Healthy business growth can mean tough love

Posted: September 6, 2012 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

In the summer of 2009 in the heart of a painful recession, one of my clients shared with me how he was frustrated with two of his employees. They had both worked for the company for over 15 years and they did good work. They also didn’t like each other and frequently engaged in bitter arguments. This particular day these two team members got in to a fist fight that resulted in one of them storming out and going home for the remainder of the afternoon.

The boss responded the way he always had: He became the mediator. I asked him how often he had to do this, and he said it was a regular occurrence. I asked him: “Are these disputes costing you?” He said they were. They affected productivity and also distracted them from their work. Since we had been working hard on productivity and on-time delivery, I ask him, “Is this behavior acceptable?” He said no. “Would you like to change it?” He said yes. That was all we needed. We worked out an action plan. It involved clear communication.

1. Begin positive. “We have a problem. Before we begin, I want you to know that I appreciate your dedication to this company and the quality of work you are capable of doing. The problem I want to discuss with you involves an incident that happened yesterday. “
2. Relate the story in a factual manner. There was a dispute. Voices were raised. Following the discussion, one of them left for home.
3. Explain the repercussions. I count on my team to be focused, positive, and productive. When you engage in a dispute, you distract yourself from your work, and compromise the productivity of our working environment. We cannot afford this and it will not be tolerated.
4. Explain how you feel about it. As I reflect on this, I have to say that I am quite disappointed, and I feel let down. In this tough economy, I have sacrificed my own salary just so that I could keep everyone working full schedule. Your choice to engage in conflict yesterday negatively affected our teamwork and profitability.
5. Explain consequences. In writing, detail the consequences should either of them engage in this behavior again. (Suspension, docking of pay, etc.) Get their signature.

This procedure was followed. That was over three years ago. The two fellows are still working at the company, and they have not had a dispute since then.

When the boss had this conversation, he shifted the responsibility to get along on their shoulders. It was their responsibility. Jim was able to take these two from “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” to “YIKES!” Here is the crazy part: They were happier and enjoyed their work more after the “conversation”. You might also ask, “Do they like each other now?” No. They still can’t stand each other. They do get the job done, and they keep their behavior under control.

I run in to situations like this frequently. There are managers who have been playing referee for years. We don’t have time for that if we want to focus on growing and managing our business. If you have a problem similar to Jim’s, why not have “the conversation” and put it behind you?