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Shreveport, LA |
June 8 |
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Mobile,
AL |
June 10 |
Call Rebecca at 1-800-538-4595 for
any location. |
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“If you prepare for everything,
you’ll be prepared for the
unanticipated.”
—
Rudy
Giuliani
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Dear Glenn,
We don’t micromanage
because we want people to enjoy working here, so we’re
not very strict on people being late a few minutes here
and there.
However, since this one employee has abused it so much,
it’s causing an uproar.
Jess in Texas
Dear Jess,
This is where being Firm, Fair and Consistent comes in.
It would be unreasonable to expect every employee to be
on time every day of the year. Things like bad
automobile accidents occasionally happen.
But it’s also unreasonable to give everyone Cart
Blanche, because there’s always somebody who has one
excuse after another.
While he might be telling the truth, that guy doesn’t have time for a job.
This is why I recommend a point system that
allows a set number of tardies and absences, establishes
consequences for exceeding that number, and rewards (like
year-end bonuses) for not using them.
My fee for setting one of these up is $3,000.
If you want to set one up on your own, you can
find examples on the Internet.
Thanks for your question and good luck.
Glenn in Nashville, TN
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Glenn's Personal Blog
Click on the gold pen. |
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I’d like to thank everyone for all the encouragement (and
especially the flowers and cookies) as we recover from the
Nashville flood.
Many commended my leadership skills and level-headedness in the
midst of a disaster of Biblical proportions, but I need to tell the rest of the story.
Inside, I was far from calm and confident. I felt more confused,
panicky, and uncertain than I’ve ever been. Half the time, I
wanted to scream, and the other half I wanted to cry.
Leadership is the art of getting people to do what you want them to
do, because they want to do it.
Any schmuck can get people to do
their best when everything is going exactly as planned.
But effective
leaders have to be able to get the best out of people, even when
all Hell is breaking lose.
After we finished cleaning up the
devastation that 48” of storm water caused, one of my employees
said to another, “I’m not sure what to do next.”
I announced, “I
am. Order more letterhead from the chamber of commerce in
Illinois. Cancel the seminar in Louisiana, and reschedule the
ones in Oklahoma and Missouri.”
In the blink of an eye, everyone
shifted from taking care of cleaning up the flood damage, to
taking care of business.
They were relieved to know there was a
clear game plan, and this began to restore some sense of order
and a modicum of normalcy.
But the truth is, I lied when I said
I knew exactly what to do. Because this was uncharted territory,
I was flying by the seat of my pants.
I only knew one thing for
sure – The more chaotic a situation, the more people look for
strong leadership.
I thought about what former New York City
mayor Rudy Giuliani did on September 11, 2001 after two planes
crashed into the World Trade Center.
He was terrified, and knew his first responders were too.
As he put it, “You find me a
firefighter who isn’t afraid of running in to a burning
building, and I’ll find him a psychiatrist”.
But he knew
that he had to set the tone for everyone else. So he reminded
the police commissioner that they were the best-trained police
force in the world, and could handle this. Then he said the same
to the fire chief.
While most leaders will never have to face
the chaos that Giuliani faced that day, all managers have to
deal with some level of chaos and still get people to
perform.
In order to move from management to leadership,
managers have to portray an image of strength, confidence, and
decisiveness for the people they’re leading, even when the
manager is panicking inside.
To Your Success,
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