Communicating With Your Employees

Many of my wonderful clients are entrepreneurs who are hiring in larger numbers as their businesses grow. In my experience, most of the entrepreneurs who enter into coaching are struggling with finding the right employee or keeping their employees happy. My observation is that many of these businesses started out as "kitchen table" ideas and have grown into full-blown enterprises. With that said, who do you think is the company’s first employee? Well, that would be a best friend, a sister or brother, a mother, or cousin. A few years later, we have a can of worms bursting at the seams.

Here's why. When a business is in the conceptual stages, an entrepreneurial mind is stimulated beyond belief. It's exciting, it's challenging, and it’s all the things that make that person tick. So we join forces with whoever is at the kitchen table with us and begin our foray into the world of business.

Typically, the entrepreneur will see the need to grow, learn, invest, and work harder and harder. But the "partner" or employee often stays behind. They saw this as just a fun little adventure and they never intended for it to take over their lives. Moreover, the entrepreneur feels ethically bound to this person; after all that person was there at the beginning and did a lot of work to get the business off the ground.

I'm going to let you in on a secret. If this is where you are at in your business, you AND your employee(s) are unhappy. Open communication is the key here. No one likes being in a position where they are feeling the daily tension that can result from a problem like this. No one feels good about himself or herself if they know they are not meeting the expectations of a good friend and/or boss. The result is one or more of many negative reactions; anger, low self esteem, sarcasm, mistakes, even revenge.

So, and I can't express this enough, talk to your employees. Even if you feel this may be a confrontational situation, do it. Ask them what their goals and dreams are and if they include staying with the company. If so, in what capacity? What do they most love doing, what do they feel are their greatest strengths? Remember, you have probably grown into your roles with the company out of necessity, not always keeping your skills and interests in mind. So re-evaluate. What does your employee really want? What is are their professional goals? You may even find that they are staying with the company only because they don’t want to let you down. Sometimes this evaluation leads to turnover, sometimes into restructuring. Whichever it is, it will lead to greater productivity, growth, and most importantly - lower stress!
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