Managing Leadership^®

A short while ago, at the local branch of the generally first-rate gym we use, a really very minor problem was escalating into a really major one as a result of our inability to locate a staff member who cared about it. I was beginning to get all the cardiovascular exercise I needed from my frustration, alone, when something happened to change everything.

An employee assigned to the reception desk who had no responsibility for this issue whatever nevertheless, quite simply, took charge. He interjected himself into the middle of the intensifying situation, and instantly calmed it by telling my wife and I that we could go back to our workout and he would make sure our concern was resolved.

By the time we got back to the exercise area the repair had begun under his personal supervision, and in just moments the issue was resolved perfectly. Not only did we enjoy our workout, but this young man’s initiative and professionalism had caused us to forget our earlier irritation and to recover our sense of satisfaction with our contract at that facility.

On the way out, I noticed that the manager was in and I mentioned the young man’s actions to him. He became agitated on understanding that there had been some unresponsiveness by some of his staff, but at that point I was more interested in seeing the one employee recognized for his performance than the others for their lack of it.

A week later, the manager called me and asked if I was willing to write a letter of commendation for the employee who had helped us, and I did with pleasure. When I delivered it, he confided to me that he was trying to help the young man out of a difficulty. He had evidently taken the initiative in another case which involved his committing a minor infraction of a policy established by a vice president.

In the VP‘s eyes, the young man’s entire character and value as an employee were reflected in that one infraction – rather than in the larger good the infraction had served, or in the other accomplishments of this employee. The manager had asked for my letter as part of a campaign to prevent the fellow from being terminated.

This particular VP is threatening to deprive himself of a staff member who, at virtually no cost to the firm (even the repair had been done by the otherwise unoccupied staff handyman) and the exercise of but a modicum of initiative, had restored the confidence of a customer that would otherwise have been lost to them (and may, yet).

Instead, the indifferent and unmotivated automatons that were the source of the entire affair will stay at their posts, unmolested by the VP and untroubled by any concerns for the firm or its customers.

So, here are my questions for you:

• How often, if at all, have you observed a situation like this, whether as a customer or a manager?
• Have you ever seen all the good someone has done evaporate on the occurrence of a technical, and largely irrelevant, infraction?
• What are your thoughts about the consequences and collateral damage, if you will, of the sort of professional initiative this young man displayed?
• Can managers ever find a workable way to reconcile vital procedural policy and equally vital operational initiative?

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Today’s tip: Adrian Savage, who writes for Slow Leadership, has published a clever piece at lifehack.org about the effects of the relentless use of militaristic language in the workplace; stop over and give it a hearing.

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Technorati Tags: employee, supervision, initiative, professionalism, manager, performance, commendation, initiative, policy, vice president, VP, confidence, customer, professional, Adrian Savage