Managing Bullies

No one likes a bully. Bullies are manipulative, mean and controversial. What’s even worse is when you have to work with one on a team or in a department. When you have to work with a bully, things can be difficult. What makes it even more uncomfortable is when you work with a bully that holds control over one or many managers in the company, and for whatever reason, the manager fails to acknowledge, stymie the impact or punish a bully for their harmful behavior.

Over time, employees get weary of working with a bully and waiting for a manager to do something about it. This problem will pervade the work environment like a gas leak, silently suffocating the valuable workers; killing their motivation, forcing employees to look for another job or enabling key employees to be apathetic about their performance. At some point, the solution will have to come to a head.

A common response from management when dealing with a difficult person is that they (either consciously or subconsciously) do not want to disrupt the status quo by punishing the bully. The problem is, however, that during the manager’s indecisiveness, several things are happening:

• Valuable workers become apathetic and frustrated
• The bully gains in legitimate and perceived power
• Product or service quality starts to suffer
• Employee turnover starts to rise

In essence, what a manager is saying when they do not manage a bully is that they value the bully over the good employees. Just how much do they value the bully? What will be the tipping point? Will it take one month of lost productivity to decide to manage the bully? Is it worth 6 good workers leaving the firm? What about 15 good workers? Why even sacrifice one good worker for the bully? What about the time it is going to take to onboard replacements for the new workers? What about the lost respect for the manager from the employees that choose to stick it out with the firm, and choose to wait out the changes?

Managers are responsible for enabling a work environment that allows many different personalities to work collectively and productively on a daily basis. The way that the manager treats each employee sends a message to the rest of the group about the perceived value that the employee brings to the group. When bullies are allowed to keep working at a company without change, for whatever reason, it ends up demoralizing the people that work hard and add value to the company.

There will be a cost for management to make a decision about the bully. There will be a cost to action or inaction. Which cost is a manager willing to pay?

Filed under: Bully, Management, Teamwork

The Race to the Bottom

This week, Tiger Wood’s apology was all over the news. From Entertainment Tonight to CNN and New York Times to USA Today, his face was on the television and Internet wherever you looked.
It’s an interesting dilemma for the media. On the one hand, this story is like a train wreck – it’s horrible yet you can’t look away; you want to know what’s going to happen. On the other hand, the information is not exactly substantial journalism.

The problem is that once each media outlet ran the story, they were committed. Whether or not this fit with their mission of providing information to the world, they were a part of the downward spiral. Most outlets ran the story based on what type of information the masses would flock towards. If one company didn’t publicize the story, they risked losing readers to the competition. On the other hand, if they did report the story, they ran the risk of alienating the customers who thought there should be more substance in the content.

Consider what happens to businesses that start the price bidding game. One tire company lowers their price for tires from $50.00 per tire to $49.25 to lure in an additional number of customers. In response, the competitor across the street lowers their tires to $46.00. Let’s say Tire Company #1 lured 15% of Company #2’s customers solely based on the price change. They’re going to lose the new customers unless they either match or lower price again. On and on the price game goes until it drives both into the ground, or until one of the companies provides a better value offer to customers (say, $55.00 tires with a 6 month warranty).

Overall, it’s a vicious downward spiral that will not be broken until someone steps forward to break it with quality information, a quality product or something else.

It’s easy to get caught up in the hype, the short-term activity that will vary your market position daily. Whether it’s the media sensation, whether you’re competing on price, swaying your ethics to make a decision for today, or changing your corporate values to satisfy a customer request, it’s a race to the bottom. If you do not have a firm understanding of your purpose for being in business, a long term vision for where you want to go, and a clear vision on what steps and behaviors you need to take in order to get you where you want to go, you can easily get caught up in the frenzy of doing what everyone else does, just to stay ahead.

Be careful, because hasty decisions towards perceived incremental positive gain can result in significant, unwanted changes for the future.

Filed under: Competition, Steadfastness, Vision

Lipton Tea Bags and Learning from Others

There are few people that do not enjoy a good cup of Lipton tea, whether it is iced down with a lemon wedge or heated up with a spoonful of honey and sprig of mint on a cold day. Ever since I can remember, I’ve opened my Lipton tea bags the same way: un-stick the top flap, grab the small perforated square between my thumb and forefinger, gently rip out said small square, pull the tea bag out of the pouch. It does irritate me when there are stray edges that come with the pull (as you can see in the picture), and I get frustrated when the small square slips from the staple in the back, leaving me with an orphan string. But I’ve always made tea this way, and even though there have been slight inconveniences, I’ve never questioned my process.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday, I was making lunch with a friend. I was grilling the chicken, and she was making the tea. I glanced over to the counter top as she opened the tea bags, and I noticed something different. Her tea bag looked like this:

You’ll notice that she opened the pouch as well, but she did it in two steps and half as much time. She didn’t fuss over the small square; in fact, she ignored it entirely. She achieved the same goal, but in a way that nullified my entire process. Why go through all that work when you can achieve the same goal in two steps instead of five?

I was unconsciously following my process for opening tea and missing out on a better way of achieving my desired end result.When we get too myopic, whether it is in a daily process, during a new product launch, when analyzing statistical data or even training employees, it is easy to unconsciously stick with a way of doing things because it’s a comfortable habit. But we run the risk of missing out on something much better, simpler, or more unique.

