Difficult managers and employees are easy to spot, but hard to fix.
I have just finished reading a great book by Robert I. Sutton Ph.D called the “No Asshole Rule.” Sutton is a professor of management at Stanford University and the Harvard Business Review rated the book in the top 10.
This book got me reflecting on my long and not so uneventful career in our industry reminding me of why I left a promising career with an OEM. It was because of a real a#@hole.
Come on, think about it, how many of you have worked with one, or are working for one now? Perhaps a better question, how much damage are they doing or have done to your business? Back to my boss at the OEM. While working for this guy he nitpicked at everything, continually made people feel small during meetings and as a result we lost some great employees. I knew one who started drinking heavily because of him, destroying his career.
Once a bunch of us were trying to get back to Canada from the U.S. during an air strike, we got as far as Denver and got stuck. We were stressed and tired so this idiot decided to conduct a meeting in an empty departure lounge to tell us all the things we had been doing wrong during the trip. Everyone in the company knew what he was like and people who did not have to work for him thought he was a joke, but I guarantee no one bothered to work out what he cost the company in sick days, reduced productivity and turnover in staff.
So what if the problem person happens to own the business? We had a dealer principal that ran a poorly performing store and was a huge joke with the factory, but not for his staff. One day he asked us why was it the staff didn’t listen to him, which opened up a huge opportunity to tell him it was the only way they could survive. He was shocked and asked for advice, which put him into more shock. The advice was, you have a great general manager, put him in charge and take a few weeks off to let your staff recover. He did and both the profitability and employee morale improved. As one employee put it: “It was like we were the ones on vacation.”
A service manager we worked with was way above average intelligence and could have been one of the best in the industry but lacked social skills. He was constantly in a bad mood and rarely talked to his staff about anything positive, which resulted in huge turnover in people. Whenever his name came up at meetings people rolled their eyes. Everyone in the dealership including the factory knew the problem but no one did anything about it.
We worked in a store with three tune up guys but one produced way more than the other two. The trouble was he always picked on the other two guys and complained about the work they were getting. When he went on vacation the other two guys picked up the ball and produced great numbers, it turned out that their number one producer was a real “shift disturber” causing problems in the shop with technicians, tower operator and advisors and was a bully. Eventually he was let go much to the relief of the staff.
Often working as consultants in stores we identify problem employees, as they are not tough to pick out, and we ask the question: “How long have they been like that?” only to be told since they started here 15 years ago!
Work on the softer skills
We use a model bicycle in seminars, the rear wheel representing all the academic skills we learn in life. The front wheel representing people skills which if lacking is the number one cause we find why people are not able to get ahead in their careers. For example, you have a great technician who is very technically competent, so you make him foreman. The problem is he lacks leadership and people skills, he gets frustrated with technicians who ask for help on a problem he has already told them how to fix before.
The result being that some technicians stop asking for help and plod on making mistakes, while others quit and move on. Making this type of individual a service manger just compounds the problem, so what could be a promising career is often stopped dead in its tracks and the individual wonders why!
We should all look in the mirror from time to time and do a no a#@hole check. Many years ago when I first started in management a good mentor of mine took me to one side. He said: “Jim you have natural leadership skills, you don’t have to cut people’s legs off to get the job done.” It was good advice that I never forgot. It was the same guy that said: “Jim, before pulling the lever to the trap door can you make sure the people are standing in the middle, it makes less mess!”
