How to decrease production & lose respect - a manager's guide

A good friend of mine started working for an aerospace corporation as a senior aircraft mechanic, a few months ago. When he started the job I asked him how he felt about working there. He said “I like the people I work with and I like the work. Three months into the job, I asked him the same question. His response was “the people I work with are great; everyone is very supportive of each other and I like the work”. He continues by telling me how spectacular the airplanes are because of the advanced technology they contain and the attention-to-detail on both their interiors and exteriors. “So what don’t you like about the job”, I ask him. “My supervisor and my inspector”, he replies. From that point, the conversation continues with a series of incident reports about his displeasure with being micro managed.

“The other day, he says, we went to lunch to say goodbye to a woman who had worked as part of our crew for the last year. We informed the supervisor that our 40 minute lunch might run over the time limit a little. He agreed we could take a 50 minute lunch since it wasn’t a frequent occurrence. We came back in 55 minutes. My co-worker went directly to the supervisor, upon our return, to let him know that we were back on the job.” How did the supervisor respond? He told them “there will be no hour long bonus lunch this month, since you came back so late”. The supervisor had sometime earlier decided that he would allow his subordinates to take an hour long lunch once a month. What were the reactions of my friend and his co-workers? They felt they had been treated unfairly by an inflexible manager. On that day, the chain leading up to the command got a little weaker.

My friend continued his story. “What about the fact that I come in to work early everyday and haven’t missed a day of work in 3 months” “What about the fact that I got a job done in one day and one of my co-workers take three days to do it?” What about me working all the overtime they ask me to work? What about the times I’ve developed ways to save the company money by creating more efficient ways to get specific tasks done”? “So what did you say to your supervisor when he said there would be no bonus lunch this month”, I asked him. He smiled and said “I always thought the hour lunch bonus lunch was stupid anyway. I knew that the bonus lunch was his idea.”

Another of my friend’s co-workers who has worked for the company for 16 years recently had his annual review. According to my friend, his co-worker has since then slowed down his usual quick pace on the job. When my friend mentioned it to him he said, “yeah, my usual 40 hours is now up to 60 hours”.

A little goes a long way, they say. The words that a manager uses direct his/her team’s spirit. Keep ‘em happy and your goals will be your team’s goals.  Discourage your team members and your goals and those of your company will be directed by your employees.

Dawn Turner
Blog Management and Development
The SearchLogix Group