it’s an unreasonable customer or an employee that tests the limits of good sense, as business owners people are often our biggest challenge.
Then we fall into bash sessions. Maybe we're out to dinner with entrepreneur friends and we all start talking about how hard it is to find good employees. Or how customers suck.
The stuff, we’re good at that. The technician part of our job we’ve usually mastered. We can make widgets, cook gourmet burgers, tile floors, or build websites all day if that’s what we got into business to do. Little did we know we would need to be part psychologist to fill our role, especially as our company grows and more and more personalities get thrown into the mix.
So what’s one to do? Stay solo? That’s an option, but there are obviously limits to what one can do. This subject could fill many volumes, more than I can tackle in one email, but here’s a few tips:
1. Talk about what you want, not what you don’t want. It’s tempting to complain about employees or customers, but that’s being problem focused, which often makes you a magnet to more problems.
I like to make a list of all the qualities I want in my next employee, and that can vary based on the position needing filled. I'll go over this with the manager doing the hiring, or possibly others in the department to get their input. Think about the Mary Poppins movie where the kids make the list of their ideal babysitter.
You’re subtly re-programming your brain to look for the right person for the role and not be satisfied with anyone that can fog a mirror. It's like when you're thinking of buying a certain model car and suddenly you start seeing them everywhere...you can teach your brain to do this with other things, like great employees!
Think about your ideal customer as well, and build your business around attracting that person through your doors.
2. Do some self reflection. Someone hit me hard with a question when I was early on in my journey of looking for great employees...are you the kind of person someone of that caliber would want to work for, and is your company the kind of company where someone like that would want to work?
Ouch. We get so focused on what we want but sometimes forget to look at it from their angle. What does it look like for that person when they walk through the door? What are they seeing on our social media?
We can apply it to customers too, does the kind of client you want, want you? What would you need to do differently so they would? Sometimes we need to get our own house in order first.
3. Study leadership. Being raised in Illinois, in my school days I was often exposed to Abraham Lincoln stories. I’ve read some fascinating biographies about the man, and was most impressed with his composure under tremendous amounts of stress and trauma. Today, society likes to kill off our role models with juicy stories and gossip, and of course, they were human. I think it’s important to have examples to look to in situations like these though.
Find your inspiration. You also can’t go wrong studying any John Maxwell book on leadership.
I hope you find some help in this simplified lesson of a much deeper subject, and notice all 3 of these tips start with you. Don’t give up on people, and don't give up on improving yourself and how you go into these situations. And keep the employee bashing out of your vocabulary. Otherwise you'll find yourself having more things to complain about as no one worth keeping will want to work for you.
Ready for some help taking your business to the next level?
To your success,
Jeremy & Stefanie Overturf