How Do I Fire Someone?

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No matter how long you’ve been in business or how many times you’ve done it, firing an employee never gets easy.  In fact, we have found that short of outright theft, most small business owners will do just about anything to delay firing someone.  Even when they know logically that it makes sense to fire someone.  The very real emotions of the thing can often get in the way.

In tonight’s episode we don’t focus on how do you determine whether or not you should fire someone.  That includes things like lists of pros & cons, annual and quarterly reviews, etc.  Instead, we focused tonight on how do you actually do it.  What does the event look and sound like?  What message do you deliver to the individual and the rest of the team?  How long do you allow for a transition?  Do you allow the person time to find another job or do you escort them out at the end of the day (or something in between)?  Who is going to pick up the tasks this person was doing (short-term and long-term)?  Should you offer a severance package, and if so, how much?  Don’t even get us started on all the HR stuff for what should you be documenting to protect yourself and your company in case you get sued!

The answers can be very different to each of these questions depending which category the employee falls under.  For example, is the person:

  • Family: these involve the strongest bonds/emotions/relationships and you will likely have to see this person again (e.g. family get togethers, holidays)
  • Long-Term Employee: these often involve tremendous bonds built over years or decades where you know them and their families pretty well and you may even be friends with this person, but unlike family, you will likely not see this person again after they are terminated.
  • Short-Term Employee: while this may seem like the easiest one since you haven’t had the chance to form significant bonds with this person yet, this is the case where you might find yourself being the most introspective and applying blame to yourself. You will likely ask yourself if you could have helped this individual more or managed them better or put them in a better situation to succeed.

No matter what the situation, it’s not easy when it comes to firing someone, especially in a small business where people aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet.  Much of the guidance you’ll find out there is geared toward bigger companies and we know small business is a bit different and typically more humane (and human).  Take a listen to tonight’s show as we shared several different client stories that fall into each of the above categories.  We’re sure at least one will relate to your current situation or one you’ve been in before.

 

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

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How Do I Lead In A Time of Crisis?

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While at times in business you will be faced with situations that seem like they could be life or death, it’s rare that your actual life will be put in danger.  But that doesn’t make the current crisis seem any less critical or threatening.  During tonight’s show we discussed several business lessons that can be gleaned from the recent rescue mission to save the 12 young soccer players and their coach from a cave in Thailand.

There are several things that were done, especially from a leadership standpoint that can help you as a leader in times of crisis.

  • Stay Calm
  • Plan
  • Act
  • “Not To Do” lists are often more important that “To Do” lists
  • Be Open to Help
  • Stay Positive

During the show we share not only how the rescue team used these skills but also shared stories of how our clients implemented many of these Leadership styles to successfully navigate their ways through a crisis.  We also shared some stories that didn’t go so well because they weren’t following these Leadership qualities.

 

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

 

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How Do I Know If Someone Is Doing A Good Job Or Not?

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As silly as the question might sound, how do you know if someone is doing a god job or not?  How do you really know?  Is it based on a gut feel?  As the owner and boss, you often aren’t aware of all the details of how things are going day-to-day.  It can be different for a key manager in your business vs. one of the more junior folks on staff.

We try to keep things as simple as possible for our business owner clients.  This starts with giving them clarity on what their role or job description is as the owner.  Three simple words: Plan, Direct, Control.  When in doubt as the owner for what you should be doing, focus on those three words.

When it comes to judging whether someone is doing a good job or not it starts with the Plan.  What goals did you have for this person and their role in the company?  Is it clear to both you and them?  How are you able to measure the results?  Have you provided clear Direction?  Did you hear them feed back that direction to you so you know you’re on the same page?

The Control part comes through a series of regular meetings and reporting.  If you have good communication, chances for success increase exponentially!  A couple of simple clarifying questions.  Based on what you know today, would you hire this person again?  If this person came in and gave you their 2-week notice, would you be secretly relieved or distraught?

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

Good to Great by Jim Collins  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_to_Great

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How Do I Know If I’ve Got What It Takes To Be The Boss?

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A client of ours recently attended a presentation focused on business transition.  One of the things that stuck in his head was a quote from a speaker who had recently taken over the business after working for the company for the better part of two decades.  He said, “I went from being involved in everything to being responsible for everything.”  Gulp!

This is something we address with nearly every business transition we get involved with, especially when it includes family.  This is one of the hardest things to prepare someone for when it comes to answering the question of whether you want to own the business or not.  Newt Gingrich can certainly speak to this experience as he reflected on the differences between being part of the House of Representatives vs. being Speaker of the House.  Newt talked about how it’s easier to throw fire bombs from the back row vs. being the one up in front.

There tends to be a lot of romance around the topic of business ownership.  Just Google the phrase “top reasons to own/start your own business” and you’ll find lots of romantic reasons for owning your own business (all of which are positive).  Like any pursuit (or relationship), that romance comes with a lot of hard work as well.  And not just hard work, but work you may not want to do.  But as the owner there is often no one else who is willing to do that work either so guess where it falls?  Squarely on your shoulders.  This “hard work” can vary depending on your perspective. For some people it’s getting out there to market the business to grow sales.  For others it’s dealing with all the people issues or making sense of the numbers or collecting money from customers.

So you have to ask yourself if you truly want to be responsible for everything vs. simply being involved in everything when thinking about this topic of business ownership.  Too many business owners don’t come to this realization until they’re already in that ownership seat.  We’ve identified a handful of key attributes for success for a business owner which we discuss in today’s show.  These include things like not having a job mentality, humility, and a willingness to try things.  Listen to today’s show to find out more about these characteristics and others.

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

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How Do I Make A Significant Change In My Business?

