So this morning on the way to drop off the kids at school – we stopped by Great Harvest – dad needed some coffee and we grabbed a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin for the kids to split (and maybe one for me too…)
My 10 year old son eats his part. Uses his pants as his napkin. A little chocolate smeared on it.
Me: ‘Thomas – buddy – use the napkin!’
Thomas: ‘It’s fine dad!’
My 8 year old (Piper) screams when we pull in the school parking lot.
Turns out, some of the chocolate chips made their way on to her skirt and it’s a mess.
Piper: ‘I’m not getting out of the car!!’
She’s embarrassed. And upset.
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Morale of the story (from a business standpoint)
Your employees (or sub-contractors) are affected by changes, surprises, screw ups DIFFERENTLY.
Changes in the way you’re doing time cards or how payroll works, or your expectations of them, or the scope of the job they are working on, or ______.
Some will go with the flow – it’s no big deal.
Others will be rocked by them.
Part of your job as the LEADER of your company is to understand your people – understand that you need to talk with them differently – help them differently – interact with them differently.
Know Your People in order to manage them well and effectively.
P.S. Piper is ok. Daddy took charge. Sent her to the bathroom – she handed me the skirt – of course the pre-school class will have baby wipes (baby wipes are magic.) Scrubbed all that chocolate off – went into the boy’s bathroom and used the hand dryer to dry them off – we went from worked up Piper to happy Piper.
P.P.S. But again, the point: I needed to work with Piper differently than I would have Thomas in this situation.
Same with your team. You may need to work with Tom different than Bill or Sally different than Sue – Know Your People.
