I’m writing this on November 16. The headlines and stories over the last two days are filled with President Trump tweeting, “I concede NOTHING,” how his administration is not cooperating with the Biden administration on a transition, and his people are saying they expect to be in their same jobs after January 20. Not the graceful transition from one party to the other we’ve had every other time this has happened, is it?
What does this have to do with small business and business in general? When “uninvited guests” overstay their welcome it leads to stress, a deteriorating culture, and less productivity.
Every, and I mean every, time a business owner brings up the subject of a problem employee and wonders what to do the answer from those who have “been there; done that” is, get rid of them ASAP and you won’t regret it. I have one client who sat on it for five months. Not too bad compared to another who took four to five years. The result is usually a breath of fresh air.
There’s some logic to the SBA rule requiring business sellers to not (officially) be part of the business (as an employee or consultant) for more than one year. I’ve seen instances where the seller staying on worked great, because the seller loved the job and/or the project but hated running the business. I’ve also seen instances where the seller said they wanted to stay and do sales or design products and absolutely couldn’t stand working for someone else. A couple times the seller sabotaged the business by creating conflict within the employee ranks. In one case it was constantly making snide comments about how he (the seller) wouldn’t do things the way the buyer was doing them (implying the buyer didn’t know what he was doing).
A change of ownership requires cooperation. Bringing in a new employee, especially replacing the bad apple, means teamwork. My advice is to have a plan, make the decision, and take action. Don’t stew over it, do it.
“Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn’t have in your home.” David Frost
