When You're "Just Not Good at Managing People"

Kris Plachy: Hey, I'm Kris Plachy, host of the Lead Your Team podcast. Running a million dollar business is not easy, and whether you are just getting started with building your team or you've been at this for a while, I'm going to bring you honest, specific and clear practices you can use. Right now today to improve how well you lead your team.

Let's go ahead and get started.

Hello? Hello. How are you? Happy. A couple days after Thanksgiving for everyone in the us. I hope that you were safe and had a lovely time. I know it's just a weird year. We had a really weird holiday. Anyway, um, I, this is also the first podcast I'm recording since my surgery and I just wanted to thank everybody for the well wishes.

I'm fine. I feel great. Still a little slow to get going. But I expect that to be normal. I'm just about four weeks out, so I'm, uh, feeling really good and, uh, very happy to have everything behind me. And I'm also, as I was prior to having the surgery, when I made the recording about when a founder has an unexpected personal issue, I'm just so proud to say that my business didn't miss a beat.

I have amazing team members and colleagues and partners who just over-delivered as I would've expected them to. And, um, I'm very grateful and, uh, it just feels a little bit like magic is what I just keep telling people. So I'm thrilled to say that that was all, all good news, so thank you again. So here we sit as we sort of embark on the end of 2020, and I wanted to do a podcast for you about something that I hear founders say.

A lot of the time, things that I hear, uh, my clients say all the time is, I'm just not good at managing people. And then that becomes a real reason for you. To avoid it abdicate it, feel like a, an imposter and just feel like you don't, you know, feel constantly inadequate and incapable or even angry and resentful and that.

That thought, I'm just not good at managing people. That's what that is. It is a thought. Now, you might have a lot of evidence, you might have a lot of experience and a lot of circumstances that have happened that you're using as evidence that sort of prove your point, that sort of verify that, yeah, you're terrible at managing people, but I wanna hold space at least in this discussion, that maybe that's not true.

Maybe you're not terrible at managing people. Maybe you just don't know how, and more importantly, what I believe to be true is maybe you haven't found your voice. The thing that about what I do in the How to CEO program and what I do with my private clients is I understand and I teach my clients the fundamentals of leading, managing, and coaching other people.

I believe that there are these core fundamentals. If you listen to this podcast, you've really started to know what they are. If you work with me, we'll really get that totally tied down for you. But how you apply those fundamentals is yours, and I think that's incredibly powerful and meaningful for you to know that you don't have to change who you are to be good at managing people.

I think you just have to learn. The foundations of doing it, and I want you to think about anything that you didn't know how to do that you learned how to do, and I would venture that that's even true for whatever business you have. You know, I have clients who are stylists, flos, retail shop owners, veterinarians.

Doctors, startup, iners, you know, technologists, I have people who have massage spa facilities and experiences, preschools, daycares, furniture design, I, I mean, you name it. And those women didn't know how to do the thing that they do now. Before they learned how to do it right. You don't know how to do hair until you learn how to do hair.

You might be interested in hair. You don't know how to be a physical therapist before you're a physical therapist. You just might have an interest in the body and helping make, making people feel better. So I think what happens is you start with this, well, I know what happens is you, is you start whatever your, your learning is, your training, your experience, you know, with that thing that you develop an interest in and skill in, and then you build a business around it and you never decided to be a manager.

Unlike a lot of more corporate focused kind of professionals, they go in as a individual contributor, you know, as an accountant or a sales rep or a customer service rep or something, and they sort of start to eye that management role because that means a promotion and more salary and all that. But as a founder, you don't have that same career path, right?

You just start your business. You start doing the thing you do, and you have more people than than just you can handle. And then you add people, and now you have to manage people. And that's a normal progression. So I think instead of saying, you know, I'm just not good at managing people first, we just, uh, say the truth.

I never wanted to manage people. I don't enjoy managing people. It's not fun to be someone's manager. I don't like that adults need to be managed, you know, any, any way, shape or form of that type of experience. I think we start there and I think that's much more honest than, I'm just not good at managing people because.

If you're like any of the women I work with, I know that you can learn. And what I believe is also true is we have to find the place that you can sit, you know, sort of figuratively in that manager management, leader seat that'll afford you the opportunity to invest in learning some of the things you need to learn, and finding a voice in it that you can keep and feel good about.

