There’s a great question here from Marcus who writes, I have a particularly awkward employee, she’s a new hire, but quite frankly she’s difficult, a bit rude to me and I feel like I’m pacifying her. I feel like I’m walking around on tippy-toes and to be frank I’m having to placate her – she’s an expensive investment and I don’t know what to do.
I’m so glad this comes from a boy, but it reminded me of a new friend of mine that I had lunch with the other day. She runs a global business that turns over a couple of hundred million, and she was speaking of hiring a new international head of sales. The same thing happened to her and she put up with it for a year, and then it dawned on her this is my business, she thought to herself – she works for me – and she told her to sling her hook.
I say I’m glad this comes from a boy, because I kind of wondered if it was a girl thing, that maybe we suck up a bit too much aggro, thinking it’s maybe us.
Now, self-reflection and introspection is a good thing, however when it germinates into putting up with crap that you shouldn’t have to, and I hear thousands of employers around the country going – I hear you – on this, there’s only one path and that leads to that employee’s departure. So often as employers we suck up so much nonsense – I know I have – tantrums, emotions, excuses even resignations – swiftly rescinded and loads of attitude. But in the end there is only one outcome – it’s either that they go, or you go – and it’s your business.
More than anything you need to be kind and compassionate absolutely, but you are the boss and you have to make sure that everybody knows, in the nicest way possible, that it’s your way or the highway, because anything less than that is disrespectful and there are some very bolshie employees out there that are so far up their own backsides, that they can’t see that. So let them maintain these opinions elsewhere, you should not have to endure it.
So Marcus put your big-boy pants on stand up to her and say it’s my way or the highway if she walks all well and good, if she snaps out of her warped perspective, then you’ve got yourself the respect you deserve – so it’s a win-win situation.
Let me know how it gets on.