You are to be applauded for sharing this with us. I am left wondering what your tech guy would say about the situation from his perspective.

Here is my tentative hypothesis;

You appear to be in a system with at least three major elements – you, your tech guy and the relationship between the two. Your current actions, however well meaning appear to be serving to maintain the less than optimal status quo. Might you consider that the essence of the relationship is that of Parent/Child?

If I might suggest it; how about you stop doing what you are doing and try something else – perhaps do nothing, perhaps suggest to him that he writes his story (openly and honestly, as you have done) perhaps suggest he tells you what he thinks he wants and needs from this relationship. What does he think motivates him?

I would be really interested in your follow up postings about this.

You are to be applauded for sharing this with us. I am left wondering what your tech guy would say about the situation from his perspective.

Here is my tentative hypothesis;

You appear to be in a system with at least three major elements – you, your tech guy and the relationship between the two. Your current actions, however well meaning appear to be serving to maintain the less than optimal status quo. Might you consider that the essence of the relationship is that of Parent/Child?

If I might suggest it; how about you stop doing what you are doing and try something else – perhaps do nothing, perhaps suggest to him that he writes his story (openly and honestly, as you have done) perhaps suggest he tells you what he thinks he wants and needs from this relationship. What does he think motivates him?

I would be really interested in your follow up postings about this.

First I would like to commend you on Buying Facilitation®. I’ve been cognizant for a long time that “identifying a need doesn’t close a sale” so I appreciate this method. I have used the Buying Facilitation® method on my daughter (our relationship is much better!!) and when attending job interviews. My questions are pretty much the same as those “high impact” questions for the hiring manager, but with a twist!:)

I would like to give my opinion about your current situation with your employee. I am not in total agreement with deducting money for every error. In fact, I think this would be more detrimental to your business as I believe you are handing your tech guy a way out. In a way, it’s like a reward. He could subconsciously decide to let something “slide” due to his heavy work load, knowing that it may cost him $15 but compared to what else is going on, this is good value. However, in your situation, the three errors this amounted to, could cost you a pitch! I’ve seen what you charge for services on your web site and I believe you would lose out a lot more.

I appreciate that you said you don’t have time to check everything, however, I think it would be important for you take accountability for some of the loss of business as you are in effect the tech guy’s manager. You would want to manage him to success without micro-managing. How?

Here are my suggestions:

1. The most important advice I’d like to give is not to go into a meeting, a pitch, etc. without looking at the materials first. If you’re aware of the areas of errors, it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to decide which areas of his work you will pay more attention to, until it improves. He may be a great guy but business is business!
2. Ensure you have weekly one-on-one meetings with him, this way you’ll know what is on his agenda…not just professionally, but personally! It could be something in particular that is causing him to “fail” at certain times
3. Give Feedback, I would use feedback for both positive and negative work. Employees feel more valued if they are appreciated for the good and advised of the bad, so they can correct it.
a. (Feedback Script: when you get the Google ad words spot on, it increases traffic to our business, keep up the good work. When you make data errors on materials, it loses a lot of business and makes me look unprofessional, what can you do differently next time?)

I believe you would get more from a highly paid professional, but it sounds as if you have a great relationship with your tech guy. His understanding of you and your Asperger Syndrome isn’t something that a highly paid salary could not buy. If you adjust your expectations of him, you may find yourself inspiring him to be more successful.
Expect the errors, it’s part of business, but expect improvements, demand them from him. Invest a little more time on one-on-ones (half an hour a week) and regular feedback (positive and negative) and you should see a reduction in errors and a higher skill level in the areas he excels at.

I hope my suggestions have been useful, please feel free to comment on them, or ask anything about what I’ve mentioned.

On a side note, do you plan on holding a conference in Barcelona, Spain? I have many contacts in the event planning industry and I believe I would be able to raise awareness and interest in such an event. I would be happy to lend my time and expertise voluntarily to help organise this.

Warm regards

Tara Thompson
Marketing & Communication Specialist
Barcelona, Spain