Deal With Problems Directly

You have completed the groundwork for introducing Threads Culture to your team.  The core values have been created and you have determined your method for measuring results throughout your organization.  Many people in your organization are now aware of what Threads is, but have not yet experienced it and felt how things are going to change.

One of the most important parts of introducing Threads leadership to your entire team is in the area of practical application. There are things going on in your organization right now that are inconsistent with your core values.  It could be an individual who thinks their high performance is an excuse for their behavior or a group of employees who are testing the limits of accountability.

With Threads, these situations have now become opportunities. They have the unique ability to be highly visible and transformational events to the organization. In these moments, it’s critical that you get things right.  Everyone will be watching to see what Threads means and if you are for real.  It’s time for everyone to see what core values and results look like in action when it comes to leadership.

Before we get started in this chapter, we need an example of how to display the courage your team needs from its leaders.  The next time you are faced with a problem, don’t hide behind a policy or procedure to give the appearance of action.  Deal directly with the individuals causing the problem.  Remember this story about how a moment of courage can change how an entire team feels about going to work.

We Would Like You To… Reiterate Our Policy

The first time I did a company-wide launch of Threads was in an organization of 120 employees.  The concept of Threads had been introduced to our leadership team and all the employees had seen the new review form and process.  No reviews had been done, but the concept of what was coming was widely known at the time.  Everyone was aware that going forward core values were on equal footing with results and performance.

One morning, I had a knock at my door.  Dan, our Operations Manager and Jill, our HR Manager were arriving to discuss the contents of our next upcoming company meeting. Typically, to kick-off the company meeting, I would give an update to the entire company on sales, sales pipeline, new equipment purchases, and any other significant things happening inside the organization. After my updates, I handed off the meeting to Dan and then Jill to cover topics specific to their areas.  Both were newer to their roles, and I always enjoyed how uncomfortable it made them to speak to the large group of employees.  I especially enjoyed watching them get better at it each month.

Our planning meeting started like it normally did.  We covered all the topics and assigned the responsibilities as usual.  All of our company-wide metrics were on plan with no surprises.  I thought we were wrapped up, when at the end of our meeting there was an uncomfortable silence. 

After an awkward moment, Jill spoke up and said the following: 

“We would like you to reiterate our attendance policy at the company meeting.  We are having some people leave early at lunchtime and it’s starting to affect the morale of everyone else.” 

Alarm bells started going off in my head, there had to be more to the story.

It’s Been Going On For Months

Rather than reiterating the policy for everyone, my first response to them was a battery of fact-based questions.  I needed to capture an understanding of what was really going on behind the request. I asked,

“What is the attendance issue?  Who’s causing the problems and why does it matter for a company wide meeting?”

Jill, our HR Manager, responded,

“A group of employees is leaving early for lunch.  They exit the building out the side door 5 to 10 minutes early every day.  It started with 3 employees and the group has grown to 7.

To make matters worse, these employees are typically the first people in line to grab lunch, gas up or hit the bank.  When other employees who are leaving on time pull up, this group is already first in line or pulling away.  They are always smiling, laughing and waving at the employees stuck in line.  People are tired of it.  This is starting to hurt morale.”

I asked,

“What have you done so far about this problem?  Has it worked?”

Dan, our Operations Manager said,

“We have talked to these individuals multiple times about this.  After each time, their supervisors see some short-term improvement, but they always go back to the same behavior.  There’s never a long-term resolution.  They stop leaving early for a while, and then as soon as they think no one is looking, they go right back to leaving early.

It’s been going on for months now.”

What Do You Want Me To Do?

I followed up with, 

“What do you think should be done now?  What kind of help do you want from me?

Jill said, 

“We want you to address this attendance issue and the expectations in front of everyone.  That way, these people know how serious we are about this and everybody will see this has the attention all the way at the top.  The entire team will be put on notice, so we can stop this before it spreads further.”

The answers to all my questions weren’t a surprise.  We had our rules, policies and our procedures in place. They weren’t being followed by a small group of people.  Now it was time to escalate things.  To have the president put his foot down and ensure that everybody knew how serious we all were about this problem. 

