James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » Today it is raining.
No scrap that, today it is absolutely pouring down. Sitting inside at my computer I can hear it's relentless pitter patter on the guttering outside and I am satisfied that nature has seen fit to emulate my current mood with a zeal I can hardly match in my own soggy mental state.
And the reason for this displeasure I hear you ask, well quite simply i'm dissapointed with the work that someone has done for us on a job. I'm not happy about it, they obviously think it's fine and I'm left in the uncomforatble situation of having to complain after the fact.
Why is it that no matter how simple you may think a job is in business, or indeed in life in general there is always room for a balls up?! After reflection i think this mostly comes down to poor communication on both sides.
A bit of advice: Never be afraid to patronize in business. This may seem very harsh and positively not positive advice but hear me out. I say patronizing because sometimes that's what you worry you'll come across as, but actually it's not patronizing it's just clear, simple, concise communication. Communication that doesn't assume anything.
I have learnt, from painful experience that unless you are absolutely specific in what you require from a supplier (or indeed anyone who is providing you with some service for your business) then you cannot rightfully take the hump when what you receive is not what you expected.
Likewise when I am producing something for someone else it is so easy to make a mistake without knowing I am making a mistake because I didn't fully understand what my client wanted from me in the beginning.
What can I do then but be understanding of my suppliers mistake. Again. For we have been here before and each time I berate myself for my folly in not being specific enough, not being professional enough, not being good enough at being a business woman. So I mentally flagellate myself for letting this situation arise again and muse over what my next course of action should be.
Any thoughts?
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