Winter 2006 Newsletter

It's Always People Problems... By Keith Mudd Director UHV SBDC

“They can’t see the forest for the trees” is a frequent saying we use to describe the difficulties a manager or business owner has with viewing the larger business picture or with self diagnosing internal problems within the business. The daily grind of keeping the business open and running often supersedes the necessity to step back and address the image of the business or the necessity of management to fully understand the complexities of managing people and governing the company.

A business owner or manager can get mentally bogged down (and stressed out) with the mundane and everyday details of running a business. More often than not, seeing the obvious issues and personnel problems within the company are not so obvious to the person running the company.

Do you view yourself or describe yourself as having to put out fires all day? Is your blood pressure too high? Are you behind on paperwork or with balancing your checkbook? Do you know what aspect of your business you would like to change, if you just had the time? Do you often feel that you are you barely surviving instead of driving the company forward towards increased sales and higher profits? Would you like to replace existing personnel with someone more competent?

You know the drill. If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are probably overdue for a business makeover or a change in personnel. What happened to the thrill of being your own boss and having employees to handle certain aspects of the business? When or where did your vision, dreams and expectations disappear? Was it day one or day three? Regardless of when it happened, if this describes you now, it is time to act.

Consider this: Most businesses do not run without people, however most business problems that we see and diagnose on a daily basis are really people problems. Problems such as: somebody made an ordering mistake that cost the company time and money; somebody over promised and under delivered; the bookkeeper does not know the accounting software; the bookkeeper can’t account for a 2-cup lemonade stand much less answer the phones and play HR Manager while balancing the checkbook and handling the biggest customer complaint of the day; employees don’t seem to care about the company, or whether or not the customer is satisfied. Does any of this sound familiar? Need I go on?

Repeat this to yourself: Most business problems are people problems. More explicably, the problems are either what people have created or the result of having inadequate and inexperienced staff.

Name the business problem, and you can usually put blame on the person responsible. Too much blame on one person, and you should start blaming yourself for not doing something about it. In the personnel equation, quite often the leader, manager or business owner is the one to blame for the organizations shortcomings. A great leader once said to me, “Fish rots from the top”. Meaning if the leader has problems, how can the rest of the organization function properly? 

So what should you do? Some have argued that there is nothing like a good old fashioned firing to rally the rest of the troops. In other words, if you have identified: a clear problem employee who has a negative attitude; does not care; complains a lot; consistently demonstrates a disinterest or an inability to get his or her work done, either fix the problem or get rid of the problem altogether. Texas, mind you, is still an at will employment state.

Solving your people problems is not easy, but resolving these issues and staffing your business with quality personnel is a definite necessity to business continuance and future growth. Have people in the wrong job descriptions? Do something about it. Have a bookkeeper who can’t properly account for all your business transactions? Do something about it. Why continue to make the same mistakes over and over again?

Just because an employee wants to perform a certain job description, does not mean they can. People do make mistakes, but the biggest mistake we see is that managers mistakenly place people in the wrong job descriptions, and then do nothing about it. People generally hate to admit when they are wrong or when a decisive action resulted in failure. Sadly, this stubborn nature makes managers stressed, dazed and confused especially when it involves a subordinate employee.

The majority of management related stress is the result of an office filled with ineffective, unmotivated staff that becomes draining on the leader. If you are having a difficult time motivating your staff, try motivating them to find another job that better suits their abilities. You’ll be helping the employee, helping the company and helping yourself to a more stress free life. –My motto has always been…Life is too short to be miserable.  

As always…if you have a health problem, see a doctor. If you have a business problem, make an appointment to see a business professional before making any changes to operations. Remember to always use proper hiring and firing procedures to protect your interests. Remember that professional help is abundant and always available.

-Keith

You can email Keith at:

muddk@uhv.edu