Turbo Leadership Systems^™

Healthy cultures keep feedback current

Roger, warehouse distribution center manager for an electrical wholesaler, told Session 9 of the Leadership Development Lab (LDL): “Last Friday Dennis, my freight out shipping clerk, went home sick. Matt stepped right up and volunteered to fill in for him as his own work load was lighter than normal. During the course of the day, Matt found two different shipments that were each two days old and, as such, two days late! Our service standard is same day ship out for all orders. I was surprised and disappointed as Dennis had always been reliable. I thought perhaps there is some justifiable explanation.

“When Dennis returned to work the next Monday morning, I found him and asked him to follow me to my office. He looked a little nervous as he sat down and I began to speak. I first asked him if he was feeling better, he nodded yes. Next, I informed him that while he was gone the previous Friday, I had found two orders that should have both been shipped by him on Wednesday. I asked him why that had not happened. Dennis told me that he meant to ship them on time, but even though he tried to get to them, he had just run out of day. I restated our standard is same day ship out for all orders received before 3:30 p.m. and that this same day service is what distinguishes us from our competition. I reminded him that it is important for us to adhere to this standard since our customers are counting on receiving their orders to do their jobs. I further stated that, in the future, I expected him to follow the standard and, if he sees that he might not be able to get a shipment out same day because of time, to let me know and I would get him some additional help. I told Dennis that in the seven years we had worked together I had always found him to be someone that I could count on and that I was sure that in the future he would stick to the standard. As I shook his hand, Dennis reassured me that there would not be any more problems and thanked me for the offer of support.

“What was the outcome of this correction? Dennis has returned to his old self and has shipped every order same day since as per our standard.

“The lesson I learned from this experience is that even the best and most consistent employees can stumble and require attention. By dealing with the situation immediately and applying Turbo’s 6-step Positive Correction Process, problems can be quickly corrected and standards maintained.

“The action I call you to is never delay dealing with a problem. Use Turbo’s 6-Step Positive Correction Process at the first opportunity once you are aware of even a small deviation from standard. If you don’t, the exception becomes the standard.

“The benefit you will gain is your team will respect you and you will have a high performance team.”

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