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There’s a moment almost every owner knows. “Hey, do you have a minute?” The door closes. And somewhere in the next thirty seconds you realize everything is about to break. That feeling tells you exactly what you built. If someone…
Your turnover rate is a vanity metric. It tells you how many people left. It doesn’t tell you anything that matters. Two companies. Both have 30 employees. Both lose six people this year. 20% turnover. At the first company, four…
One resignation doesn’t tell you anything. Someone quits. You want to know why. You want to know what you did wrong. You want to know if you should have seen it coming. But one person leaving is noise. It doesn’t…
When someone quits, the first thing that happens is you become them. Not for a week. For however long it takes to hire and train a replacement. Maybe it’s three months. Maybe it’s six. During that time, you’re doing your…
“I need better employees.” Sometimes that’s true. There are people who won’t meet reasonable expectations no matter how clearly you explain them. But before deciding you need better employees, ask this: What would a better employee actually do differently on…
“Nobody stays.” When you’ve hired three or four people and watched every one of them leave, it’s hard not to start thinking this way. Maybe people just don’t stick around like they used to. Maybe it’s the labor market. Maybe…
“I need someone with experience.” I hear this a lot when talking about hiring. And I get it. You don’t have six months to get someone up to speed. You’ve probably hired someone before who needed way more help than…
Growth has a way of making business owners question everything. “We never had communication issues before.” “Accountability used to be so much better.” “Our managers can’t seem to keep everyone aligned.” It can feel like growth created new problems. I’ve…
Most companies say they hire for values. Far fewer are willing to lose a great candidate because of them. That’s the difference between values and preferences. Preferences are nice to have. Values change decisions. I’ve seen business owners spend weeks…
One of the most expensive things in a growing business is feedback that never gets given. Owners usually notice the symptom. “My managers aren’t coaching their people.” The common diagnosis is that managers need more training or need to have…
