Owner 1
Maureen, business owner, locked herself in her office. She was shaking with anger.
Gary, her best salesperson, in front of her team, had just demanded a raise, saying if he wasn’t there the business would fail.
Gary wasn’t correct, but it was what he believed.
Maureen is a good person, her people love her, even Gary did, but Maureen is an introvert and not great at handling outspoken dominant people like Gary.
She clams up, takes time to consider her response, then shakes her head at why she didn’t respond quicker and put the matter to rest.
As Maureen reflected in her office, she realised that her introversion was causing others’ unacceptable behaviours to go unchecked.
It wasn’t just Gary.
There was Sheila, her office manager, who insisted upon telling Maureen that she needed to be more assertive, except that when Maureen was assertive with Sheila, it wasn’t accepted!
Maureen stressed about the way the culture was morphing into something she had been determined to prevent.
The culture was now impacting on individual performance and Maureen was seeing the productivity falter.
She had to do something about it but wasn’t clear about where to start.
She wasn’t going off half-cocked, didn’t want matters to get worse, or lose good people.
She felt stuck, and being introverted, kept inside herself trying to figure it out.
Owner 2
Michael, business owner, standing in front of his sales team. “You will use the CRM as it was designed to be used. You will use LinkedIn for prospecting and lead nurturing. I’m not paying the premium for you not to use these tools.”
His team remained silent, waiting for Michael’s temper to subside.
The CRM/LinkedIn trainer Michael had hired to help his team had failed to connect with the team, and the team is still lacking confidence in using the CRM and LinkedIn.
Michael couldn’t understand this. He felt the trainer had done a good job, after Michael had learned easily from the trainer.
Michael had built the business from scratch. His drive had created a rapidly growing business and now it needed more process and efficient performance, because despite his efforts, productivity was dropping.
Michael is an extrovert and task oriented. It was a key factor in the business growth.
The problem was that the business now had a diversity of staff and Michael’s drive was working with some staff and not with others.
Some good people are leaving.
The culture is patchy, reflected in patchy performance and productivity.
Michael often felt like firing everyone and starting over. But that isn’t realistic.
His patience is being tested and Michael is stressed.
He knew he could blow up and that it was causing strife, but heck, what else could he do?
Of These Two Owners, Who are You most Like?
How would it feel if you discovered that there is way to get things back on track, rapidly, whether you are more like Maureen or Michael?
Have you ever considered that as the owner, your influence is more powerful than you realise?
If you’d like to see a rapid improvement in performance and productivity and are willing to work on yourself first, we might be the right fit to work together to achieve solid results.
For a complimentary discussion to see if we can work together email me here.
I’ll respond and arrange a Zoom, phone or face to face meeting with you.
I look forward to being of service.
