8/18/2012–Employees are turnarounds…
This idea is from last week, but I started to put it into action this week. The first step is to analyze each employee’s situation (strengths/weaknesses). My first project was supposed to be a server who has been struggling for some time now, though they now are reducing their hours and I presume won’t be here much longer. My new target is a more veteran employee.
Step 2 in this process is a one on one. Using the form, I’ll learn about her and how she sees the environment at work and what she wants for the future.
Big news– my first experience with a legal issue came in the form of a sexual harassment claim. I heard about it one night and immediately called my boss. I wanted to call RR as well, but my boss prefers to handle things “internally”. I learned that in order to fire someone for it you should have official statements from all victims/witnesses. I found out during this that it becomes your #1 priority–especially if it is publicly known to have happened and was ignored. 3 things happened b/c i did this:
1. The creep was fired and the work environment improved
2. The solution was/is associated with me for being the reason it was taken care of
3. My mgmt team learned about the importance and became more effective.
Lesson: don’t become complacent b/c “they all already know”.
I was given my 1st project by Kyle at the beginning of the month; to fix-up the employee restroom. $200 and 1 month to do it. It was completed in 1/2 the time and under 1/2 the budget. All it took was a few minutes planning and a little drive to move on a couple days off. It becomes clearer each week how valuable a small amount of self-discipline is. This is why Nike’s is my favorite brand slogan.
Quote of the week: “Thank you.” -victims of the harassment
?FNW- Now that the path/planning is done how far can I get on my IDP?
11/14/2017 review–The reason for using the term “turnaround” was because I was considering a career in turnaround management at the time. What I realized was employees provide excellent opportunities to practice some elements of turnaround management, for example problem definition, leveraging “quick wins”, and alignment toward a meaningful purpose.
The experience I had with handling a sexual harassment claim was incredibly valuable for a number of reasons. First, it taught me how important it is to proactively cultivate a healthy work environment for your people. We all share a need to feel safe at work, and I learned this safety can silently erode over time if harmful behaviors go undiscovered. This is yet another benefit of one on ones–it’s highly unlikely a manager won’t suspect something is up if he or she has regular meetings with each employee. O3s are like driving with your eyes open–not doing it leaves you prone to ending up way off-track and in need of abrupt corrective action. Unfortunately I hadn’t yet started O3s with this staff.
This situation also revealed some professional immaturity on my part. I wanted to fire the person after only hearing two people’s claims about the situation, neither of which were the accused. I failed to recognize the importance of gathering necessary information before making a termination decision.
Finally, dealing with this made me start to think about how important it was to think in terms of “right and wrong” when it comes to management. I learned it’s better to err on the side of principle than comfort. In this situation, I definitely felt fear of repercussions if I handled it incorrectly, whether that meant siding with the accuser or the accused. What I found after the fact was that I’m going to make bad decisions over time–the only way to avoid doing so is to not decide anything. Therefore, principle trumps data or even consensus when I must decide. It’s better to risk error doing what’s right than to make any decision I can’t explain with a principle.
Regarding the project I came in under budget and in time on: my success was an illusion. I turned in sloppy work–far under any standard that would have been set had anyone thought I needed it for such a simple task. My sloppy work led to the best quote from my experience with that team, and probably any team. I thought it would be “fixing up” the employee restroom if I hand-painted the values of our restaurant on the door, hung a mirror, and a coat hanger. After redecorating the bathroom in blue handwriting like something from The Shining, Kyle, way more composed than he probably should’ve been, requested that I re-do my work and informed me that he’s “not running a clown store”.