Brad, foreman for a bridge building contractor, told Session 8B of the Leadership Development Lab (LDL):

"The next morning, after Session 5 of the Leadership Development Lab, the session where we learned a 5-step positive, constructive, correction process, I heard in our morning huddle on the south side of the Union Pacific Railroad bridge in Jefferson, Oregon, that Arnie (my “Pearl”), had almost been in an accident with someone from one of our subcontractor firms. I could tell he was still steaming and could be confrontational, so I let him vent to me. This way I could gather some additional information about what happened before I talked to the subcontractor to get his side of the story. I told Arnie not to worry, that I would discuss the situation with the offending party, and that he should let it die. No sooner had I turned around to go to work than I saw him walking toward the person he had had the run-in with. They were already arguing long distance as he walked toward him. I quickly ran over to the area to break the two of them apart. I asked Arnie to go to work and told him I would talk to him in a minute. After he left, I apologized for his actions and got the other guy’s story. Then I walked over to where Arnie was supposed to be working. Truth be told, he was mostly steaming. I asked him what happened, ‘Why did you confront this guy right after I had told you to trust me to take care of it?’ He had his

rational of excuses. After listening to him, I said that I’d already told him I would get to the bottom of the accident, and as he knew, it’s our policy not to get into confrontations with others on the job regardless of the circumstances. I asked if he would let management handle these kinds of situations in the future. He agreed, and the situation was diffused.

The lesson I learned from this experience is that Turbo’s Five Step Corrective Feedback model works, even or maybe especially in situations where things are out of control and about to blow up.

The action I call you to take is to remove workplace chaos by modeling a professional behavior-oriented approach to correcting unacceptable behavior. Never resort to unacceptable behavior in an effort to secure acceptable behavior.

The benefit you will gain is you will earn the respect of your crew and ease in handling your leadership problems, even when it is something that happens on the spur of the moment."

If you or anyone you know is a motorcycle enthusiast, they will love the excerpts from Larry’s newest book, Motorcycle Meditations – A Vision Quest to Alaska, which can be found in the June, July and August issues of Twin Magazine. The June issue goes on sale at newsstands May 10th. Pick it up, read it and share it with your friends!