As a business owner in need of managed services in Knoxville, you often have to deal with employees who have let you down. It could be a situation in which they have not completed a project on time, not dealt with a customer the way they’ve been trained, or underperformed for so long that you need to let them go.
In these situations, many business owners that need managed services in Knoxville take the easy way out by either not talking about the issue and letting it continue or by firing an employee for reasons like being late or taking unscheduled time off. The truth is, ignoring problems or not being honest about what has taken place shows disrespect for both the employee and for you as a manager.
What’s the solution? We need to have what author Susan Scott dubs ‘fierce conversations.’ Fierce conversations are direct, honest, thought-provoking and powerful. They can get intense and often evoke emotion, but a good business owner realizes that this emotion can be used to grow.
The Benefits of a Fierce Conversation
You can use fierce conversations in any area of your life where you want to deepen a relationship and actually solve problems instead of sweeping them under the rug. Here are some of the benefits of using them in your business:
- They move you toward what you want – You want an honest relationship built on trust with your employees and you also want them to develop these types of relationships with your customers. When you have fierce conversations with them, you help move everyone in this direction.
- They help people grow – It’s difficult for anyone to grow when they cannot see what they are doing wrong. Fierce conversations point out areas of improvement without belittling or talking down and provide concrete ideas for improvement.
- They show that you care – What are you telling your employees if you fire someone for a bogus reason because you simply didn’t want to deal with the truth? It shows that you don’t care about their feelings or about developing relationships with employees that are based on honesty. Even if a fierce conversation turns into an overheated argument, your passion and dedication to the truth will make an impact on your team.
- They build relationships – Having fierce conversations will deepen the relationships of those you have them with. Getting to the heart of a problem and working together to improve is a mutually beneficial method of conflict resolution. Both you and the person you are talking to will come out of the conversation better prepared to face future conflict and with more respect for each other.
A fierce conversation will look different depending on who you are having it with. If you are calling an employee of your business out on something they need to improve on, the conversation will undoubtedly be different than the one you have with an employee you intend to fire. However, the goal and possible outcome are the same. Be honest, direct, and show that you aren’t afraid to display passion and emotion. Fierce conversations will help you build the type of business you can be proud of.
For more advice like this and if you need top-tier managed services in Knoxville, contact us at Allevia Technology today.
