“I Know You Are, But What Am I?”

It’s human nature to like some people and dislike others, often without logical reasons. Take your junior-high-school lunchroom, for instance. Chances are, the children were divided up into several cliques. You had your own group of friends, and there was at least one clique whose members you despised — maybe they seemed smarter or less smart or they were better or worse athletes than you. If your teacher assigned you to work with someone in that group, you were mortified.

Similar things happen in the adult business world. Admit it — there are some employees, customers and vendors you just can’t reach, relate to or rehabilitate. (Sorry to say, it works the other way around, too.) And, as on the playground, the reasons for the estrangement may be valid, such as a genuine ethical difference or personality conflict. Or, they may be arbitrary. I’ve heard of a manager who refused to hire a worker because he had the same first name as the manager’s ex-husband.

Adults do have an advantage over our schoolyard counterparts — we realize that behaving irrationally or rudely to people we have to work with is unacceptable and counterproductive workplace behavior. Still, we do have choices — we’re free to walk away from people or situations we dislike.

Sometimes, walking away is necessary, as assistant editor Dan Weltin explains in this month’s cover story. If a distributor has no interest in helping you build your business, if a customer takes most of your time but provides a modicum of profit, if an employee is stealing — it’s most likely time to cut ties.

We’ve got tips for doing that peacefully, since you never know when you might have to work with the party in question in the future.

But what about getting along when walking away isn’t in your best interest? Our cover story also offers advice for patching up a relationship gone bad.

Also in this issue, industry veteran Dannette Heeth explains the nuances of getting along with a category of people many building service contractors may not relate to — salespeople. Unless you are a salesperson yourself, you might see them as different from you as the “jocks” seemed from the “nerds” back in middle school. Heeth examines how to break down the potential cultural, personal and business barriers — especially during a downturn.

We learn the differences are not insurmountable. We really do have similar goals — to succeed in our trade, to build our businesses and to provide for our families. Still, making difficult business relationships work is hardly child’s play.