Bring awareness to a conscious state of mind. Always be curious and alert. Consciously look for reasons to why you do the things you do in the way you do them, and provide ways for others to learn this way in your company. By training your mind to always be on the lookout, you might find a surprising discovery.

Filed under: ideas, learning, Myopia, sharing

Keeping your heart in business

I was in Germany this week with friends and we planned two stops in Rüdesheim, the heart of the country’s wine region: the famous Drösselgasse and Siegfried’s Musikkabinet. Normally, the town is teeming with wine enthusiasts from around the world, with the streets so thick of tourists that you overhear conversations in German, French, English and Chinese within one minute of the walk. This week, the street was a ghost town. Icy cobblestone streets, bitter cold wind and not a tourist in sight…except for the three of us. Not one light was on in any restaurant along the Drösselgasse.

After finally finding a small restaurant in town, catching the eye of every local German (notably by being in the wrong place during the wrong season) and several glasses of wine and Rüdesheimers, we chatted with one of the locals, Susana. She expressed genuine curiosity for why we would want to visit the wine town in the dead of winter, and told us that the famed Musikkabinet was closed until April. Seeing the drop of our expressions, she turned and motioned to her dinner companion, Jens Wendel, who was sitting at the next table. Susana smiled to us and said “here is the man you need to talk to. He owns the Musikkabinet. And there,” she said turning around, “is his father Siegfried, the founder of the museum. I’ll bet if you buy Jens a beer, he’ll open the museum for you”.

Long story short, not only did we get a midnight tour of Jen’s museum, we met Adolph Störzel, a local vintner, who gave us a private tour of his winery the next day.

Susana explained why she, Jens and Adolph were so willing to be hospitable to us: she said, “When you represent something, it’s all about the heart. You can’t forget the reason behind why you are doing things. We represent our country and this is the way that we can show people our passion for the country we love”.

There is so much wisdom in Susanna’s statement. How true this is for anything we are doing in life, especially in business. The heart is the vital core that sustains a business.

It’s the reason people want Wegman’s to be their local grocer; it’s the reason people wait for hours in the summer heat and bitter cold of Oklahoma to have a Meers Burger, it’s what propels the Harley Davidson community of riders, and it’s what keeps Patagonia true to their founding principles. It’s the reason cities like Rüdesheim keep their quaint, original, endearing, old-world, authentic appeal. There is a pervasive and authentic passion encompassing the product, and it keeps customers close to the heart of why you exist.

People want to be involved in something bigger than who they are, something unique, exciting and one-of-a-kind. When you represent a brand with heart and passion, you take your customers along for the ride. Passion is what keeps people coming back, and keeps customers talking about what you do. It’s not the easy path. At times, it is inconvenient and can be more expensive. But it’s what makes you unique. It is what makes you memorable, and it is what keeps people committed to your business in the long term.

If you want a competitive advantage that cannot be replicated, that will keep people talking for years, give your customers an experience or a product like none other; give them one from the heart.

Filed under: Business, Heart, Passion

How reliable is your brand?

Every action that you take at work, whether small or large, builds your brand within the organization. Your brand can be defined by creativity, quality of work, ideas or a number of things. One defining aspect of your brand is your responsiveness. How useful are you to co-workers, customers or the company as a whole if you do not interact with individuals on a timely basis, giving them what they need, or at least giving a response?

How responsive you are to people influences their perception of your dependability. Can co-workers count on you when they need an answer in a pinch? Can they rely on you to be proactive when working on a project, minimizing the risks up front instead of at the decision table when they’re brought to your attention? Can your customers rely on you to answer a question, solve their problem or help them find what they’re looking for when they need it? What about when there is no emergency, no deadline, no urgency for a project – can your co-workers, subordinates, managers or customers count on you to treat their project with as much care as the urgent issues?

Several retailers exceed expectations when it comes to responsiveness and dependability. I used to frequent a small Starbucks in my old neighborhood. After several mornings of ordering my Venti-shaken-unsweetened-iced-green-tea, I parked my car one Friday, walked in and the drink was waiting for me on the counter, just as it was every visit after that when I chose to stop at the café. How’s that for responsiveness and anticipating the customer needs?

I called DHL the other day to solve a dilemma with a lost package. After speaking the tracking number to the automated teleprompter, I was quickly connected with a live person. Within four minutes, the respondent was able to give me all of the package information, send my feedback to a manager and get my problem solved while I was on the phone. I didn’t get the package right away, but I knew the problem was in capable hands after the way that I was treated.

When working with co-workers, subordinates or customers, your brand is being established by your responsiveness. At whichever end of the spectrum you fall, you are sending a message.

One end of the spectrum: timely responses, proactive work, anticipation of the customer (internal or external) needs, says

I’m here for you, I’m a team player and I’m willing to help you out because you are important to me

The other end of the spectrum: days without receiving feedback, no expectations on service quality, missed deadlines, questions that go unanswered for days, says

I don’t care about what you need. Your business is not important to me. My schedule is more important than yours. Don’t bother me with your requests.

Either way, you’re sending a message. As companies and as individuals, it’s the small actions taken on a daily basis that build credibility for the future. What does your brand say about you?

Filed under: Brand, Business, Expectations, Marketing, Relationships