People arriving late for meetings, team members not doing the things that they say they’re going to do, sloppy work being consistently produced… What are you going to do about it? This week I wanted to explore some of the common challenges that a lot of business owners face. People not being fully prepared for meetings or not following through on the actions that they agreed to, team members doing sloppy work, people not taking full ownership and responsibility.
The list goes on and on but the question is why do these things happen and what can you do about it? Well, it may be down to something that you are doing or, probably more importantly, not doing. You get what you tolerate. As soon as somebody’s produced mediocre work and you’ve let it slide, you are effectively saying – Okay. If people arrive late for meetings and you don’t talk to them about it, you’re saying: – Okay. If you allow people not to follow through on their commitments then you’re saying – Oh Okay.
The little things do matter don’t let things slide. If you are tolerating bad behaviour then obviously you’re going to see a lot more of it. The way that you do some things is the way that you do everything. In my view, the way that some of your team members might be doing things or not doing things could be playing out in other parts of the business that may not be immediately visible to you. If somebody’s late for meetings or doesn’t produce work on time or doesn’t even do little things like spell check their emails then the chances of them doing those things to your customers, to your suppliers is probably quite significant. I know that it is difficult.
As the business owner, we have to lead by example to maintain high standards and if you let the small things slide then over time those small things become big things. You are the guardian of culture in your company and if you want to grow your business and scale your business get these little things right and that you build a culture where this is just not acceptable. If you find that you are constantly faced with situations where you’re becoming increasingly frustrated but you’re letting it slide stop tolerating it.
So, what are you tolerating that you shouldn’t be? And what are you going to do about it? See you next time on “Mind Your Own Business”.
If you’re looking for more small business tips, then we’d like to see you every week on “Mind Your Own Business,”
Marco Soares is an award-winning business coach in Sussex and is available if you’d like help implementing these tactics.