FtL 47: Employee Relationships And The Challenges They Cause with Jessica Rhodes

Fail To Learn: Teaching stories from business, sales, marketing, coaching, blogging, freelance, & entrepreneurs.

Jessica Rhodes runs Interview Connections, a company that helps match podcasts with guest experts. Her business is booming. And she’s running it with a team of virtual employees.

Everything was running smooth. And then Jessica had to take time off for the birth of her second child.

Jessica kept giving her assistant more control in the business. When Jessica came back and began reclaiming control, things turned bad. And it didn’t end well between them.

Here’s what Jessica and I discuss:

• The big challenge we face with employee/boss relationships.
• What happens when you give someone too much control while you’re away, and what happens when you try to get it back.
• Why financial incentives don’t alway work to motivate someone.
• How tension grew between Jessica and her employee, and conversations that used to flow smoothly were now strained.
• How the feeling of distrust grew and ruined their relationship.
• What Jessica could’ve done that might have changed the outcome.
• How she fell into the trap of giving up control.
• The key Jessica discovered to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
• Why Jessica isn’t ready to let go of the control of her business and be an ’absentee CEO."
• Our discussion about the “business as a baby” metaphor. Why it’s good and bad.
• What she’s doing now to make sure her business grows and supports her lifestyle.
• The one thing you need to know about virtual assistants before hiring one.

Enjoy the show:

Employee Relationships And The Challenges They Cause