“What Others Say About You….

…is NONE of your business!” That advice was given to me early on in my career and let me tell you, it has helped me keep focus when times got rough. But when it comes to people talking about your company in a negative way, whether external or internal, I WANT TO KNOW! Ha! Honestly, I have to say I get curious to know what the crew or outsiders feel is off about how we run things, so that I can fix them.

I do my best to look inward first to see where my actions have been off, then I will look outside myself. But the goal is to make myself, our team and company better, so I want to know the issues people are upset about, so that I can fix them. If I don’t know it is a problem, then, I don’t it is a problem, right?

Our class just read in Michael Hyatt’s book Platform, that in this day and age, a company can suffer a lot of branding damage fast on social media, and that is only one part. There is the local business community and then your internal crew. All areas need to be on the “aware” list so as to learn right away what might be stirring but my focus here is the internal component.

If the company needs to right some wrongs, then admit your mistakes, solve the problem and make it right. If it is an employee just being a bad apple, then that needs to be addressed in a different way….but you do not want a bad seed having a negative influence on the rest of the crew. It needs to be addressed one way or another.

So, in the end, as a manager, all information can be beneficial, especially negative feedback. As long as we are open to really hearing the truth, and then facing it head on, we can solve it and move forward. But you do have to address face it and while you can’t please everyone, you can be fair and honest with yourself and your team.

Numerous books are out there about all of this, so this blog is just a nibble at the surface but share any comments that you feel can add to it and perhaps just keep the relevance of this on the forefront in the work place. Because without your team there is no one to drive the trucks or answer the phones or breath life into the company.