The Element Common to Holiday Hassles & Business Hassles

Listening to people talk about dealing with what they consider to be the hassles of the holiday season – Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, the New Year – and looking back at my business in 2016 to prepare for 2017 helped me clarify that most of my time with clients is spent helping them deal with hassles in their businesses.

Business hassles aren’t the same as holiday season hassles, but both categories have one glaring similarity – most them involve people.

In business, technical and mechanical hassles are initially caused by software, machinery or both.

But, fixing those hassles involves people, which can – not always, but often - exacerbate them rather than fix them.

A hassle is defined as a disorderly dispute or a problem caused by pressures of time, money, inconvenience, etc..

When a hassle rears its ugly head there’s a four-step process to deal with it.

1.      Address it immediately. The longer a hassle drags on the worse it gets.

2.      Determine the cause. Don’t focus on the symptoms. Get to the root of the matter.

3.      Implement a policy, a process or both that will eliminate the cause.

4.      Reinforce the corrective measures regularly.

For example, the main causes of most workplace hassles are gossiping and complaining.

If that’s the case in your workplace, establish a policy that forbids those bad habits, gives people permission to politely shut down those who interrupt their work wanting to gossip or complain, and requires managers to regularly reinforce the policy and help those they manage with habitual offenders.

Other hassles are caused by poor performance, low productivity, low quality work product, customer and client misunderstandings, vendor and contractor misunderstandings, and unclear expectations to name a few.

Hassles waste time and drain energy, and have a negative impact on your bottom line.

When they happen eliminate them immediately.

Your work life will be more enjoyable and more productive.

The same will be true for your employees.

Your customers and clients will be much happier and bring you more business.

And, your bottom line will become much more robust.

Make your number one New Year’s resolution the elimination of hassles in your business.