In companies all across the United States today people are talking about a shooting that happened last night in Des Moines, Idaho and entrepreneurs can learn lessons from this tragic incident.
Almost everyone has heard the expression, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” It is also important to remember that when it comes to running your business. Your employees are people with lives outside your workplace. This means that when things happen outside the office your your employees notice and the news have an impact on them. Do not think of tragic events in the news as mere nuisances or things that hinder your business. When tragic events happen that your employees will care about, there are a few lessons entrepreneurs should learn and apply. These lessons include the following:
- Your employees reactions to tragic events may not mirror yours.
- Tragic events in the news may have an impact on your employees’ performance at work.
- Don’t rush to judgment and make rash, hurtful statements before all the facts are in.
Your employees reactions to tragic events may not mirror yours.
It doesn’t matter what your opinion is of the various tragedies that happen. Your employees will have their own feelings and thoughts. In order to be successful as an entrepreneur, you must learn how to accept the fact that your employees will watch the news, follow current events and check out social media. If you employ people, they may have political, social and religious views that are different from yours. These views influence how those employees feel about events in the news. If your employees are liberal and you are conservative, it is likely that you will look at an incident an have very different opinions on what you see. When this happens, keep in mind that this is the United States of America and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
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Tragic events in the news may have an impact on your employees’ performance at work.
When tragic events happen your employees may be distracted, sad and their performance may suffer. This is a fact. Smart employers will learn this lesson over the course of time. This is not to say that you should automatically excuse poor performance from your employees every time there is a tragedy in the news. It is a statement of facts. Tragic events may impact your employees’ performance. When possible, set aside time to talk to your employees and let them know you understand that the tragic events in the news may impact how they do their jobs. Before the next tragedy happens, sit down and develop a plan for how to do grief counseling and stress management with your employees to help handle the events.
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Don’t rush to judgment and make rash, hurtful statements before all the facts are in.
When tragedies happen, it is tempting to rush to judgment and make rash, hurtful statements about what has occurred. As an employer, you must resist this temptation at the workplace. If you make a statement about a tragic event on Monday before all the facts are in and on Tuesday facts come out that show your initial statements were wrong you may have a problem with your employees. If your rash statements contradicted your employees’ feelings, were hurtful and were wrong, you may damage relationships with your employees that will hurt your business. This is a rookie mistake that you should avoid making.
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As an entrepreneur, it is important to remember that tragic events will happen. If you are a smart entrepreneur, you must learn to handle the tragedies in such a manner that does not damage relationships with your employees.