Women, and men, entrepreneurs agree that the biggest challenge in business is dealing with PEOPLE! 
Of course, one can't be in business without interacting with people, but how one handles the diversity of wants and needs of one's employees, customers, vendors and community generally decides those that will succeed from those that will fail.
The purpose of this blog is to discuss the first group of people causing headaches that I hear about most often - employees. No matter how hard you work, if you want to grow your business, you have to depend on employees. The major issue with employees is that what they want rarely is the same thing the entrepreneur wants.
For example, every entrepreneur wants to be seen as the leader in her organization. Employees, however, want to be seen as part of the team. Well, of course, if you are a savvy business leader you want to build a strong team to create a successful business. BUT, that team requires leadership and that leader is YOU. As the founder and CEO of the business, you make the decisions for the team. And, as much as the team would like to think that each member has an equal vote in how the work gets done and is delegated, in a small business there is an "I" in team. (You can't see the "I" but you can see the "me").
The "Why doesn't ____ (you fill in the name of the employee) care as much about being on time, keeping the business space acceptably tidy, answering the phone on the first ring, or being proactive rather than reactive with customers as I do?" question can be answered simply because ____ (the employee) doesn't have skin in the game. And, in case you don't understand my reference to skin, I mean money, blood, sweat, tears, heart and soul. Of course, every employee is different and many actually do care so much about the business they work for that they go above and beyond the call of duty and start making decisions not in their purview. This gets back to why employees of all kinds cause the biggest headaches for entrepreneurs of both genders.
The challenge is how to handle employees tactfully and successfully so that you don't have a mutiny. Now, before you think this doesn't happen I'll tell you a story about a woman small business owner client of mine.
The business is a rather successful spa facility with about 12 full time and 3 part time employees. As you may have guessed, margins in this business are fairly tight as many of the "so-called" employees are really independent contractors as they are paid a portion of the revenues they bring in as well as tips. The success of the business depends a great deal on the following of the contractors as well as word of mouth. The business owner operates the business, but also delivers services so it is necessary to employee a full time business manager to oversee schedules etc. Perhaps, you can now guess where this story is going.
The business manager, little by little, oversteps her position and initiates decisions that are not hers to make. The entrepreneur/owner treads lightly at first so as not to discourage her manager's enthusiasm for the job, but before long realizes that the staff is now taking their lead from the manager and not her. As a matter of fact, the owner begins to feel more like an employee than CEO, and is often given orders by her business manager as well as by other contractors.
The challenge is how can you be the boss without being bossy? How can you be powerful without seeming like a dictator?
The answer is really simple. The first step is to have regular staff meetings and provide complete transparency about the direction you plan to take the business. Being a leader means you must be prepared to be vulnerable and honest, and at the same time, strong and confident with the people you want to follow you. Leaders must be self-assured to inspire others to follow.
In my story, I had my client sit down with her manager and me so we could delegate clear responsibilities for each. After a complete airing of differences and coming to an understanding of how decisions would be made, we brought the entire group together to share how the business would operate going forward. Everyone had an opportunity to be heard and everyone got their questions answered by their leader - THE CEO.
In order to be seen as a leader you must demonstrate leadership. Share your big picture thinking and lead by example. Your enthusiasm, integrity and honesty will encourage those employed by you to rise to the occasion.
And, of course, if not -- you can always show who's boss by showing them the door!
