The Grinch Who Stole Vacation Time...

Copyright: shakzu / 123RF Stock Photo

Two days ago,  I got a call from a friend who just wanted to wish me a happy holiday, and to catch up on how my family and his family were fairing.  I told him I was enjoying my time off and asked how he was enjoying his annual trip to visit his parents and siblings.  Every year, he would make a trip back to the Northeast to stay for a week and visit with his elderly parents.  However he advised me that his company told him no one was permitted time off this holiday season unless the President of Sales signed off on request.  He submitted a request for vacation time but was denied. I was appalled.

"Are you below quota or something?"

"Nope I'm at 110%."

"Are you in trouble?  Did you receive a poor performance review?"

"Nope.  I was above expectations.  In fact, I got a raise!"

"What's with the humbug?  Is Scrooge running your company?"

"Could be?  No. Unfortunately, we have a new President of Sales.  We nicknamed him 'The Grinch' "

"Well are you out of vacation time or something?"

"And again the answer is no, I save time every year for this trip.  Apparently now it's frowned upon to enjoy your holiday. I don't know what this guy was thinking, but I'm going to start looking for another job."

"What the hell is wrong with this dude?  That's sends a lousy message to the field.  It's not like you're delivering packages or something. You're not servicing customers are you? That doesn't make any sense."

"I know, I know.  No one is happy about it.  Believe me.  I think half the field is now looking for another job."

"Really? Or are you just exaggerating?"

"No, I'm not making this up.  Two regional managers have left already."

"No kidding. Well apparently that President is giving himself a lump of coal this holiday season."

"Oh no!  He made it clear that 'only the strong will survive', and that he's going to 'weed out the wimps, so that we'll have a sales organization we can be proud to be a part of.' "

"I guess that doesn't include people like you?"

"Nope, I've only been to Presidents Club 5 times out of the last 8 years."

"Well if you were really good it would have been 8 or 8!", I said and laughed.

"Piss off! Why don't you hire me?"

"You don't like what I do.  I seem to remember you saying it was as much fun as watching grass grow?"

"Good point, but anything beats working for a Grinch."

"Ya know what?  I may not hire you, but I'll certainly help you find a company that'll appreciate you."

"Let's do it."

"I feel like my heart just grew ten times today!"

"I doubt it, but let's hope the Grinch will learn his lesson."

"I doubt it.  Some people are just born jerks."

"You sound like you have experience in that area.", and this time he laughed, pretty loudly.

"Thank you for the holiday sentiment."

"Happy holidays! Gotta go, the Grinch is calling me."

 

"Seriously?  It's 6 O'clock on Christmas Eve?"

"I told you he's a mean one...Mr Grinch. Call me in the New Year!", he said and hung up the phone.

Let's hope that many of you are enjoying some valuable time off with friends and family and The Grinch didn't steal your vacation time...

Have a joyous holiday season!

SFTD 

Don't Promote Unqualified Managers Or Under Achievers

Copyright: bowie15 / 123RF Stock Photo

I was just listening in on a conference call of sales best practises, and I listened to all the speakers and was very impressed.  Yet I thought to myself, "where are all these people speaking ranked in relation to their peers?"  When I looked at the numbers I was stupefied!  Most of them were not only below quota but not even close to achieving their goal.  I had to question the management's decision to have them speak on the conference call since they really had no credibility with their numbers.

It reminded me of the days when I was a rep or manager and I would be listening to someone speak, but then I would find out later they had no numbers to support their sales or management strategies.  In my opinion, they lost all credibility.  You have to "walk the walk, not just talk the talk." Which made me think of all the times I saw someone get promoted who had no business being a manager.  In the military there is a saying "f#$k up, move up." Well this can also pertain to business as well.
However, the worse thing you can do is promote an under achiever and here's why:

1. Employee Morale - If you're an idealistic newbie who just started with the company, and you see people being promoted who are terrible at their jobs, it is completely demoralizing.  Here you are, a  new employee to the company and busting your ass, but someone else who isn't doing as well gets promoted.  The first thing you say to yourself is "what the heck is going on around here?" The second thing you think is "I need to dig in or I need to get out of this place." Promoting an underachiever demoralizes hard working and competent employees.

2. Turnover - As a general manager, senior manager, you might be wondering how promoting someone who is an under achiever will increase turnover.  It's actually a pretty simple formula.

M + M = T

Management + Mediocrity = Turnover 

I can remember years ago, when the company I was working with at the time, promoted a mediocre manager to a general manager, and he went through 12 mid level managers in one year!  Not two managers...TWELVE! It continued until eventually he was fired.  Pretty pathetic that he was promoted and again not based upon his past performance but on his relationship with the VP.  A lot of good partners were lost in the process of a year, and the business took another 2 years to recover.

3. Branding - Initially,  you may wonder how does branding figure into promoting the wrong person?  However, the best way to build a brand is to hire the right people and promote them.  Why do people want to work at Apple, Google, and Facebook?  Not just because they're dominating the tech industry but because they are good places to work, with career paths clearly outlined. They have established cultures which help make and keep them successful.  The quickest way for a company of that size to fail, is by promoting unqualified or poor performers.  They would instantly lose credibility and their brand would suffer.  Uber is a pretty good example of how promoting people who aren't ready or underachievers can hurt your brand.  How much has that company benefited from promoting people who weren't ready to be managers? I'd say not at all, since they just lost about $20 billion in market cap.

