New Business Ideas 4 U

Posts Tagged ‘Interpersonal Communication’

Losing All “A” Performers in a Small Office

This is a true story, and is offered to indicate how not doing what is recommended by Profs Becker, Huselid and Beatty can be expensive and serious for a company.

The office was a small sales office – around 15 people. The “A” job in the office is the sales and marketing manager. Why? Because the office was selling big ticket items – hopefully once in a lifetime purchases – and this manager is responsible for the total top line of the organization. Unfortunately, the “A” job was filled by a “C” performer and fortunately for both the office and the person, she was ‘promoted upstairs’ moving to a job in Head Office.

The recently appointed GM then set a winning strategy, and took over the role of sales and marketing manager, since Head Office would not allow the appointment of a replacement for the sales and marketing manager.  All other jobs in the office were “B” or “C” jobs. Interestingly, both I and the GM saw the job of Customer Support as a “B” job tending towards an “A”, while Head Office saw the job as , the company saw this latter as a “B” job, tending towards the “C” level. Just a necessary evil

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In the last posting on this topic, we looked at how the managers who send hand phone messages can be less interruption and by doing so create better rapport with their staff. In this posting we shall be looking at how the manager receiving the message can reduce the interruption possibilities.

Let’s start by asking a question. When do you switch your hand phone off or deliberately not have it with you? Such times could include when you are in a management meeting, meeting with your boss, having a shower or using the toilet. There may well be others.  Next silly question, does the world come to an unscheduled end, when you do not immediately answer your hand phone at these times?

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So what about ‘special treatment’ for “A” jobs and “A” jobholders?

Firstly, consider pay. If a job is a strategic “A” job, then it is recognized as being of critical importance for the company. It is logical that if an “A” job is unfilled, the company will suffer, therefore it is crucial that the importance of the job is reflected in the pay for it. And since it is very possible that the “A” job is not a managerial job, and then it may be that the jobholder is paid more than his/her manager. I personally can see nothing wrong with that.

There has been precedent forever. In the military for example, the platoon sergeant – now there’s an “A” job for you – probably earns more that the second lieutenant who is his/her platoon commander. When I first entered the business world, I worked for an oil company. At the company’s major international port of entry for bulk fuel, the depot superintendent was the most highly paid staff member, but the next four places in the salary stakes were held by senior unionized fuel tanker drivers. Getting a driver supervisor internally was impossible. The selected driver would lose so much pay!

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Thanks to the people who offered thoughts on the first managerial musing.

As a result of your input, I have cobbled together a suggested code of practice for using the handphone, but first some background. The invention of the telephone was a major breakthrough in communication. It provided inter-connectivity for everyone who owned a telephone to communicate with anyone any time anywhere. It may have been the first 24/7/365 application. However, the telephone suffered the limitation of being a fixture in the office. Away from the office meant away from the phone.

Enter the handphone, and suddenly this limitation had gone. 24/7/365 was laterally a reality. However the iniquitousness if the handphone is both blessing and curse. In the case of the manager in our musing it was certainly both, and, in fact, a costly curse. The client was clearly unimpressed with protestations of excellent customer service, when he couldn’t even get the manager’s undivided attention for half an hour!

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