And I will tell you that I've had many clients who once they learn the mechanics of managing people, they don't mind it. It just doesn't seem as stressful anymore. I can also tell you, as someone who's been managing people for well over 25 years, that despite how much I know about it, I still have days where I'm like, really, really?

Did that really happen with someone on my team? Oh my heavens, right? So to believe that you never experience a challenge again is also a lie. Just like you still face challenges. If you treat patients or customers or dogs or technology, you still have challenges, but that doesn't make you throw up your hands and say, I'm just not good at this.

Instead, it typically, in those circumstances, we lean in, right? Like, Ooh, let's solve this. But for some reason, when it comes to managing, we just throw up our hands and disgust and frustration and overwhelm and say, I can't deal with this. What if you could? What if you could totally deal with it? What if it's just because you're missing a little bit of information and processes and you need a little support?

You need to know that you're not the only one. But there are ways to address the difficult employee that you don't know what to deal with. The long-term employee who just doesn't perform anymore, the person who doesn't really have a job description and, but they're really nice and they've worked with you a long time and you really like 'em, but you, you're not really sure that they suit the company anymore, right?

Maybe you don't know what to do with the person who. Is really, really helpful and they always seem to not have enough to do. Maybe there's someone who gossips all the time. You don't know what to do with them. Maybe you don't know if who is, is it time to hire a manager? How do I know? Right? Those are the, the beginnings of questions that you ask when you don't fulfill them with an answer that perpetuates your lack of confidence and everything I just said and more has an answer really.

So I want to invite you when you sit there with your head in your hands and you're saying, I'm just not good at managing people to remember my voice that says, but what if you could be? What if you could learn? I'm willing to bet you've learned how to do other hard things in your life. Sometimes when you wanted to, sometimes when you didn't.

Because I know when you learn how to manage and coach and lead, a couple things will happen. You will feel less stressed, you will feel more proud. You will feel less guilt, you will feel more freedom, and you will make more money and your business will make more money and you'll contribute more to other people making more money.

And I think that's super fun. So managing people doesn't have to be hard. Learning how can be a little tough, but tough is worth it. For what's on the other side, and I always just wanna remind you that it's not rocket science, it's little bit of processes, steps to follow, combined with a little bit of courage, combined with some validation and some support, and you get it and you move and you take action, make decisions.

You say things that you haven't said before. And it's amazing what can happen in your business as soon as you start to really, really decide to own that you're managing the team. And here's the last little bit of ray of sunshine or hope that I will give you. I've had several clients who have done all that with me.

In fact, I'm just wrapping up with someone, um, that I've worked with for a year privately and. She has decided she handles everything on her team. No problem. It's, it's fun, frankly, to watch her handle it. And she said to me, I don't, I don't think I wanna be the c e o of my business. I think I wanna really be in that founder role and hire a C E O to manage it.

And I said, yes, I think it's time. So you don't have to do it forever. You always will manage someone. So you can't get away from it. Even if you love the owner founder seat, you're gonna have to manage a ceo. So you've gotta go through the process to learn so that no one's pulling wool over your eyes.

There's no conversation you will shy away from or back down off of that. You will make decisions that you will lead, and you will learn how to coach and manage people. And if you've done that and then you decide, okay. I'm gonna get somebody in here who's gonna handle the day-to-day management of my company.

Let's do what that do, because that's a great goal, but you've gotta do it yourself first. It's just the rule. Chris Plaquey, rule 722 or maybe rule number one. Don't hire other people to manage your team until you know how to do it. Every c e o needs to know how to hire, how to train onboard, coach, and how to fire.

You learn those superpowers. You can handle anything when it comes to your team. Okay? So give it a shot. Don't invest in that thought anymore if you have it. I don't want you to feel so badly. I want you to feel good. I want you to be excited and proud of what you've built and what you continue to build.

And I know that if you get those skills, I know it can change everything. So I do feel like this has been a little bit of a long infomercial for the How to CEO program. That wasn't my intention. I'm really trying, uh, mostly just to prop you up and help you know that as you go into 2021, I know this year has been, it doesn't matter what industry you're in.

