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I was talking to a business owner recently. 
Let’s call her Emma. 
Emma is lovely, clever, well educated, passionate about her industry, and has successfully founded a thriving business.

But she feels miserable 😔

Emma feels that she is being walked all over by her team. 
An example: she told me about a team member, Sandra, who she was thinking about disciplining.

Why? Because Sandra was never on time for her shift, always took too long on her breaks and often snuck off early.

I was shocked.

At Emma.

For letting this happen.

For letting this happen more than once.

Because by not addressing it straight away, Sandra must have thought it was OK.

Emma doesn’t like conflict. So when Sandra turned up twenty minutes late for her shift, and mumbled something about buses, Emma actually apologised to Sandra for being irritated about her lateness 😱

The second time Sandra strolled in late, Emma hid herself in her office and looked busy so she didn’t have to “tell her off” 🤦‍♀️ The third time, as Sandra walked in late, Emma looked at her watch, and back at Sandra, then carried on working at her computer without saying a word ⌚️ At no point did Emma say to Sandra “Sandra, you are late for your shift. Is there a reason why? Is something wrong?” That would have given her the opportunity to be a Nice Boss, and see if her employee was ok. 
To find out if she needed support. 
And to politely show that she needed to start work on time.

By saying nothing, she let it happen.

So it continued.

Until Emma couldn’t take it any longer, and one morning, when Sandra was three minutes late, Emma totally, completely and over-the-top-ly flipped her lid 😡🤬😖 So now Sandra thinks Emma is a completely unreasonable boss, over reacting to her being just three minutes late.

So now Emma feels like she is a pushover, and has been “too nice”. And now Emma hates that she has been rude, snappy and horrible to her employee. 
And it could have been dealt with so easily, nicely and firmly right at the start.

The lesson: what you allow will continue.

#niceboss #leadership #boundaries

I was talking to a business owner recently. Let’s call her Emma. Emma is lovely, clever, well educated, passionate about her industry, and has successfully founded a thriving business. But she feels miserable 😔 Emma feels that she is being walked all over by her team. An example: she told me about a team member, Sandra, who she was thinking about disciplining. Why? Because Sandra was never on time for her shift, always took too long on her breaks and often snuck off early. I was shocked. At Emma. For letting this happen. For letting this happen more than once. Because by not addressing it straight away, Sandra must have thought it was OK. Emma doesn’t like conflict. So when Sandra turned up twenty minutes late for her shift, and mumbled something about buses, Emma actually apologised to Sandra for being irritated about her lateness 😱 The second time Sandra strolled in late, Emma hid herself in her office and looked busy so she didn’t have to “tell her off” 🤦‍♀️ The third time, as Sandra walked in late, Emma looked at her watch, and back at Sandra, then carried on working at her computer without saying a word ⌚️ At no point did Emma say to Sandra “Sandra, you are late for your shift. Is there a reason why? Is something wrong?” That would have given her the opportunity to be a Nice Boss, and see if her employee was ok. To find out if she needed support. And to politely show that she needed to start work on time. By saying nothing, she let it happen. So it continued. Until Emma couldn’t take it any longer, and one morning, when Sandra was three minutes late, Emma totally, completely and over-the-top-ly flipped her lid 😡🤬😖 So now Sandra thinks Emma is a completely unreasonable boss, over reacting to her being just three minutes late. So now Emma feels like she is a pushover, and has been “too nice”. And now Emma hates that she has been rude, snappy and horrible to her employee. And it could have been dealt with so easily, nicely and firmly right at the start. The lesson: what you allow will continue. #niceboss #leadership #boundaries

#niceboss #leadership #boundaries

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