What are you doing to increase trust?
By Dan Bobinski
The following story is true. The names and places have been
changed to protect the innocent—and the guilty.
About a year ago Jordan’s dream job finally fell into
place. His company transferred him to one of their manufacturing
plants in the south where he would serve as a process improvement
specialist—a newly created position for his company. The
job required analysis, projections, and recommendations to make
production processes more efficient, all of which Jordan loved
doing.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Jordan discovered
that dream jobs can become nightmares.
The first thing he learned was that the senior staff had
micro-management down to a Nobel-prize winning science. Secondly,
he got no cooperation. Whenever he asked anyone for input on any
project, all I got was an uncomfortable pause, followed by the same
three words: “I don’t know.”
The reason for that became clear several weeks into his new
job. At a staff meeting, the senior manager asked if anyone had
thoughts on a particular capital improvement project. Jordan
offered a suggestion for how to shave a few days off the
installation—a move that would save the company a lot of
money.
Surprisingly, the senior manager cut Jordan off and discounted
the data he’d presented. When Jordan cautiously asked about
his concerns with the data, the plant manager lowered the boom by
raising his voice. “I’m telling you, I don’t
agree with it, and that’s why we’re not doing
it!”
It was then that Jordan knew why nobody ever made
suggestions.
Unfortunately, arrogant bullying was not limited to the senior
manager. He had a partner in crime—the safety manager. The
two were a tag-team of intimidation, and they created a culture of
fear that permeated every aspect of the plant.
Jordan felt their wrath whenever he submitted a proposal. It
didn’t matter how accurate his numbers were or how much money
the idea would save the company. These guys loved to argue and
intimidate. In fact, if Jordan’s reports weren’t
formatted to their exact specifications it somehow meant that all
the facts and figures were instantly and automatically void of any
value.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Jordan’s rejected
reports were handed back to him in a dramatic fashion along with a
healthy measure of public criticism.
Six months later Jordan’s self-esteem was sinking like a
rock.
The real warning sign came on a Monday morning when he sat
down to draft a proposal. Questions began racing through his
mind:
Did you do that analysis completely?
Did you miss any details?
Did you consider every aspect of the problem?
Doubts and fears flooded over him so fast he couldn’t
think straight. In a few minutes he was so overwhelmed, he just got
up and went home early, claiming he was sick—something he
never did. Jordan had a reputation as a doer, not a
quitter.
Later on Jordan realized he’d had an anxiety
attack.
During the ensuing weeks Jordan struggled with the encroaching
anxiety. He wanted to be a valued member of the team. He tried
talking with other managers, but with the depth of mistrust in the
plant those conversations didn’t go far.
Thankfully, one manager finally opened up. “We’re
trapped,” he said. “This is a small southern town and
not many jobs are available that pay what we make here. We all have
kids in school or parents close by, so moving isn’t an
option, either. Our families are important to us.”
Jordan stated his work began to feel like a prison. He sought
out the regional vice president, but after the meeting he was even
more discouraged. The V.P. said he was unaware of any problems, and
that the plant’s production numbers were fine. He
didn’t see a reason to fix something that wasn’t
broken. He suggested maybe the problem was with Jordan.
With everything spinning out of control, Jordan finally
quested a transfer. He didn’t have kids in school or any
family close by, so he wasn’t trapped like his
coworkers. He simply didn’t want to spend the rest of
his professional life watching his passion for excellence die a
long painful death in an environment of fear.
Reflection: Intimidation creates fear and lack of
trust. With the absence of trust comes the death of passion and any
desire for excellence.
When employees stop contributing, valuable new ideas are never
brought the table, and bad ideas are never challenged. An
organization suffering from these conditions eventually becomes
incapable of correcting its own mistakes, and mediocrity becomes
the soup du jour.
