Importance of Praising in Public and Correcting in Private

Too often it seems, you see folks airing their frustrations or negative issues through social media sites like Facebook. That isn’t the way to run a business, especially a family business.
Family business consultant, author and farmer Jolene Brown reminds farmers and ranchers the importance of addressing issues promptly and correcting behavior or issues in private.
Brown: “One of the things that I like to ask a group of people is, ‘How big is your hometown? What is the population?’ I often ask how many of you come from a town of less than 7,500? And lots of hands go up in rural America. And then I remind them that you know that your hometown loves it when you have a problem. That’s because we have taken our problems to the public. If you want to operate as a business-first family you will learn that you are going to praise in public and correct in private. That doesn’t mean you ignore the issues but what it means is that you don’t take it to the public or to your friends to rally your armies so you can attack someone else. This means that we go direct to the person and take care of those when the mosquito bites are small so we don’t have a volcanic eruptions at the end. It is really important if you want to build a team, that you understand team work means working well together.”
If you would like to learn more of Jolene’s wisdom and wit — go to jolenebrown.com