If You Work Here, You Don’t Matter – A Tale Of Two Pities!

Battling Average! Online Radio With Greg Gilbert

If You Work Here, You Don’t Matter – A Tale Of Two Pities!Comment0ShareTweetShareprintemail

The day was like most days in Human Resources. There was no shortage of phone calls and “opportunities.” I never received that call that said “hey Greg, everything is running fine in the field, keep up the good work.”

This call was from an angry supervisor. The call began with, “I’ve talked to him eight times. He didn’t listen and today he backed into a vehicle. We need to fire him.”

I calmed the manager down and attempted to get “the rest of the story.” Evidently, this employee had ignored our parking policy of backing in when we arrive numerous times. Nine times that we knew of. Eight where the supervisor observed him and today when he backed into a vehicle.

I requested the documentation of the previous safety observations and discussions. There it was in black and white. Eight notations of “talked to Joe about parking correctly.”

Upon reviewing the documentation, I had two questions;

When the employee was observed parked incorrectly, did you have him park correctly before you left the job site? He answered “no, I just told him to park correctly next time.” This was in the 90’s and proceeded Dr. Phil by years but I asked “how did that work for you?” The answer was “not well.”

What level of discipline had been administered with the employee? The answer was no level of discipline.

This was my response to the supervisor; By not correcting the parking violation while at the work site, he had sent the message that our parking policy really wasn’t THAT important. By not using our disciplinary plan, he had not used the tools available to him to improve performance or change behavior. If the disciplinary process had began after the first infraction, the behavior would have been changed or the employee would no longer be employed. I informed the supervisor he had Sanctioned Insubordination. He placed absolutely no consequence on not changing behavior. He gave me the impression he did not care about safety, just his safety record.

You see, what had occurred was a supervisor that was satisfied with continued insubordination rather than have the “courageous conversation” required to use our disciplinary plan. However, as a result of the accident and the blemish on his safety results, he was ready to skip every step of our discipline program and go straight to termination. I would not allow that to proceed. Bad decisions are made on emotion.

Here is the first Pity. I pity supervisors that are placed in leadership positions and not provided the Education, Engagement and held Accountable for producing results. I truly believe this accident could have been prevented by using the tools that are available to every supervisor and manager. Most of us do not change behavior or habits without a consequence.

The next Pity is hot off the presses.

On a Thursday, a sixteen year employee finishes loading a truck with a forklift. He pulls the forklift by the office while completing his paperwork on loading the truck. The Plant Manager walks in and asks the employee if he was aware he left the forklift running. He didn’t remember leaving it running but didn’t argue.

The next day the employee is required by his immediate supervisor to write an incident report about leaving the forklift running. He is advised it is considered a critical safety infraction. He complies and is sent home while the company considers further action. On Monday he is called in, advised that his write up does not reflect sincerity or remorse and is terminated. There was no progressive discipline in the past or history of ignoring safety practices.

Before I go any farther I want to make this clear; I know the importance of safety and consider ANY safety infraction critical BUT I also know the difference in a performance problem and a mistake. I also handle them totally differently.

Here is my second pity. I pity the supervisor, HR Manager and Plant Manager with this feather in their cap or line item on their resume. Could they terminate this employee? You bet, but that is not the correct question. The correct question is “is termination the right thing to do?”

Another question is “am I terminating this employee for what they have done or for what I haven’t done?” Another question is “what leadership tools have I used to correct the problem?” If I was involved in this dismissal, I would hate to answer an attorney on the “Seven Tests Of Just Cause.” Maybe their company just uses the “One Test Of Just Cause.”

If the words “make an example out of him” were ever used in these termination discussions, I pity their leadership hierarchy even more.

If they wanted to “send a message” to other employees, they did. The message is “if you work here, you don’t matter.”

In my opinion, this Tale Of Two Pities show the extreme of doing too little and doing too much. They reflect under reacting and overreacting…. in my opinion.

You may disagree but I believe I could have “Led Like I Own It”, used the “Leadership Toolkit” and had a more favorable outcome on both of these real life Tales. What do you think?

Greg Gilbert conducts Keynotes And Local Management Development Sessions On-Site and at locations around the country. He is committed to assisting the willing to “Lead Like You Own It” through increased Education, Engagement and Accountability.

Visit GregGilbertCoaching.com for more information.

Click the photo above for information on our local training.