I was just talking with a an F N P last week who started one of those drip hydration clinics. Which is a, an amazing idea if you ask me. And you know, that industry has exploded this year. So in the time of this pandemic, we've had some industries very impacted negatively, people barely hanging on. And then we've had other industries that have absolutely tripled in size so quickly, they're not prepared for that either.

So this year has really, really been a test. For every single person listening to this podcast outside of not even including the personal challenges that people have faced and you know, unfortunately even the illnesses people have faced. So I wanna help you moving into 2021 with knowing that you can solve this part.

You don't need to keep fondling and struggling with managing the team. So there's a couple things I want you to know. The first thing is we have our next. Had a C E O scheduled. It's starting on January 20th. It's a Wednesday. The classes will be meeting once a week at 11 o'clock on Wednesdays. I've had people ask me like, what's a group size?

How many people are in this? We keep this relatively small. We're not talking about thousands of people. You guys, these are, you know, no more than 50. Uh, I know every single person in this program right now. I think we have 45, and I know everybody and I love it, and I love knowing everything I know about everybody's business and we work together for 12 weeks, so we really, really dig in there, which is fun.

We will meet every Wednesday, and then there will be office hour coaching sessions that are available for you to log into, and those are usually much smaller groups and can answer your very specific questions and coach you directly on the challenges that you're having, either with the current content for that week that we're going over or even something else that's going on in your business.

What we're doing this time is we are offering early registration. For people who want to register before the end of the year. If you are like me, my accountant, she'll look and she'll say, we might wanna spend a little more money before we get to the end of the year. So we're doing it for that and also because it just helps us with having a good sense of how many, you know, notebooks we wanna order and so forth.

So we are doing an early registration right now. If you register before the end of December, so by December 31st, you will. Obviously be registered for the How to CEO and guarantee your Spot starting on the 20th. You will also be getting a bonus course that we will release to you immediately called Managing Overwhelm for Female Entrepreneurs.

And I think I, well, I know you. You will find it really fascinating how I approach overwhelm and why so many women suffer from this. I really think I figured it out, and I also believe I give you some really powerful ways to think about and move yourself out of it so that you would get right away once you register.

And then we're also going to do a really cool mini virtual retreat with me. On January 2nd, that will be all about planning 2021. And again, that will only be available to how to CEO clients. That will be a live virtual retreat with me. It will be recorded if you can't make it, but you will only have access to that if you register for the How to CEO Program by the end of December.

And the last thing I'll say is if you don't really love the group thing, Which there are people who don't, and I completely understand that. And you prefer private, confidential, you know, personal advisory support. I do that. You know Allie Brown, who is a client. Colleague of mine says she know, she calls it like having you on the bat phone, and it really is more like that when, uh, we work together privately so that I only work with a few people at a time.

And in December, I have two openings for private clients and I also am going to do two virtual strategy afternoons if you would like to work with me for four hours. Again, we're doing those virtually and um, we're doing those in December. So if that's where you are and you just wanna really do a deep dive into your business, ev just for an afternoon, or if you'd like to work with me for three months privately, you can just go to chris plaquey.com/appointment.

And you can schedule time to, uh, meet with my team and they'll go over what you're looking for and we'll see if it makes sense for us to work together. And if you're ready to get started in the How to CEO program, go to how to ceo join.com and join the wait list. And then you'll get all the details on, uh, getting started with us.

Okay. So little bit more information, but we do have a lot going on as we close out the year. I have a lot of hope for us in 2021 and just as I have been in 2020, I am all in with you. On 2021, we're gonna rally and we're gonna blow it off and off the off the rails, what do we say there? Blow it out of the woodwork and, uh, assuming that we can get life going again, I will be doing a retreat in Hawaii in 2021.

And you have to be a client to be invited to that also, just putting that out there. So cheers to you. Thank you again for the support. Make it a great day and let's plan for an amazing year. Talk to you again soon. One more thing before you go. In a world of digital courses and online content, I like to work with my clients live because I know that when you have someone you can work with, ask questions of and meet with, you're so much more likely to get the success that you want.

So head on over to how to ceo live.com. To learn more about our very exciting, very exclusive program just for female entrepreneurs. We'll see you there.