How to stop killing your business with kindness

I’ve been noticing lately that leaders are being too nice. They are literally killing your business with kindness. 

 

Did your mom teach you when you were young that if someone wasn’t being nice to you, you should kill them with kindness? Mine did. Unfortunately, this is the opposite of what you want to do when it comes to business. 

 

When you are being too kind to people who are being insubordinate or not a good fit for your team, you are not only being out of integrity with yourself but also pulling down everyone else in your organization.

 

Jim Collins talks about how you can have a whole bunch of A players and if you bring in just one C player, it brings everyone down to be a B player.

 

What does killing your business with kindness look like? It is not shutting down insubordination. It is not demanding the type of behavior and performance that you want in your business. It is being Mr. Nice Guy and not letting someone go because you are concerned about their personal life and what will happen to them if they no longer have a job in your company. 

 

Your kindness is putting a chokehold on your business. How? Other people start seeing what you do (or don’t do) and they stop trusting you. They stop believing in you and losing faith that you are going to do the right thing. Additionally, your kindness to a bad employee is causing them extra unnecessary pain and stress. 

 

Take a minute and think through your employee roster. Is there someone who you secretly wish would quit? Is there someone you are thinking you probably should let go but you are making excuses as to why you are keeping them? Do you walk into the office in the morning and see them and immediately feel uncomfortable? 

 

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are living out of integrity with yourself. You’ve got to be willing to be bold and stop killing your business with kindness. Set your boundaries and say this is who we are and this is what we do. Use your core values to help you determine if your employee is adhering to your company’s standards. If they are not, let them go. It isn’t a good fit for them and it is not a good fit for you. 

 

This same principle applies to vendors, software, or even clients.

 

Stop killing your business with kindness. Stop killing your relationships with kindness. Stop killing yourself with kindness.

 

I hope this leadership thought helps. If you have not set up your core values for your business and would like some help from me, let’s set up a time to chat. CLICK HERE to go to my calendar. 

 

Dino