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Interview Patty

What to Do When Your Company Is Being Held 'Hostage' By a Toxic Employee

Growth Strategies for Small Business Women in Houston

Employees are the lifeblood of the organization. Your employees are your organization. Employees build the organization, run the organization and drive your organization’s success. But, employees can also take down the organization. In fact, you may be facing an organizational crisis right now, without even realizing it.

1. Knowledge - You may be taken hostage by a single employee, or by a group of employees, that has critical knowledge that doesn’t exist beyond that core. It could be as basic as an employee that you rely on as the single individual who knows how to run the phone system. It could also be as critical as the group of three technology employees who wrote every line of code for your latest product release. If these individuals were to leave the company, you wouldn’t make it far. You’ve left yourself vulnerable.

2. Relationships - Would any of your key client, patient, financial, or customer relationships be put in jeopardy if one or more individuals were to leave your organization or make demands you couldn’t (or wouldn’t) meet? If so, you have a relationship hostage situation. Relationship hostages are organizations that rely so heavily on a single employee, or a small group of employees, that customers would take their business elsewhere if these connections were severed. While employee relationships are one of the key reasons customers choose to do business with you, you are in a dangerous situation if that relationship is the single strong tie between customer and company.

3. Succession - A month or so, I met with a senior leader I am coaching. She started the conversation with, “I’m going to let (department manager) go, but can’t do it until I have someone to replace him.” This senior leader had no bench strength or backup. While the failing department manager was tanking morale and, even more noticeable, putting out defective product, the senior leader was being held hostage, forced to tolerate bad behavior and poor performance because there was no potential successor in place.

Source: Entrepreneur

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

Growth Strategies for Small Business Women in Houston.

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