A friend of mine owns his own company, and about a year ago, he hired a not-so-great admin. He spent months working with her, training her, teaching her. She continually made mistakes. He lost money with his schedule not being full and then, billing became an issue. One day, he walked up to the front desk, and she was reading a book on her phone, with several things unfinished. Finally, the straw that broke the camel’s back: he asked her to send an email. She said she did. He didn’t get it. She said it must not have gone through. He said no problem, just forward it to me. She of course had never sent it.
He greeted her at the door with her final check one morning, and she wasn’t even surprised.
He looked at me and said, “I’m an idiot. I should have fired her 4 months ago.”
First of all, he is not an idiot. He is a kind, generous, dedicated human being and a fantastic business owner. I really appreciate the way that he tried everything in his power to make it work.
And.
As the great Chris Rock says: “Relationships aren’t tough. They are tough when only one person is working on it. Two people can move a couch real easy. One person can’t move it at all.”
I am very pleased to report that my friend has a new admin who started last week, and 2 days in, my friend said this: “I really am a good trainer and teacher. I had forgotten that about myself.”
POWER THOUGHT: When your couch has to be moved, and it isn’t moving, it is time to move on.