"How to allow for team member personal challenges as a founder?"

Katy sent this to James Johnson and Freddie Birley for the Peer Effect Post Bag. James's immediate response: "I always struggle with this."

This question has no easy answer because personal challenges could mean anything: mental health, divorce, bereavement, or family crises.

Here's what James and Freddie break down:

The core principle James always comes back to. You should look after everyone. But you can't look after one person at the expense of everyone else.

When you overprotect one person, it impacts the whole team.

The transparency paradox. It's sensitive, so people don't want to share broadly. But without context, the team lacks empathy. When they're negatively impacted by someone's behavior or absence without understanding why, they can't be human first.

Time horizons matter. A couple of weeks is very different from six months or a year.

What support actually means. Support doesn't mean carte blanche to behave however you want.

You can't be a coach to someone you manage. If you can fire someone, you can't be their coach. Your incentives are conflicted.

What can you do as a manager? Give this a listen to find out

One action: Listen to the end for how to think about boundaries in these situations.

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Connect with James on LinkedIn or at peer-effect.com