Culture vs People

In small companies, it's so much harder. Building culture takes every single person to participate. When you have multiple offices, it takes the most senior person in the office to keep the culture alive. But what happens, when that person is not the right person? It creates havoc. People drop off like flies. They all blame 'culture' of the company. Yet, is it really the culture of the company or the people within the company?

To build culture, it takes everyone's participation. Generally speaking, everyone needs to respect each other and hopefully 'like' each other - and not just on facebook.

One bad egg, can mean your brand is damaged over and over again, especially if they have personality types where they need to draw people in. The 'bad egg' may not in fact be 'bad' but be someone who isn't self-aware and perhaps has gotten on in life, doing what they do, and being moved aside in companies or encouraged to find new positions. Often these people are handpicked for redundancy payouts.

It doesn't mean the general consensus is that they are not likeable, but their glass is typically half full. They don't see the vision, have no need to be the best and don't understand branding.

What do you do with a person like this? In small business it is hard. It becomes personal and particularly in my experience if they are women - emotional.

The only thing a small business owner can do is 'be kind'. Try and encourage the person that they will find the perfect role somewhere else that will meet their needs, even if they think they like their job. The reality is, a small business can be destroyed by people like this especially if they have the power to draw people into their woes.

As Gene Kranz said to an audience I was in a few months ago, "you cannot have one person who is not able to lift to the next level if you want to grow". Decisions have to be made and in my experience, the slower they are made, the worse they get.

We learn in every entrepreneurial course about what to do when someone does not fit the team or is 'poison' and that is to fire fast. In reality, it is so much harder to do.

What's your experience? Do you follow the entrepreneurial code of conduct, or do you let compassion get in the way? Do you think males and females handle these situations differently?

P.S. To all of those people who have resigned from an organisation, been moved aside or terminated - remember, life is about living and things happen for a reason. It can mean that when one door is closed, another one opens with the most magnificent opportunity that has ever crossed your path. Or maybe, it's a case that you are able to explore 'you' and make 'you' a better, more fulfilled person.

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