Stepping Forward Together: Creating Trust and Commitment in the Workplace. Mac Ph.D. McIntire

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ interviewing you for a pot washer position, this is what I would say: ‘I noticed you applied for the pot washer position, Paul. Are you interested in a job washing pots?’”

      Paul played along, nodding his head and saying yes.

      “‘Just to be sure that you understand the job, let me explain what a pot washer does. A pot washer washes dirty pots. These pots are huge, heavy metal pots that usually are very greasy and sticky. Sometimes the pots have burnt stuff stuck to the bottom that is extremely hard to scrape off. Your job, as a pot washer, would be to scrub those pots clean, no matter how dirty they get and no matter how yucky they become, and return the pots completely clean to the cook. Then, after you’ve worked hard scrubbing those pots, guess what the cook is going to do with them? He’s going to get them dirty again. You might get those same pots back three or four times during your shift. It’s your job to clean those pots again and again no matter how many times they come back to you, no matter how dirty they get, and to wash them cheerfully without complaint. Does that sound like something you want to do? Is this the job you’re interested in?’”

      Paul smiled. He knew during an interview people will say and commit to almost anything in order to get the job. He said yes.

      “‘That’s good,’” I said, continuing my example. “‘So you’re saying you’ll commit to wash the pots as I’ve explained. That’s your commitment. And in return the company will make a commitment to pay you for washing those pots. That’s our commitment. See the connection? You wash pots . . . and we pay you. Your pay is directly connected to your washing pots. As long as you keep your commitment to wash pots we’ll keep our commitment to pay you for working. How does that sound? Does that seem fair to you?’”

      Paul and I agreed an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work is a reasonable agreement. We both knew, however, it doesn’t take long to discover some new employees have no intention of keeping the commitment they made during the job interview.

      “So how soon do you find out they aren’t keeping their commitment?” I asked.

      “Not long,” Paul replied with a laugh. “Sometimes you can tell within days. Sometimes you don’t find out until after the 90-day probationary period when the employee starts to slack off. It’s like they think they can be fired after that.”

      I smiled and asked, “Yet even though the employee is no longer keeping his commitment, what does he still expect the company to do?”

      “To pay him!” Paul exclaimed.

       “I don’t get that part, do you? Why should the company have to keep its commitment to pay the employee when the employee is no longer keeping his commitment to work? Personally, I think a manager should be able to go up to an employee during the workday and say: ‘I’ve been observing your performance today and noticed you’ve rendered six hours of behaviors that we pay for and two hours of behaviors that we don’t pay for. Consequently, you can expect your paycheck to reflect your effort accordingly. We’ll only pay you for the six hours that you actually worked.’”

      “That would be great!” Paul chuckled.

      “I agree. But I know a lot of employment lawyers who won’t let you do it. They’d sue you if you tried. That’s because the employment laws say you have to pay people for their time at work, not for working at work. And, unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for some employees to realize all they have to do at work is put in their time, rather than work, to earn their paycheck.”

      Paul nodded his head in disgust, knowingly.

      “So, let’s talk for a minute about what you would like your managers and employees to be committed to at your plant in Las Vegas,” I said. “What commitments do you expect from them?”

      “I expect them to do their jobs,” he said. “I also hope they’ll be committed to the goals of the company. I want them to do a quality job and to provide good customer service. And I expect them to work as a team.”

      I wrote down on my notepad the words company goals, quality, customer service, and team on my Ladder diagram just to the left of the COMMITMENT level.

      “Do you also expect your managers and employees to be committed to you as the general manager of the company?” I suggested. “Would you like them to be committed to following your leadership, accepting your direction, and doing what you ask?”

      “I was going to say ‘no’, not as long as they’re committed to the company. But, you’re right. I do expect them to be committed to me as the general manager.”

      I added the word me to the list I was making.

      “And when there are changes made at your company, do you expect your employees to commit to those changes?”

      “Of course,” Paul confirmed.

      I added the word change to the list.

      “OK. So let’s talk about the process people go through in order to commit to your list,” I said, pointing to the bottom of the Ladder.

      “Typically, how do your employees respond when you roll out the production goals for the year? When you introduce quality or service improvement programs, do your employees rally in support of those programs?”

      Paul listened to my questions without responding.

      “Whenever you announce a new policy or major change in your organization, do your employees get all excited, pump their fists in the air, and shout: ‘Yes! This change is going to be great!’” I asked in my most enthusiastic and patronizing tone.

      Paul rolled his eyes and looked at me with a funny smirk on his face.

      “No?” I exclaimed. “You mean when you implement new procedures, change the processes, or alter the work on the shop floor, your employees don’t get jazzed about it? Are you saying your employees don’t commit right away when you implement a change at your company?”

      “No! They hate change!”

      “Yes, most people resist change,” I concurred. “Resistance is a natural and normal first response to change. In other words, most people respond CLOSED to the introduction of any new idea, process or program,” I said writing the word “closed” at the bottom of the Ladder.

      “As I said earlier, Paul, it would be wonderful if people started out at COMMITMENT when the company goals are announced, quality or service programs are rolled out, or a new manager is hired; but they don’t. I’m going to explain why people respond CLOSED to new ideas or concepts by using how they respond to change as the example. All of the things you’ve listed here where you expect commitment from your employees – company goals, quality, customer service, etc.,” I said pointing to his list, “ – each requires accepting some degree of change before a person can commit to them.

      “When you declare the company goals for the upcoming year, those goals are almost always higher than the previous year’s goals. That means the employees have to do something different than they did the year before in order to perform at a higher level to accomplish the new goals.

      “If СКАЧАТЬ