8 | Navigating Employee Conflict

Fun Sized Teasers

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Show Notes

Hey! You came back! I’m not surprised or anything; just being friendly. We’ve all had to deal with awful coworkers or employees. In this episode, our hosts dive into the world of employee conflict. What do you do when you don’t get along with an employee? Worse yet, what do you do when an employee doesn’t get along with the rest of your team? Those aren’t rhetorical questions, Rob seriously wants to know. Feel free to shoot him an email. Just google The Alderman Group. You’ll find him. During the discussion, James describes how he and Zach, an employee of his company, can get into talks that escalate into heated arguments. At the end of the day, James calls Zach a younger version of himself, which I guess means that he likes to argue with himself? Or he hates himself? Or he’s projecting? I’m not a licensed psychologist, so I don’t know how to properly interpret that. I can barely spell psychologist. Ok, fine, I used spell-check. Out of all the hosts, Jeremy seems to have had the most recent experience with dealing with problem employees. His solution? Just fire ‘em all and start over. That’s what he’d do. At the risk of sounding too serious, Jeremy does give some good advice about making sure that you allow employees who aren’t a good fit to find something that is a good fit for them. On a related note, if you need to fire someone, I think Jeremy may be available to consult. Rob tells a story about Strength Finders™, a job that he wasn’t the right fit for, and how sometimes it’s better for employees and businesses when they discover they are no longer a fit. It took someone on the outside to question why he remained at a job that was making him miserable. Of course, if you don’t like your job, it’s probably much better if you get God to get you fired, like Rob did. Just let God deal with all the little details. Let go, and let God. If Kevin is your favourite host, and let’s face it, he probably is, this won’t be your favourite episode. The team does their best to keep him awake, but Kevin possibly has a cold. Or the flu. Or maybe he’s dying of some exotic illness. Should he have come into the office just to talk over Rob’s nice story about prayer and specific flavours of Evangelical Christianity? Probably not. Is this episode better off because of his Nyquil-induced fugue state? Arguable. Are the show notes better because of his altered consciousness? Absolutely. Overall, you get the feeling that the entrepreneurs are trying to make themselves feel better about firing people. Most of the talk is focused on how letting employees go is often better for the business AND the employee, but definitely for the employee. Want to know the worst ways to fire employees? You’re in luck! Towards the end of the episode, James reads his inaugural top 4 list about this very topic. I don’t want to spoil anything, but James’ list seems to lean a bit towards the left. He throws shade at Wal-Mart for giving raises while closing several Sam’s Clubs without warning and calls out the president for firing someone with a tweet. The whole thing seems like FAKE NEWS to me! James’ list has always been FAKE NEWS. I’ve always said it. James’ Lame List, that’s what I’ve always called it! Kevin recommends getting someone else to do your job for you. Jeremy recommends not working at all. Hmm. There may be a pattern there. James thinks you should listen to a podcast by Jon Acuff, while Rob suggests using an app on your phone to interface with a fax machine. Apparently he encounters a lot of fax machines.

Our Recommendations

• Kevin: TIP - Get a virtual assistant
• Jeremy: TIP - Take more downtime
• Rob: APP - FaxBurner
• James: PODCAST - Creative Slide with Jon Acuff

BONUS

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