Keep Your Temper. Nobody Else Wants It.
That’s what it said on the plaque that hung in my grandmother’s kitchen for as long as I can remember. As a hot-headed 10-year-old, it was a constant reminder to take a deep breath and cool my jets no matter what some schoolyard bully or faithless friend had done to me. Today, that plaque sits above the stove in my kitchen in Long Island as a warning to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Even as an adult, I still have a bad temper–though I usually manage to keep it under control. As a CEO and business owner, I’ve learned the hard way that five minutes of venting at an employee or a vendor can cost you time, money and litigation–no matter how justified you think you may be.
And that’s a tough thing for most entrepreneurs to learn. Because, like me, entrepreneurs are typically A players who are prepared to sacrifice everything for their goals, and to work nights, weekends and holidays to get the job done. So why can’t the people who work for us be that way? Well, because if they were, they wouldn’t be working for us–they’d be running their own companies.
What’s the solution? Well, there are always yoga and medication–though I’m too busy for yoga and too much of a control freak for Prozac. The techniques that work best for me are coping strategies rather than long-term solutions. While they may not make your human resources problems go away, they’ll help you keep your sanity.
For example,
1. Plan B
One thing I’ve learned in business is that nobody’s 100 percent reliable. But if you fire everybody who lets you down, you’ll soon be doing all the work yourself. So whenever somebody I’m counting on messes up or drops the ball, I start making a mental list of whom I can bring in to replace them. Many of these people are already in my database. Plan B, Plan C, Plan D–sure beats counting sheep or popping Xanax.
2. The Talk
Back at NetCreations, when an executive or key employee wasn’t measuring up, I’d take him out to lunch for “the talk.” Instead of confronting the person with a long list of his mistakes and failings, I’d look at him earnestly and ask him in a sweet and sympathetic voice, “Are you happy here at NetCreations? Because you don’t look very happy.” At that point, we both knew it was over. No fuss, no muss, no lawsuits.
3. Play-Doh
When I go to my house in Long Island on Sunday, one of the first things I do is take out my plastic tubs of Crayola Model Magic (a lightweight modeling material that feels like foam when it dries) and sculpt some colorful animals, flowers and planets. It’s great therapy–at least until my cell phone rings with another crisis.
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 7:29 am and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.One Response to “Keeping Your Temper–and Your Sanity!”
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May 6th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I was reading over this post and I have to agree with most of what was said. It is true that when you are the owner and operator of your own business, it is important to take time to just relax and let others handle things. After all you are going to need someone who you can depend on if you end up in the hospital or have a family emergency. Letting someone else take charge of your business even temporarily can be gut wrenching but it is a necessity. In the world of business things can change in an instant so you need to be free to make decisions and stay educated on industry trends. If you do not then you will be left behind and it could end up costing you customers and profits. But I did not think it was realistic to think that the best way to run a business is to start thinking of replacing someone because they made a mistake. I mean no one is perfect and that is why it is important to have good communication with people that work for you. That way they know they can come to you if they need help or advice and you do not need to micro-manage them. It is your job as a business owner to hire people that believe in what you do and that want to make it a success. I mean if a business owner sat there and thought about replacing somebody every time they messed up, then they would not be able to focus on their business and would become a HR rep instead of a business owner. My advice is to use a staffing agency who has prescreened candidates that meet your requirements. That way you only pay them if you hire one of their workers, they handle their time cards and issue paychecks to. They can also bring in someone else if you need to replace a worker and you get to choose on who to hire from a large group of people.