How to talk to problem employees

Happy employees

Nothing you tell your employees should ever come as a surprise.  This is especially important with bad news.  If you are telling an employee that they are at risk of being fired, and they had no idea, then you are the one who made a mistake, not them.  But don’t tell your employees about their…

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When company values become harmful

I’ll get straight to the point: company values become harmful when they are not enforced.  This happens more often than you would imagine, and usually because of good intentions. But the harm is always greater than the perk.  The wrong way to use values Let’s say you claim a core value at your business is…

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Which work should you delegate?

Delegation: it’s a chore.  Don’t you sometimes wish you could delegate the task of delegating? After all, it takes just as much time to have to explain something as it does to do it yourself.  Here’s a trick to make delegation easier and last longer: Don’t delegate tasks: delegate responsibility.  Start by deciding what you…

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What do your clients do after you leave the room?

There is no fadeout, no ending music, no rolling credits.  After you leave the room, your clients’ lives go on, just like your life goes on.  So what are your clients doing after you leave the room? And why should you care? Nobody wants to buy your product It’s a common refrain on this blog. …

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The Glue Your Business Needs Every Day

What has to happen in your business?  When people think of business functions, they tend to list marketing, sales, finance, human resources, maybe production as well.  However you make your list, there is one fundamental business function that ties all the rest together; the glue that makes it work, if you will.  Management.  Collaborate more…

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Who are you hiring?

You have described the problem you are solving and used that to decide what role you need to hire.  Let’s now transition to “who” you have to hire.  And yes, I did say transition. It’s a journey, not a step.  Hiring for impact Answer one question before making further decisions: Which roles have the biggest…

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Your employees don’t know what to do

Job titles are great for algorithms in job search sites; job roles are better for managing your business.  Following my March article explaining this difference, I received some great feedback from people writing roles for their own business.  The next step is to instruct your team. Does everybody know what they should be doing? It’s…

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Every business has a business culture: what is yours?

Business culture is not optional.  Like gravity or photosynthesis, whether or not you acknowledge it, it is there.  The question is never: do we have a company culture; the question is always: do we have a good company culture or a damaging company culture? And if it’s going to happen anyway, you may as well…

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Why are you managing your business?

This blog talks about business management. Indeed my whole business is about the craft of business management.  And if the business is the idea, management is what turns the idea into action.  But what are you managing, exactly? How do you manage an “idea” into a “reality”? The best way to answer this question is…

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Write job roles, not job titles

What has to happen in your business? This is an easy one.  Sales, marketing, human resources, finance, and let’s add legal and customer service. To begin with, anyway.  Here’s the catch: imagine you hire a new marketing employee. And you tell this person to “do marketing”.  What are they doing all day? Is it what…

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