Last week I was faced with a problem in one of my businesses. Please hold onto your tears of sympathy and read on, I promise it has a happily-ever-after ending.
One of my most naturally talented sales staff had failed to meet his performance target for three straight weeks. This team member had not approached me for help or advice, he had been spending less time in the office and more time working from home – as my staff are entitled to do.
“He’s not interested in doing the hard work necessary to achieve results” I thought of my problem. The solution to my problem seemed obvious, but thankfully I confided in one of my business mentors before I took the action I thought to be appropriate.
I was promptly told to stop blaming other people for the problems that I had created within my business, and to take some responsibility.
“MY FAULT? How the hell is is my fault that he’s a lazy shit?” I responded.
“Why is he being lazy?” I was asked. “Why would somebody go to the effort of starting a new job and then all of a sudden decide to be lazy and stop giving it 100%?”. I couldn’t answer these questions, which in itself highlighted a major deficiency in my managerial skills.
The more I thought about it, of course it was my fault!
I chose to hire this guy. I chose to give him the level of support, training and attention he has received. So it was up to me to help solve his problems… not up to him to help solve mine.
I arranged a meeting with the staff member in question and told him that for the next 30 minutes, we were going to work together to solve any problems that he had which were causing him to be unhappy at work.
“What is preventing you from being happy and successful in this role? What can I do to help solve your problems?”
It turns out, that he needed some structural sales training and some more documentation to take to his sales meetings – but that is not the point. The point is that I took an active interest in solving his problems, rather than expecting him to be able to solve mine.
By solving his problems mine were quickly solved too, as he achieved 200% of his target this week, and more importantly enjoyed his week much more and felt a sense of ownership over his role.
Next time you feel upset about something, ask yourself…
“Whose fault is it?”
and then
“Who is in a position to fix it?”
