Business Advice Center answers business,
organizational, career challenges and questions

Hi, Larry Rudwick, executive business coaching consultant. Over time, I've been asked many questions, ranging from "advice on starting a business" to "small business financing advice" to "Should I stay in this business?" to "What's the best way to sell my business?" to "What career should I pursue next?"

Sometimes, people are looking for advice. Other times, people actually know the answer but are looking for some reassurance (or maybe "checking me out")!

One key to success is having a trusted advisor you can call on when needed. Even better, I suggest people read the 1930 classic "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, commissioned by Andrew Carnegie. It talks about the value of having MANY key advisors you can call on when needed.

Business Advice Center Questions and Answers

Question: What should I do with my key manager who misses work frequently and has significant personal problems including alcohol abuse? I have other employees who try real hard and have lots of potential.

Business Advice Center: There are two basic issues here. The first one is how to best run your business, while the second issue is the your key manager's problems.

Here are some of the questions you need to ask yourself and think about:

Concerning running your business: 1) How KEY is this employee? 2) How big is your business, and how much impact does this one employee have? 3) Is it practical for other employees to learn to do the "key" employees job in a reasonable period of time? Obviously, having a good back-up plan, should your problem employee not work out, is very important.

Concerning your problem employee: 1) How long has he/she been working for you? 2) Have these problems always been there, or just started recently? 3) Do you have written policies that covers this type of problem (missing work)? 4) Are you able to really discuss the problems with this employee? 5) HAVE you discussed this with the employee and if so, what are the responses?

Caution: This situation can be extremely challenging, and even dangerous, especially if the person has any history of aggressive behavior, or if this person comes to the company unfit to work.

If you have a number of employees, you should have written employee policies approved by a reputable attorney. And you should be consistent with enforcing your employee policies.

Your policies should strike a reasonable balance between what the company will do to provide help for these type of problems versus when there's no apparent practical choice but to terminate the employee.

Please Note: I have seen amazing results by quickly training one or more able subordinates to learn parts of their boss' responsibilities. This process can create employees that become extremely loyal to the company!

I have also seen people with significant personal problems turn themselves around IF they TRULY want to, and take significant action to make the necessary changes.

Tentative Conclusion: This type of problem cannot be properly resolved without knowing more about the specifics of the situation. Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this more.

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