I’ve been back in the UK over the last 10 days, splitting my time between Leeds and London. I have been hosting at Berry’s Tennis, showing off baby Nele to everyone who hasn’t seen her yet (including big sister Harlie), and getting stuck into some meetings and issues in our various businesses and offices.
Prior to arriving on this trip, I had only spent four days in the UK this year. From a personal and lifestyle perspective it has been great not being in the UK – the positivity, opportunity, and weather to name but a few things, is great for the bigger picture.
But, being brutally honest with myself, as much as I like to convince myself that I can run the businesses from anywhere, my non-resident lifestyle hasn’t allowed me to keep as keen an eye as I would like on certain areas of the business.
My personal role will always be the same regardless of where I am located – originating deals, building investor relationships, creating marketing strategies and being the general face of the different businesses. So being in the UK, and more specifically being in the UK office, doesn’t change that role or create me any extra time to be able to do extra things – but it does allow me to see the little things that go on when I am not present. Little things that invariably I don’t like or agree with, and which inevitability build into big things that are more problematic and a headache to fix or reverse.
So, my mind is very clearly made up – I am going to be spending a lot more time in the UK. Aside from the material improvements in productivity I will be able to affect, I forgot how much I missed being in the cut and thrust of things. Anyone that knows me knows that I am always working 24/7, and they may wonder how I could possibly do more if I was relocated for part of my time. But it isn’t about me doing more, it is about me getting more out of other people and different situations.
I am no math’s wizard (I should maybe get Harlie on this with her further maths A level!) but a 5% – 10% increase in output and efficiency per person multiplied by dozens of members of staff adds up to a massive monetary amount. And being physically present to nip problems in the bud or realign priorities that better fit our overall business plan will make savings that compound massively over time.
If you read last week’s newsletter you will remember me talking about addition bias, and how we naturally gravitate towards trying to add things to solve a problem when maybe the best solution is to actually subtract something. Nowhere is this more visible than in the area of manpower.
We have all heard the expression of ‘a single bad apple spoiling the barrel’ and I can tell you first-hand how frighteningly true that is in corporate life.
For reasons too boring, and at times confidential, to go into here I will skip the gory detail. But what I can tell you is that over the past few years at various times I have carried / supported / prolonged (pick you choice of word) various individuals at certain points who have been very wrong for the business. They have either been incapable of doing the job they were hired for, or they were just bad eggs in general.
And keeping them on not only drains me of their wages but ultimately decreases the productivity of the rest of the team and demotivates all around.
Even though I have had my reasons for keeping them on, I totally get it. How can you expect someone to perform at their best or go the extra mile when they see other people in the business, invariably more senior to them or earning more than them, slacking, fucking up and generally being a bad example? It is demotivating and people naturally think that behaviour is acceptable in the organisation because we have allowed it to continue. I can’t expect them to know the background and nor, most of the time, can I even tell them the reasons.
Over 25 years in business I have hired every conceivable problem employee you can imagine! Idiots, lazy, liars, incompetent, thieves, moaners, egos, prima donnas…
Some would say I am too loose to hire and it’s my own fault. I believe that you never know what someone is like until the day they start work, so all the repeat interviews in the world won’t help and references in today’s world are pointless as no previous employer will give one, and if they do it is probably not true.
That said, one area I believe is beneficial in hiring is to check out prospective employees’ social media.
Taking one look at the social media accounts of most of the people I have had to fire over the years would have usually prevented me from hiring them in the first place!
Whilst I am not unhappy with my hiring decisions what I have been unhappy with is my firing decisions. More specifically not firing people quick enough. And that is something I am making a conscious effort to get much better at.
A new girl we took on two weeks ago lasted 48 hours before being subjected to the axe – and to be honest that was probably 24 hours too long! Whilst it is not unusual for people to start a role behave great and slip over time, what is almost totally unheard of is someone starting a role with a bad attitude or some other issues and then improving to a model employee over time. So, if they are shit in the early days (even the early hours) and the information you now know would have changed your decision about hiring them in the first place – then act fast and fire them immediately.
Despite my grumbling and mistakes of the past, I truly believe that we are in a good place to build on now and the key problem people are no longer in the group. The bad habits, inefficiencies, or problems they have caused still exist though – they won’t go over night and they won’t go without a clear message and direction from the top. But I believe with the right desire and attitude across the board we can fix in weeks what has plagued me for years.
And to be clear, like all problems, I take the full blame here. Because its only when you blame yourself that you can find the solutions. I hired the bad eggs. I allowed them to stay – so everything that came off the back of that rests with me too.
Getting people to act like business owners is the permanent challenge. To treat company money as if it was their own, to make decisions for the greater good of the organisation not for their personal enrichment or ego.
And unfortunately, I don’t have the answers yet so I can’t tell you! But rest assured anything along the way I learn I will share with you.
In the meantime, I know for sure though that it definitely begins with cutting out the rot and building up again from there.
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