Christopher V. Flett

I’ve seen it all in business this year. Drama queens, crying babies, emotionally uncontrolled outbursts, and that’s just the guys. I find myself forcing myself to be a swim instructor, when people are looking for a lifeguard. I don’t get why people can’t follow easy to understand rules. I have clients right now that are walking the gray line with me. They know the rules and they are one toe in and one toe out. Little do they know, they are on their way out. It isn’t personal, it’s business. When I start caring more then they do, it’s time to finish the relationship.

A week ago I was meeting with the big kahuna of a company here in Vancouver. His staff are either top performers or deck meat. He doesn’t know what to do with the deck meat to get them into becoming performers. I asked him if he had clearly stated his expectations. He felt that he had. Upon further probing, he allows bad behaviour so that becomes the norm. Not unlike kids. You can’t let them run with scissors on one day and tell them it’s wrong the next. You need to clearly let them know what you expect of them. Same goes with your colleagues, clients, and employees. He asked me, “what would happen if your employee showed up late for work?” I told them I would write them up and the next time they would be fired. He seemed shocked at this. Here’s the thing. I tell everyone that I work with that I don’t like late. It is disrespectful and if they do it to me (who they work for) they would do it to a client. I don’t like this. If a client is late for me, they are likely late for their clients. I also don’t like this.

Once you outline what your expectations are of people, they will either meet them or not. If they can’t you get rid of them. Clients and employees the same. There will be excuses. These sub-performers will have a lot of excuses for you. if they put the time into having higher standards that they did into explaining why they can’t do something, they’d be successful. But it isn’t your job to change them. If they don’t want to come up to your standards, then natural selection comes into place.

I spent time with a friend that owns a landscaping business. He talked about the lack of work ethic and the copious amount of excuses he gets from domestic labour. Immigrant labour works their assess off, but the guys around here show up 5 minutes late, take an extra 10 minutes for lunch, and simply don’t have high standards for themselves. I’ve been hiring firms in India and Russia ovet the last two quarters. Aside from the work being disgustingly affordable, the work ethic and production is second to none. They get it done because they want more from me. They exceed my expectations to the point where I’m walking around looking for work to give them.

If you find that people aren’t meeting your expectation and you are frustrated (like I am), ask yourself the following questions:

1. Have I been clear on what I’m asking for?
2. Does the person have the ability to do what I’m asking?
3. Deep down, does any part of me question their competency?
4. Am I allowing them to overstep my boundaries or are they causing me to break my own rules?
5. How much time/stress/energy am I wasting managing this relationship?
6. How good would it feel to get rid of this person?
7. If I had a better replacement ready to go, how long would it take me to fire this person from my life?
8. Is this person a problem or a solution to me?
9. Do I look forward to seeing this person?

I’m sure these questions work as well in the personal arena as they do in the professional. Don’t let boat anchors take up space in your professional life. If they can’t get it done, burn them and replace them with someone who wants to be the best and works hard to get there. If there is one thing that reverts me to the old Alpha Male traits that I talk about in What Men Don’t Tell Women About Business, it’s people that waste my time, overstep my boundaries, or can’t get it done. I don’t want excuses. I want you to tell me: A) I can get it done. or B) I can’t get it done. If you can get it done, then do so. If you can’t, then piss off and make room for someone who can.

Cheers,

C/