time management

Here’s the top three scenarios where drawing your line in the sand is imperative to the growth of your business.

#1-Referral partners who abuse your relationship. You know the ones who throw you under the bus with your mutual clients, call to complain and offer no solutions or support, ask for favors but don’t return them, blow-up your phone, email and text (at the same time) who behave unprofessionally, use profanity and/or raise their voice at you.

The only reason you are putting up with this abusive behavior is due to feeling desperate about your current business situation. However, the fact is that these types of people will never actually help you to grow your business. Instead their abuse will sour your outlook on your business and will also negatively impact your customers.

Letting them go sooner rather than later will help you to make room for better, more mutually-respectful and beneficial relationships. As in any relationship in your life…NEVER settle!

#2-Team members with bad attitudes. This could be an Assistant, a Processor, a fellow Loan Officer or even your, Manager. The last thing anyone needs is to listen to a team member’s complaints, negative rants, passive aggressive quips or personal problems, especially when you are held captive due to the fact that you must rely on them at some point to get your borrowers to the close.

It is never a pleasant feeling to be forced to confront folks, but not doing so will simply lead to more of the same and a seed of resentment will grow inside you and dampen your work experience, as well as your own attitude.

When approaching your, “negative Nelly,” remember these helpful tips:

• Don’t approach them with the topic while in the heat of the moment. Give it a day or two and then ask to speak to them privately or schedule a time to speak on the phone if the two of you do not share an office.
• Nobody comes into work thinking, ‘I’m going to do my best to really disappoint my customers and co-workers today.’ So, assume that the root of the problem has nothing to do with you personally and start off by making an observation like, “Hey, Sally, you know I’ve noticed you really seem especially stressed right now and I’m concerned. Is there anything I can do differently that could help you in any way?” This is how you can bring light to the issue without putting someone instantly on the defense.
• Make sure to be prepared with very specific instances of how and when their attitude has negatively impacted your productivity, work flow, or yours or your customer’s feelings.
• If all of your best efforts to work out the attitude problem fail, escalate the issue to their direct report and if that person happens to be you, then you need to make the decision if there is any way you can manage them up or if it’s time to manage them out. Whatever you do, don’t delay as the old cliché holds true…One bad apple does spoil the bunch!

#3-Family members, friends or peers who interrupt your work day. Many folks assume that because you are not on a 9am-5pm punch clock that somehow that means you are freer and more available than most.

If you find that your peers are lingering in your office doorway longer than is productive or that your sister or brother call during the middle of the day asking for favors or your teenage children call with a variety of complaints and requests, it’s time to draw that line and set those boundaries.

Giving away 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there adds up quick! Plus, each interruption derails you from maintaining your focus and remaining productive and that just leads to longer work hours. Protect your most productive work hours. Ask your peers to respect your, “Please do not interrupt” signs. Communicate, “Open times” to friends and family and most importantly, stick with it! If YOU don’t, nobody else will.