Are You an Asset or a Liability?

A great friend and mentor of mine taught me the difference between assets and liabilities as follows. An asset is something that helps you accomplish a goal. A liability is something that takes away from the resources that help you attain the goal.

The context of the conversation was all around the people in our lives. Each day we have the choice to be an asset to someone, or we can be a liability to someone. There will be days that you are are an asset, and there are other days that you are a liability. For the most part,  you want to have the frame of reference that each day you are going to show up as an asset for everyone you come into contact with.

When you are building your business, you want to cultivate those people who are dedicated assets and coach up or coach out those who are liabilities. Now, this is where a lot of owners get stuck. For some of you, there is that one person you are thinking is an asset but is truly a liability. Owners want people they can rely on people who show up on time and don’t complain. Though these are the qualities of a good employee, great businesses are not built on these qualities. That employee might be reliable that he clocks in and out on time, but the work that is accomplished by that employee may be sub-par.

Tidbit for today:

Take time to go through your employee list. Are you asset-heavy, or are you liability heavy? How do you tell?

Go through this exercise by answering the following questions

Is my organization achieving the goals we set out? Yes or no.

If yes, then you must have enough assets in your business to handle the tasks at hand.

If no, then start going through each employee and asking yourself these follow up questions.

1.      How does this employee help the organization achieve its goals?

2.      If this employee was gone, what would be missed the most? Could they easily be replaced?

3.      If this company had to shut it’s doors down tomorrow, how would this employee feel?

4.      Does this employee embody the values and mission of the company?

You can come up with your own four questions, but these are the ones I would suggest. Now when you have your list finalized, you then need to take some action on it. Start cultivating your assets and building in them to take on more. Then also start coaching up or coaching out those who are a liability in your company.

If you want to talk more on this topic, schedule a time with me today at the link listed below.

https://calendly.com/brandon-mulcahy/just-a-chat

Enjoy!