So, I’ve had a few setbacks this year. It’s no biggie.
Our job as entrepreneurs is to solve problems. That’s what we do and one problem common to all of us at some point will be the tricky matter of staff.
Last month, I lost two of my key lieutenants. (If you haven’t heard by now, Mark Creaser and Thom Smith both resigned within a few days of each other to go off and work together on a new venture).
Now, whilst I was hugely touched by the extraordinary number of messages I received in the days following the announcement (over 200 members dropped me a line – every single one of them being supportive. Thank you. It meant a lot), the truth of it is that, whilst we’ll miss Mark and Thom, the business won’t be encumbered by their departure. I’ll make sure of that.
You see, I’ve always known that everyone that works in my business will leave at some point. That’s true for your business as well.
I also learned some years ago that one of the most useful, sensible things I could do in my business is to ensure that I have no dependency on any one person and, thankfully, this is something I put into practice.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely NOT saying that we won’t miss them, but I am saying that it won’t be a critical blow. We have lots of other great people within the EC Team and the departure of these two old hands has presented a fantastic opportunity to some of my bright young bucks to step up and make their mark.
In his book “The No BS Guide to the Ruthless Management of People & Profit”, Dan Kennedy talks about how “They all go lame”. He has articulated what I’ve just described above but using the analogy of racehorses.
Mark, Thom and I had over eight fabulous years together but we weren’t married! We hadn’t pledged a lifetime allegiance to each other. And how compelling must it be to work within the EC environment, mixing and mingling every single day with ambitious, hungry entrepreneurs, to want to have a crack yourself.
Sure, their timing was a bit s**t but then there’s never a good time for things like this to happen.
But the high profile departure of these two guys ought to serve as a critical reminder to you that you too will lose key staff at key times…and there’s nothing you can do about it ,other than to ensure that you haven’t got any dependencies either.
Several of the people that wrote to me shared tales of how they too had experienced what I was going through and, in every single case, they concluded that the eventual outcome had been a positive one for both them and the business. It certainly will be for me, largely because I had consciously put in place a team and had shared and distributed the work, the learning, the knowledge so that we had no dependencies.
I commend such operational rigour to you with every fibre of my being. If you have a key member(s) of your team then make sure that you’ve got others that could step into the breach if they were suddenly taken ill or decided to go.
Just amongst my Mastermind cadre similar situations have been faced on three occasions THIS YEAR (and that’s out of only 63 businesses!).
I think we should add an additional line to the well known phrase that there is nothing in life that is certain apart from death, taxes…and that when you run a business then at least one key member of your team will resign on you unexpectedly.
That’s the final word.
