human resources

Manager’s Hot Seat

Case 6: Change: More Pain than Gain?

The Meeting

C: Rita, Juan, it’s good to see you guys again. I know it has been hectic out there, and I know we have been trying to get this meeting together for a while. We are here, perhaps the delay has put more issues on the table, things that have either progressed, or regressed, so let’s deal with those.

R: So Peter comes in and tries to minimize my duties. I tell him I’m the director of advertising and give him the list of the things that I have to do. He sees me answering the phone so he decides, oh wow; you answer the phones pretty good. You would make a good receptionist. Maybe that is an area that we don’t have to hire a receptionist. So I feel insulted. I never got that from you when we were part of the company, and yet I can’t connect with you to get the support that I used to get from you so I feel like I’m out there all alone.

J: We don’t even see you anymore.

R: I feel like I’m out there all alone dealing with some, I’m just going to call him what he is. He’s an idiot, a moron, he’s insensitive. I’m starting to feel like I’m going to rip through my sick days right now and I was never one to do that because I love coming to work. I was the envy of all my friends because I love my job. And now I’m not feeling that way anymore, and I’m getting very angry about it and I don’t like myself in this position because it’s not helping.

C: Rita, we love your job also. You know how valuable you are to me now, and how valuable you have been. The most important thing is that we communicate effective and honestly. And I want more, so hit me.

J: It just isn’t working with Jackson. All of a sudden, he’s my partner, you know, and his ideas are just you know, they are just wacko. My clients have been under my hat for 5 years, I know their tastes, I know what they like, and all of a sudden Jackson is coming in here and just...

R: They aren’t acting like team players. They are just coming in and want to flex their authority and they are just throwing out here and throwing out, you know you do this, you do that. It’s just frustrating.

C: You’re both effective communicators. Would you agree that you are both effective communicators?

R: With this group, it’s a little tough.

C: Ok, 2 things come to mind straight away. One, part of this is clearly an issue that is going to go along with any company that merges. No 2, 3 or 4 personalities are going to get along. What we need to focus on right now is that you are all 4 at the exact level organizationally. You will have to take my word for it that is not an arguable point. However, personal issues, you’re going to have to settle amongst yourself.

J: Ok, look Carlos; I think we are both at the point where I don’t see any resolution with these two guys.

R: Nor do I see a future.

C: Well if you don’t see a future, I’m sad. If you don’t see a resolution that says to me I don’t see a future. These are personal decisions. The fact of the matter is this stuff. We are here, we understood ahead of time that we were going to be going through a transition. The transition is in place now. The transformation is in place now; it is not the finished product.

R: I understand that Carlos. We went in knowing that. We went in knowing that and as I said, yet again, they are not acting as team players. And I have kept my mouth shut, and have tried to be as diplomatic and professional as I can. And I’m just ready to bolt.

C: I would be saddened if you did. I would be truly saddened if you did.

R: And you know, I don’t think that it is just me and Juan that are feeling it like this, there are quite a few of us that are thinking along these lines and we’ve been thinking of just bringing it to the table, and maybe just going off and doing our own thing. I don’t know.

C: You’re going to have to make decisions at this point as to...

J: How do you feel about this?

C: As to losing 2 long term employees?

R: I would say that it is more than 2 people at this point.

C: I see it from a different level, not a better or worse level; it’s from a different level. I see it form issues like internal rate of return. I have factored in losing employees but I have never factored in losing you two. In the end, the people who communicate most effectively, the people who add to the transformation going through are here for the final product. The final product is not her yet.

R: Tell us something. Are you not having difficulty with some of these new people that have come on board? Because I’m getting a sense from you, I see a little tension.

C: I’m having difficulty with people that have been with me for 8 or 10 years, that have been with me longer than you, and I’m having difficulty with, not necessarily two sides. Because there are not 2 sides, there is one side. So this is one company right now. Is there difficulty in the transformation, of course there is, but I am here to listen to you, and you have to communicate effectively.

R: We are doing that Carlos.

C: I have to be very, very concise in that this is not just a preference, that I would rather have it some other way. That I’m not happy right now. I know that you’re not happy.

R: No, I’m really not happy.

C: You second that?

J: Yeah, I second that.

C: I mean I really need to know this right now. To your view right now, you don’t want to see this all they way to the end?

J: I think we’re ready to go.

C: Well your challenge is then, this time next week, if not sooner, to let me know what you want to do.

R: We’ll know sooner rather than later next week. We’re ready; we know now.

J: The thing is we like you. We’ve known you a long time.

C: I can’t go with you. You know I’d love to work with you guys more, you know, I’d love to. I would be really, really sad if you left. But you’re both over 21, you know, this is a decision that you need to make. I will tell you ahead of time…

R: Do you really see yourself with a future here? We were like a great team before.

J: Oh come on Carlos. You don’t like the way that things are going on right now.

C: I don’t have to like the way things are going, I have put my nose to the grind stone and see it through this transformation.

Afterthoughts

C: In my position in the company, in this transformation stage, its; a positive thing to have come to at least one milestone. To know one thing that is certain. I am pretty certain that they will be leaving the company. My next action with those two is to begin to draw a circle around their activities within the company assuming that they are not leaving as they go out the door today. They need to be monitored; the risk that goes along with the departing employee under any conditions really, needs to be managed from the onset. There will be some fallout, customer wise, as they will tyro t take customers along with them. However I can tell you squarely that has been accounted for in determining the transformation of this company. I don’t feel that their proposal to me was ethical in the context. They came to me, under pretence that they had problems within the company. I think that this sort of proposal or discussion is to be held outside the company, is my preference so that the corporate veil that goes along with this situation is removed. My reaction to their proposal, positive or negative would not have been different. The only thing that raises a flag to me about larger personnel issues is that they actually verbalized that there were a lot of people that were unhappy. Another concern that they voiced to me was that I didn’t get to them on time. So my job is to make sure that even if I have vocalized that I want open communication, and that everyone has equal footing in my corporation as far as communication goes. I have to make sure and galvanize that. I have to go individually and make sure that those channels are open. If it turns out that they are not the results that I want, I have to accept that. Managing the team at large is, that entire job is, keeping my talent and to that extent being able to deliver the product that is based on that talent. Do I care to lose large talent? No I don’t. But this isn’t a day to day stable environment. We knew ahead of time that would lose some talent so it has been factored in. But no, I don’t like t to lose talent for any reason. I may have tried harder if I had thought that there minds were not made up. It was very clear to me that their minds were made up to the point that they were inviting me along. I recognize that they are adults and they are going to make decisions. I can’t ask them to stay on a personal or emotional basis. I have done everything that I can to make this merger as smooth as I can. This is the unstable part of it. This is the unrecognizable, unstable part of it. Could I have made a bigger effort to keep those employees? I’m not sure. I’m very convinced that they were leaving regardless of what efforts I could have made. What made part of the decision very easy is not to struggle as far as their termination goes, is that these folks were not going to be effective operators in my operation to effect getting from where we were to where we want to be. They may walk in on Monday morning and say we changed our minds. I can tell you statistically, that there is a 60% chance that they will no longer be with the company thirty days later.