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It’s often been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  The same thing can be said of the definition of “significant” when it comes to changes.  We often help our business coaching clients with not only defining what is a significant change but then also helping them work through options and start to make that change.  It can be a difficult thing to do by yourself.

Trying to find some objectivity is helpful.  This can be done by getting some outside guidance from a mentor, business group, CPA, business coach, good friend.  Anyone who is business oriented but not involved in your day-to-day business.  It’s also helpful to frame things in financial terms and how the decision will impact your business.  Beware not to fall prey to paralysis by analysis though.

Perhaps most important is to know yourself.  Be aware of things like your behavior style which can impact how you make decisions.  Also understand if you are more driven by the desire to attain pleasure or avoid pain.  Most of us are more likely to act to avoid pain!

 

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

 

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How Do You Know It’s Time To Adjust Your Plans?

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One thing we discovered early on in our business coaching is that owners of small businesses typically do little to no planning in their business.  Our clients learn how to properly plan as part of our coaching, as do the listeners to our radio show and podcast.  For those of you who are planners, one of the questions you may have is when is it time to update or change my plans?

If you’re doing planning properly, you typically spend a lot of time and effort pulling those plans together.  So you don’t want to change them quickly or often.  But there are certainly times that call for those updates to happen.  Some things are in your control and others are not.  In either case, you should certainly look at making some adjustments or changes to get things back on course.  After all, one of the keys of the planning is to drive your day-to-day activities!

Most owners don’t know how to plan for their business so they don’t do it.  Once we teach our business coaching clients how to plan, it becomes addictive and part of their ongoing culture.

 

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

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How Do You Get Caught Up/Stop Drowning?

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If you’ve been in business long enough, chances are there have been several times when you’ve felt like you can’t get caught up and that you’re drowning in work.  There are only so many hours in the day and it almost feels like being in quicksand where the harder you work and the more you struggle the worse things get.  So what’s a drowning business owner to do?

First off, realize that you always have choices.  No matter how many items are on your To Do List or how many unopened emails you have, you always have a choice for how to respond.  Don’t give up hope!  Keep things simple to start.  List out all the stuff you have to do.  Get it out of your head and either onto a piece of paper or into a Word document or some other electronic format.  There is incredible power an energy that comes from simply getting things out of your head.  Then find one good person to help you.  You’ll be amazed the positive impact one good person can have on your organization!  Go after someone overqualified!

 

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

 

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How Do You Deal With Fancy Pants People, Land A Job Later In Life, and Respond to Political Correctness?

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We covered a couple of different topics in tonight’s show including common myths about older folks looking for jobs: i) I’m not going to find a good job, ii) You can’t take time off or you’ll never get back into the workforce, iii) I’m not going to make as big a contribution as I did in the past, iv) Only type of work available is part-time, and v) Chance to be an entrepreneur has passed me by.  This was from an article by Anne Tergesen in the Wall Street Journal back in November 2016.

We also talked about more recent examples of political correctness and how it continues to hurt America.  The latest examples involve a tweet by Roseanne Barr and employees of Starbuck’s kicking out a couple of people who were loitering in their store and refused to buy any of their products.

With the continued proliferation of social media and 24/7 news coverage, companies are now taking the tactic of making major decisions in public and in short time frames where it would be best to take a little more time to look long-term at the results of their decisions.  If we all have to be afraid of offending someone, we’ll likely lose the ability to debate issues and resolve our conflicts.

 

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

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How Do You Know It’s The Right Time To Add Employees to Your Business?

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We’ve all been there with our business.  Whether it’s due to tremendous growth, the departure of a key person, or you’re just simply struggling to get everything done.  How do you know it’s time to add someone to your team?  It’s something we’ve all struggled with.  One of the biggest reasons is that it’s going to hurt the pocketbook in the short-term.  You also won’t likely save time initially as you will have to train that new employee to get them up to speed.  It’s key to think longer term in these situations.

Sometimes it’s not so obvious when the time is right to hire someone.  For instance, a good person might simply present themselves as being available.  And you feel you’re not quite ready yet.  We usually advise our clients to take the leap and hire that good person because they will add value to your business.

Like many things in life, the timing never seems quite “right” to hire someone.  I mean, you’re kind of used to the current pain you’re in so why risk bringing someone on who will give you some hope and relief only to find out they’re the wrong person?  The biggest gating item to growth of your small business is finding the right good people to help.  One good person can be the difference between staying where you’re at and doubling the business.

If you’re comfortable where you and your business are at there’s no need to hire someone.  If you’re not so happy about things, a new good person with energy and ideas and experience that you don’t have might be just what the doctor ordered to help push your business ahead.  We share lots of these stories during tonight’s show of our business coaching clients who exploded after bringing on a few of the right people.

 

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

 

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How Do You Know It’s Time To Sell Your Business?

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If you’ve been in business for a while, chances are you’ve gotten some unsolicited phone calls, emails, and/or letters from folks inquiring about potentially purchasing your business.  So what do you do with these inquiries?  Depending how your day is going will often determine your reaction to these.

We have helped hundreds of clients through situations like these and the bigger question of how do you know it’s time to sell your business?  Each situation is unique, but the questions you should be asking yourself are the same.  These include:

  • Why do I want to sell?
  • What will I do next?
  • What’s the company worth?
  • What do I say?
  • What shouldn’t I say?
  • Can I work for someone else after being the boss?
  • What will happen to my employees?
  • How do I know what to present to a potential buyer about my company?
  • Should I officially put the company “up for sale”?

In tonight’s show, we share answers to these questions by sharing several stories of clients of ours who we’ve coached through this process.  Some decided to sell.  Some didn’t.  Listen to tonight’s show to find out why!

 

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

 

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