4. Messaging - What type of message are you sending if you promote a person who is not on the top of every one's list of over achievers?  You're basically saying it's okay to not perform because you can still become the "cream of the crap".  People who are successful want to see their career path as something obvious.  Yes it's ideal to think that way but when you're young and just starting out, it's easy to see things in black and white.  And guess what?  That's how things should be.  Not caught up in this murky world of gray where an obvious "kiss ass", but non performer, gets promoted.  We should all step up like Spike Lee and "Do The Right Thing".  Which if you haven't guessed means promoted the performers.

5. Future Growth and Profits -  Years ago when I worked at company C, they promoted a young man who hadn't yet proven himself as a performer to the position of branch manager.  He'd had a decent tenure as a Service Manager, a passable tenure as an Office Manager, and a decent time as a Sales Rep.  He was a good guy, and well liked by all, especially his general manager, but he wasn't ready to assume this leadership role.  Everyone in the region knew it, except for his boss and the Vice President.  So naturally, they ignored every one's advice and promoted him.  The branch he was promoted to oversee had made growth and profit numbers for 2 straight years. (Rule 35)  After he took over, they didn't make a profit for the next two years and he was demoted.  Not only was it bad for him especially to be put in that position, but the company also suffered because they lost profit for the following two years.  Sometimes it's best to wait and promote the "right" person rather than promote someone who isn't performing or really isn't ready to assume a weighty leadership role. The sad thing was that it ruined his career and others as well.

I have not always made the right decisions as a manager, or as a person.  I'm not perfect, but I can tell you that I never promoted someone who didn't have the numbers or the performance to support my decision.  First of all, I would have felt like an idiot and secondly it just wasn't fair to anyone else on my team.  To take an under achiever and move them up the career ladder would have been sacrilege.  That's not to say all of my decisions were correct, but at least I felt comfortable with them. I hope you can all feel the same way, and this post helps point you in a better direction...if not just ignore it as the insane ramblings of an idiot.  Either way, I'm glad you read it!

SFTD

Drop The "Corporate Speak"

Copyright: happystock / 123RF Stock Photo

Today, I spoke to a regional manager for over an hour and I still don't know where he stands as far as his messaging or what he's like as a person.  For sixty minutes I heard nothing but corporate speak.

"I'm really a player's coach"
"I get the best out of my people and they get the best out of me."
"I'm really just here to help better support my team."
"I just want to know what I can do to better help support everyone."
"I don't want to just talk for an hour, I want people to be engaged."
"I don't micro manage but I do hold people accountable for their activity."
"It's not about me. It's about my people."
"I understand that people need to balance work with family but it's work that supports our family."
"I want small wins to lead us to great victories."
"Passion fuels life and work."

After one hour, I finally just had to say to him,  "Can we just talk? I don't want to hear any more corporate speak.  Let's just cut through the corporate colloquialisms.  Talk to me straight.  All these phrases are well and good but I want to know who you are and what you want. "

"I want what's best for my team."

"Really?  What does that mean?  In simple terms, and don't use a phrase from a successories poster."

I heard him pause for a moment. "I want them to be successful."

"You've said that at least 5 times in the last hour.  Why do you want them to be successful?"

"So that I'll be successful?", he seemed to be searching for another corporate phrase.  "Isn't that what it's all about?"

"Well yes and no.  But now we're getting somewhere.  Why do you want to be successful."

"Because success is the measure of a man!"

"Really?  This is not a pep rally dude.  We're just talking about training and what you and your team need to be successful. But really why do you want to be successful?  On a personal level, not on a corporate level. Tell me personally what is motivating you."

"My wife is pregnant.  It's our third kid and I really want to be help continue to support my family. I want the best for them."

"Bingo! Hey there's a real person on the line.  Thank you. That's how you need to relate to your team.  On a personal and professional level.  Talk to them...like a person."

"It's hard for me to open up, I don't like to get to close with people in case I need to fire them."

"Okay, that I understand.  I've been there, but if you're always using corporate phrases they won't know who you are.  Plus that gets old really fast. It's important they know who you are.  You want to inspire them personally and professionally.  I'm not saying tell them your deepest darkest secrets but just try to relate.  Talk to them like you would anyone else outside of work. "

"You mean share stuff.  Like personal stuff?"

"Yes like personal stuff.  How old are your kids?"

"Meghan is four and Jeff is eight."

"How hard was that?"

"Not too hard. But again, I don't want to share too much because if I fire them I'll feel bad."

"Let's just focus on how you're going to inspire them not how you're going to fire them."

"You're starting to sound like me."

"Dammit!"

I heard him chuckled a bit on the other line, "Gotcha!"

I laughed too and then responded, "Just remember you're dealing with people and they want to be lead by a person not a corporate robot, so talk to them without all the cliches and I think you'll garner a lot more engagement and respect."

"Work smarter not harder!"

"Oh for crying out loud!", I shouted and he just laughed.

" I got it.  Drop the corporate speak.  Good advice."

" Thank you. Thank you."

SFTD