Edition 533 – The One Difference

All it takes is one person. Just one!

If they’re a positive personality, the impact on the family business can be astounding. They lift the entire business, not merely by their words, but their actions. Their presence even.

They make light of situations when it’s needed the most. They pitch in when it’s needed the most. Invariably, they carry a load more than they should, but do so thinking of the whole, not of themselves.

If they’re a negative personality, the impact on the family business can be more than astounding. It can be disastrous.

The way they speak with their colleagues. Their disrespect of others. Their lack of emotional intelligence, or their complete inability to think of those around them.

Where I see the impact of these types inside a business, most, is in the owners. They know these individuals are slowly torching their business, but doing so in such a way that you struggle to identify the source of the outbreak and pin it on them in a way that you can exit them from the business.

So, you have to play the slow game yourself. Call them out when you see them doing what they shouldn’t be doing. Hold them to account when they’re not doing what they should be doing. Invariably, you don’t have to say a lot. Just one or two sentences that can be interpreted as, “I’m watching you”.

Then, one day, the negative individual in question announces they’re leaving. They’re moving onto greener pastures. The owner’s response. They’re ecstatic. They rarely drink, but this Friday afternoon, they’re indulging. The car is staying at work, for they’re getting a cab home.

Inside a week, the demeanour of the whole business has changed. There’s a sense of relief amongst the remainder of the team that the dominant personality is moving on. This is led by the business owner, who has lifted in the week since the announcement. How can you tell? They’re smiling more than they have done for over a year. The bounce they once had is back again.

Just one person can control the feel of your business. From when someone walks in the door, you can feel the “air” for better or worse, though “worse” is often frigid in terms of the temperature.

As the owner of a family business, at times you have to make tough calls. To move people on. People that don’t fit with the culture you’re looking to build in the business. It’s a hard thing to do, as you’re messing with the lives of that individual. However, unless you do, you’re allowing that individual to mess with the lives of everyone else in your business, and most likely you the most.

This Week’s Tip

“Most business owners don’t move on a destructive personality soon enough, for they can quickly identify the financial cost. What they need to quickly identify is the cost of not doing so, in people, profit and business terms”.