“I really want the promotion. I’d love to take on that manager position,” Fred says enthusiastically. Fred has been on your team for several years now and he knows your business well. He’s proven himself to be reliable and professional.

But why does he want the position? His enthusiasm reminds you of a kid in a candy store repeating I want it, I want it! But just like that kid in the candy store, does he actually want it? Is he about to bite off more than he can chew?

People are at the foundation of every great business. In order for a team to achieve the company’s vision, the team must be surrounded with truly great people, top to bottom throughout the company.

Many leadership teams know this, but they aren’t aligned on how to do this. Things quickly get muddy when it comes to what action to take, how to execute it, and when. In a survey of business owners, 82% cited people issues as their number one frustration.

Companies are made up of people. And sometimes people don’t get along. Sometimes people are inconsiderate or forgetful. Sometimes people lack motivation and stop caring whether they produce good work. And all of that has the potential to hurt your business.

Few executives enjoy sitting an employee down to have the “we need to talk” talk. But sooner or later, it becomes unavoidable. How can you have that difficult conversation in a way that promotes positive results?

Last month, a good client came to me with some concerns. He felt that his organization had been making great strides in defining their purpose, vision, and core values. He also felt like the work we had done together had really helped to restructure the organization and improve internal processes so that the organization was positioned appropriately to meet future goals.

But now, he felt the really hard part was kicking in – people issues. One of the key strengths of the EOS system is to help business owners get the right people in the right seats. However, sometimes that means moving or letting good people go, if there is no longer a seat for them.

A client reached out recently with the following:

“Stacy and I are planning to have a ‘difficult’ conversation with Joe tomorrow. His performance is leaving a lot to be desired. I suspect he will be surprised. We plan to talk in terms of core values, capabilities and accountabilities, but acknowledge that Stacy and I may have created some of this problem by stepping in and assuming some of his responsibilities (rather than holding him accountable). He may be in the wrong seat and, as we define the seats on the Accountability Chart, he may be better suited for a different role. Did we screw up?”