This question and answer series of articles provides scenarios for business owners to find answers to business frustrations.
Q: We have a great team – in the main. 20 of us work really well together, but there is one fly in the ointment, who just doesn’t fit within our culture. Although he is experienced and very capable in his field, and from that perspective an asset, he will never take responsibility for any mistakes and always has an excuse or justification. How do we manage this?
You said it yourself: he is not a cultural fit. When a platoon is marching on parade and one is out of step, does everybody else change step to fall in with the one out of step? Probably time for you to part company and recruit someone who is willing and excited about marching to the beat of your drum.
Q: I am a baby boomer boss. I have recently employed a number of younger staff in their early 20s and am finding my management style is not really working. I guess my question is, how, as a baby boomer do I manage these Y Generation employees?
Generation Y-ers are a fact of business life. Born between 1978 and 1994 they are the ‘now’ generation, meaning they want it in an instant: life, experience, position, salary, the lot.
The baby boomer business owner can pretend it’s not happening and just employ fellow baby-boomers – but they are getting a bit thin on the ground (and on top), or can accept, embrace the change and adapt. Unlike the steadier boomer, the Gen Y employee will probably move on in two years – sometimes less, but don’t take it personally, because they don’t intend it to be so. And just because they are younger – take care to mentor, and train, not patronise or hold back as a result of knowing they are likely to move on just after you have expended great energy on training them.. Get your systems in place and reduce the impact of this trend.
The businesses likely to be least negatively impacted by these moves are those who have a documented way of downloading the information from their heads and of training their replacements in a systemised way that makes the transition seamless. Have a great recruiting and hiring system in place so when the time comes, it’s not panic stations, you can swing into action – if you haven’t already anticipated it. Look at the areas the business could be negatively impacted by the loss of such a staff member and work out how you can minimise that through sound systems. If you work on the principle that the systems drive the business and the people drive the systems, then your main focus, once you have the right processes in place, will be on recruiting, hiring and training. The bottom line is, if you plan to remain in business, you will need to learn to live with the changes. They do.
Watch for Part Twenty-One…coming later this week!
Until next time…
P.S. Learn more about working ON your business–talk to the coach! Click here to connect with me!