A Fresh Coat of Paint Won’t Do 

Frustration with our business: employee problems, financial concerns, business generation challenges, out-of-control calendars, and to-do lists. We’ve all been there and will be again. 

Slapping a fresh coat of paint on things won’t fix the issues. 

Cover them up all you want, they’re still there. And your brain is too smart to be fooled. 

Fresh coats of paint look like: 

  • Writing a new employee handbook
  • Creating a new operations and policies manual
  • Re-ordering items on your to-do list 
  • Checking email 
  • Re-designing the organization’s structure 
  • Re-assigning people or changing their responsibilities slightly 

 

 Real solutions look like: 

  • Having a tough performance conversation about meeting minimum expectations with an employee 
  • Addressing violations of existing policies by enacting the disciplinary action process with that employee who has violated the policy the last five times 
  • Defining the desired outcome and next physical, visible action for items on your to-do list and taking those actions 
  • Calling or emailing that referral partner or prospective client to schedule the anxiety-inducing meeting 
  • Having a conversation with the manager whose team is not producing results about how to help him or her be a more effective leader 
  • Terminating the employee who is simply not a good fit

 

Nothing on the second list is easy. It takes time, energy, and effort.  

The solution is to reconnect with your vision, your purpose, your goals, your inspiration, and your motivation for running your business or doing your job.  

If you don’t know those, that’s a great place to start. 

A fresh coat of paint will look beautiful, but it won’t solve much. 

 

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Craig A. Escamilla
Craig A. Escamilla
Craig Escamilla helps you find solutions before problems exist. With fifteen years of consulting, teaching, and senior management experience, Craig brings a wealth of practical expertise to helping others work on rather than in their businesses.

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