Once you open your doors and start that new business, everything you say or do can and will be used against you... wait a minute... sounds like a Miranda warning. But, it's really true. When you walk in the door and your receptionist looks up and says "Hi Dr. Brown, good morning," and you respond "What's so good about it?" - you just ruined her day and yours too. You made your staff feel unappreciated and set a negative tone for the entire day. So when that first patient walks in the door and says "Good Morning" to your receptionist, and she responds with "Yeah, I suppose so," just remember who started it!

In my own practice I reminded the staff that each day begins just like this old movie - 'All That Jazz' starring Roy Scheider. He played a Broadway producer who spent half his day drunk or stoned out on one drug or another, but when it came to opening day, he sucked down his coffee, threw both hands up in the air and said "It's Showtime!" And this is what you must do EVERY DAY of the week - no matter if your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, kid, cat or gerbil is giving you a hard time, you must set the attitude for the day. You are the business, you are the leader, you are the person at the top of the organizing board (more later on organization hierarchy). What you say or do will set the tone of the day, so put aside the problem and focus on production, clients, customers, or whatever it is you do all day.

If your staff walks in with the need for an 'attitudinal adjustment' as I call it, and it's pretty obvious that one of them had a bad weekend, then pull him or her aside privately and explain that you understand they had a rough time with something, but if they don't get their act together, they also won't have a job much longer. I'm not telling you to be a mean old hardball boss, what I am saying is to show empathy for them so that you can get through your busy day. Explain that their bad attitude will infect the rest of the staff members/employees - and believe me, it will. And then offer to talk to this person at the end of the day to help them with their problem.

Unfortunately, such problems with staff tend to be of a personal nature and generally you should not go there. You would be well advised not to ever get in the middle of other peoples' problems because then you cross a line that should be left alone. It's kind of like taking vacations with your employees - unless it is a continuing education trip, it should not be done. Anyway - if you do offer to help with a staff member's problem, make sure to be professional and document in their file what you talked about, just to cover everyone's backside. Some of you out there are saying "Hey, this guy is paranoid," but trust me that your employees should be kept separate from the company owners. There are good reasons for this.

One of the biggest reasons for these problems is that as the owner, you are hopefully going to take home a good income with benefits like vacations and other privileges. This can easily cause resentment from employees who are making far less money - they do not appreciate or understand that you went to school for an MBA, or you spent countless hours studying marketing. All they see are the results - you have lots, and they have little. This is where problems can begin. So be aware of this and don't be too extravagant in front of your staff. Save that for when you go on your family vacation!

Please check out a fun and informative site where I blog on how to create and maintain a new business! Enjoy!
http://thebusinessprofessionalsonline.com