The Other Person Think about this for a minute… No one sets out to do a poor job. Everyone starts out intending to do a good job. They have a positive attitude and high aspirations. Nevertheless, sometimes things change. They become complacent, lose interest, and experience a drop in attitude. Why is that? Has that ever happened to you? I believe it’s happened to each of us at some times during our career(s). If you reflect back to that time, you’ll find one of two reasons for this shift. One reason is that work you were doing really didn’t interest you. One of great revelations in life is that just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you enjoy it. Think about implications of this. It means that even if we’re really good at work we do, we may actually find it unenjoyable. Do you think that situation would affect someone’s attitude? You bet. Work would become unfulfilling. The other reason we might have become complacent, lost interest, and experienced a drop in attitude is that we became disillusioned with someone or something. Perhaps our boss or our company did something which lacked integrity or perhaps what we thought was true turned out not to be. In situations where integrity is an issue is there a way to make things better? Not in near term. Maybe never. In situations where reality of situation is a different one than was first imagined, is there a way to make things better? Maybe. Option 4 holds answer.

Your Team It never fails. A manager tolerates a difficult person for an extended time, hoping they’ll “come around” and hoping to avoid a confrontation. Then finally something happens – some event or challenge - and they feel they have no choice but to confront them which, by that point, leads to a termination. And then manager is surprised at number of team members who come forth and comment on what a drag on team that person had been. They’ll speak up about their poor attitude or poor work ethic. And they’ll often add, “I don’t know why you kept them so long!” Don’t be fooled into thinking this difficult person was only affecting you. Your people are aware of most of things going on around them, just like you are. When you don’t address a difficult person - when you decide to tolerate them - your whole team is affected. In addition, ask yourself this: What does it say about you as a leader and what does it say about your integrity? If you say you value a certain set of traits and then allow opposite to exist, what does it say about you? Tolerating a difficult person doesn’t work in long run.

4) Work to Understand Their Motivation Option 4 - The key to success. This option is about being a leader and being an effective communicator. It’s about being compassionate and strong at same time. It’s about being good for someone rather than being good to them. It’s about understanding rather than telling.

This solution is about taking time to understand other person’s motivation for acting way they do. If you’re effective at this, you’ll be able to either help them change their perspective on things or help them to move on to something that better suits them. This solution is about helping people grow and maximize their talents.

How do you come to understand motivation for their actions and attitude? Just ask. Ask why they act way they do. Usually they’ll be more than happy to tell you. If their answer seems odd or incorrect, you need to keep asking questions to get at heart of issue so you can either shift their perspective or help them move on. Once you’re at core issue you have ability to make a difference in their life. It’s amazing what can come out of a sincere desire to help. How would you have felt if, at those times when you felt complacent with a poor attitude, someone took time to listen to you and offer some other perspectives? How would your life be different today if someone helped you see yourself and/or your life differently? As a leader, you have ability to make a difference in someone’s life.

Be willing to fire those clients you simply can't stand or when you can't stand work. Continuing to work with people who aren't a good match for you, your values, your preferred way of doing business, or is meaningful to you will not support you, your business, your financial goals, or quality of your life.

Ask yourself if you are getting return on investment of your time and energy in work you are doing with each client or customer? Assess both money and emotional return. If either are lacking, seriously consider referring client to a colleague or having a frank talk about how work is not working for you.

Then take a good look at what your service and product catalogue offers. You may find products or services that made sense when you were getting started don't make sense now. Or, type of clients who want those products or services are no longer type of people you want to work with.

Continuing to do work, or working with people who aren't a good fit, prevents you and your business from growing and flourishing.

You own business. You get to decide what you do and who you want to work with.

It's your business, decide today to take one or two steps that will increase your skills or improve your business practices to increase return you're getting from your efforts.

(c) 2004. Pat Wiklund. All rights in all media reserved. Reprint rights granted so long as article and by-line are used intact and all links are made active.