How to deal with 'people' problems in your business

If I had to sum up the most common thing I heard other people in business talk about this year it would be people.

Finding them, motivating them, holding them accountable, but ultimately…

‘Dealing’ with them.

It’s such an odd thing to say when you think about it.

My first thought when I hear it has always been “But If you don’t like people, why get into business in the first place then?”

Business is the game of people.

Psychology, education, connection, delight and a long list of other things that fall under the word 'people'.

The 'people' business is the business you and I are in Peter.

Even though part of what they say might be true at times. 

(Some people can be shits)

Focusing on it as the problem leads you nowhere. 

Instead, I found a better way to look at it that helps you overcome ‘people' issues and get out of that Groundhog Day attitude.

And that’s what I want to share today.

Let’s dive in.

I was in a workshop recently and a line popped up on the screen that read:

There is no such thing as PEOPLE problems.  

Just PROCESS problems.

It completely smacked me in the face and I instantly tuned out of the workshop for a few minutes while I absorbed it 

I normally need to write things down or I end up forgetting them in seconds.

But this one?

It left an imprint on the back of my eyeballs that I can’t unsee.

It summed up the answer to that common challenge that every business seems to be facing these days into one beautiful statement. 

Stop blaming people and start fixing your processes.

It completely dumps the entire responsibility back on top of the people leading the organisation.

My thoughts instantly turned to a few crappy outcomes I’ve been battling with in my own business. 

I questioned whether processes (or a lack of) were letting the business down.

Had I trained my team in the ways we do things?

Had I offered loads of clear direction and communication?

If I’m honest, I’ve kinda sucked at building processes this year because we were testing too many different things.

And the result is, I had a few ‘people' issues myself that weren’t their fault at all.

There were holes in our process and gaps in accountability.

So that statement was worth its weight in gold for me right now. 

BUT HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THIS:

When you dive into problems within your business you normally focus on ‘who’ caused it.

Instead, focus on WHAT caused it. 

Here’s an example:

Say you’re getting inconsistent outcomes from your production team or customer service team.

When you dive deeper you see that it’s only happening on certain days when someone is, or isn’t there.

Instead of thinking it's a problem with a person, investigate your processes.

This might indicate that a new employee hasn’t been trained correctly and you have a weakness in your onboarding or manager training process. 

You might then change your process so that new hires are partnered with an experienced team member with high standards who demonstrates the way you do that specific product/service.

See how process issues are normally at fault. Not the person.

The good news is, that processes are easier to change than people!

But I can still hear a few of you saying: “Yeah cool Jarrod, but sometimes employees just aren’t up to standard.”

And that just demonstrates you have a recruiting process problem. 

Again, not a people problem.

I hope this helps you as much as its helped me!