By addressing everyone, the innocent would know we weren’t talking to them and that something was being done.  The guilty would know that we were talking directly about them.  This next escalation would surely do the trick.  Or would it?

I Will Not Be Doing What You Asked

I thought about what they were asking for a minute.  We had 95% of our people doing the right thing, following the expectations and leaving on time.  I remembered what our organization was like when I first joined it. We had no rules, policies or procedures. No employee handbook.  Yet, we were successful and grew to this level.  What was different?  Back then, we had no policies or handbook, but we had the accountability of peers and leadership to our core values. 

I told both managers that I would in fact NOT be doing what they asked.  After their initial looks of surprise, I asked them,

“Can you give me the names of the individuals who are leaving early?  Which side door do they use and what time are they typically headed for the exit?”

Amazingly, they could answer all my questions right that second.

Good Morning!

Our meeting was wrapping up close to lunch time.  Once I had the information I needed, I headed to the door that these employees would be exiting about 10 minutes before I knew they would be there. I asked Dan and Jill to join me. We stood outside the door and waited.

About 11:50am the door opened just as it always did… Only this time, I was waiting outside the door and stopped them in their tracks. I said,

“Good morning!  I glanced at my watch and said it is still morning, isn’t it?”

They were absolutely stunned. For the next 15 minutes we stood and talked about what was going on.  During those 15 minutes, these employees went from fear to shame to excuses and then back to shame. My questions were designed that way.  I asked,

“Have you been talked to about leaving early?”

“Did you know that leaving early was a problem?”  

“Why did you continue to do it?”  

“What do you think about the people you point at and laugh every day?” 

I was not going to bail them out.  The uncomfortable silences hung in the air between questions.  I made sure to have enough questions in hand, so the conversation would go past 12 o’clock.  

At noon, the rest of the employees would start walking out the door and they were going to see me standing there talking to this group. These 7 individuals were going to see the looks from each one of their peers.

Everyone knew exactly what I was talking to them about. They witnessed that these 7 employees were finally being confronted, exactly as they deserved to be. 

The smiles in line at the bank and drive-through today, would be theirs. 

At 12:05, after I was sure everyone else had walked out the door, I told these 7 individuals that they were free to go to lunch. I told them,

“You have the full 45 minutes for lunch too. I wouldn’t cheat you out of the time you had earned.  If this happens again though, I’m going to fire you.”

Then I asked if they understood. They did.

Would You Have Seriously Followed Through?

That afternoon was quiet.  The employees were talking, but it wasn’t normal and the tones were hushed.  Everyone SAW and experienced first hand what we had been talking about with Threads.  Policies were set aside in the name of our core values, culture and the good of the team… the way it used to be.

The problem never happened again.  From anyone. 

You might be asking yourself, were you seriously going to fire someone with good productivity for leaving work 10 minutes early?  The answer to the question is no. Well, maybe the answer is yes.  I would have fired them, but not specifically for leaving early.  

I would’ve fired them for willingly and repeatedly not caring about the team and trashing our core values.  For putting themselves above everyone else. That’s not the way we treated each other and I would have fired them to protect the other 95% of people who were looking out for each other.  

For me, it had nothing to do with 10 minutes.  It had everything to do with team, accountability and integrity.  Everyone got the message that willingly and repeatedly not doing those things will cost you your job around here.  Regardless of your productivity.

It’s Obvious When You See It

Dan and Jill would tell me in retrospect, that the whole situation was incredibly uncomfortable for them. From the confrontation at 11:50 AM, to the awkward silences as I let them twist in the wind waiting for their co-workers to exit.  They were both disappointed in themselves for not being able to handle the problem on their own.  They told me,

“It was so obvious what to do ONCE THEY SAW IT.” 

I’ve never forgotten that statement.  My hope is that this story will help you to SEE IT in the same way they did.  Then you can take action when you see these types of things going on within your team now and in the future.

The rest of this chapter will show you how to navigate specific individuals and situations that you may soon be dealing with to protect your core values.