There she stands. All 5 feet 4 inches and 114 pounds of your loving wife,
inquisitively looking up at you seeking the rubber stamp of approval on the
latest look she picked up from the mall. What husband hasn’t been to this place
before? Problem: the new hat she just paid $59.95 for looks to you like
something that wouldn’t make the Aunt Bea hand-me-down list on the Andy Griffith
show. It clashes, doesn’t compliment her eyes, and makes her look ten years
older. What do you say?
“You look super tonight, sweetheart. Let’s hurry or we’ll be late.”
Coward. You don’t even have some place to be late for, which she’ll remind
you of, but that was the quickest, most gutless way to bail out of the situation
and run for the tall grass of changed conversations. You feel like a dishonest,
pathetic excuse for a person, but here’s the key question—did you do the right
thing? Debatable, to be sure, but most guys would give a big fat “yes” response
to that question. You spared her feelings and if her friends tell her the hat
looks awful, it becomes their problem. Besides, the downside consequences are
not too severe, are they?
If you are a leader in business, that attitude can be deadly. In fact, you
can kill an employee with compassion and delayed criticism, proving that you
definitely can be cruel by being kind. What do I mean? Not long ago I had an
employee with a discipline problem; basically, I perceived a lack of dedication
to the cause. I had some private discussions with the fellow to try to stem
this, and behavior would temporarily change, but I never really dropped the
hammer or threatened termination. I saw the signs of continuing problems, and
heard the reports from our customers that this gentleman was a problem. I
reacted by defending my employee, a good thing to do, but never addressed the
issue completely with him. Well, my Board of Directors heard the same reports
and took the choice out of my hands, dictating that I fire this person without
negotiation. In fact, they eliminated the entire position as a non-value-added
part of the operation. I couldn’t help feeling that maybe I could have prevented
this by being a little less kind up front.
Become a Healthy Skeptic. I’ve always believed that people will respond to how you treat them; that
is, treat people the way you want them to behave and they will rise to the
occasion. If you want employees to act like professionals, then don’t box them
in with overbearing anal rules on when they should arrive at the office, when
they should go home, or other policies that have brought out the mediocrity in
many a corporate workforce. Let them follow your lead and their professionalism
will come out. This usually works, but the flaw in the logic is that everyone
doesn’t have the same value system. This is where the realist should be
suppressing the optimist back into the subconscious mind and welcome forth the
skeptic. Some people really do want a mile when you give them an inch. Learn to
recognize early on those employees that embrace this philosophy.
Address Behavioral Problems in the Present. If you recognize that an employee or two just isn’t responding to the
environment you create at the office or in the shop, ignoring it and hoping they
will fall in line is a doomed strategy. Call in the troubled workers, one at a
time, and let them know that this behavior is unacceptable and is not without
consequence. Make public the standards of behavior that you’d like to see
demonstrated. If necessary, put the employee on probation for thirty days while
you gage his response, but whatever you do, highlight the seriousness of the
situation and the actions you will take if not remedied.
Don’t Generalize. The biggest mistake that leaders make with performance problems is they
throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. If the kinder, gentler
management style yielded a few bad eggs, they assume that the entire population
of employees may respond the same way. This causes management to write policy
after policy to guide behaviors. Guess what? Company human resource
department-heads will advocate that course of action too! Soon you’ll see rules
on where to get and return the bathroom pass and have people punching the clock
when they need to use the facilities. I am not suggesting to you that companies
do not need policies and practices for employees, but be careful how far you go.
Employee conscience usually sets a higher standard than any that you will
mandate. Think about the companies you know who mandate a fixed amount of sick
days for workers, usually in response to the one abuser of sick time. It’s
amazing how now everyone gets sick ten days a year. What I am saying is that
performance problems are individual issues, so they most often should be
addressed individually.
Embrace the Leadership Role. One of the most difficult aspects of leadership is dealing with employee
issues. Many of us recognize these performance issues as headaches that we’d
rather not deal with, instead always self-questioning, “Why is this employee
such a problem? I would never act this way.” These issues may be headaches, but
they are also opportunities. As a leader it is your job to raise the bar on
behavior, convert the non-believers, and deliver a better solution today than
yesterday. Cherish you ability to impact someone’s life for the better,
realizing that a bit of well-placed criticism or discipline today can provide
the life lesson for that person so she’ll never again repeat the mistake.
Performance problems, lack of motivation, and even insubordination are issues
that can adversely impact the entire organization. Learn to recognize and
address them in the present with those responsible. Savor the role you have to
right the ship of state of troubled workers and get some successes under your
belt, and you will realize that a little cruelty today may just provide the long
term kindness that troubled workers need. Having said that, don’t look to me for
answers when your better half asks you one lonely evening, “Am I getting
fatter?”
Karl Walinskas is the CEO of
Smart Company Growth, a business development and cost
management consulting firm for small to mid-size enterprises. He has made a
career of leading, inspiring and raising the game of small business people. He
is author of numerous articles and
the Smart Blog on leadership, business communication, sales &
service, public speaking and virtual business and Getting Connected Through
Exceptional Leadership, available in the
Smart Shop, Amazon.com, or Barnes&Noble.com. He can be reached at
kwalinskas@smartcompanygrowth.com.
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