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    Employee Management

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    How to deal with employees who won’t do what you ask them to do?

    A: A quick story, I used to work with a coffee franchise, built it from a little startup, to 135 locations. And I did all of the training on, how to create an exceptional experience, how to coach, and employee performance management.

    There was a local franchisee who was having trouble with her employees, so I reiterated, 'You have to write this person up for what they're doing,' and then tell them if it happens again, you're going to cut their hours. If they do it again, they are subject to being terminated. The write-up forces you to put it down so the employee has direction on what is happening.

    See also, Retail Sales Training: Fire Bitter Betty Employees

    The franchisee understood all that, and through hemming and hawing, finally, after a couple of weeks, she finally wrote her up.

    She reluctantly followed my advice but finally, this one young woman just wasn't working out.

    I'd been expecting her to be fired one day, and about 4:00 that afternoon, I received a phone call, and it was the franchisee crying, saying, 'Can you come over here and fire my employee?'

    I told her, 'That's seriously not what I do and, seriously, totally what you have to do.' She took it all personally that she was doing something to this employee when it was entirely in the employee's ability to avoid it.

    I thought about that, because a lot of people are asking me, 'What do I do with my employees who won't take the training or they won't do things the way I want?'

    And I say have you ever seen a dog walking down the street wagging its tail? Well, when you're not willing to do it, it's like the tail (your employee) is wagging the dog. You're the dog. You're the one that makes this happen. It's either them or you, baby.

    Them or you, it's that simple. The bank isn't going to understand, 'Oh, but Ashley's so nice, and I like her, and I know her whole backstory.'

    Why is it we're willing to understand that from a bank, but when it comes to us, we say, 'Oh, I can't change'?

    You know, you can't change your family, but you don't have to work with them.

    If you're willing to keep putting up with seasoned employees who aren't willing to change, you're going be in a mess of hurt.

    Your employees have to either be helping you or they're going to be hurting you. 

    Start The "Should I Fire This Employee Quiz?"

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