Late and Later

Everyone's "marry'er" when everyone lives up to high standards

Bjorn, Sales Manager for Carpet USA, a family-owned service provider for residential and commercial flooring, countertops, flooring repairs and design consultation based in Vancouver, WA told Session 8B of the Leadership Development Lab (LDL):

"A few months ago, my co-worker, Jenna, got married. Jenna had been a reliable employee. She worked hard and expected those around her to work hard, be as engaged as she was. After she got married, she started showing up to work late on a regular basis. I let it go the first few times. I had a hard time knowing how to handle the situation. At Session 5 of the LDL, I learned how to correct team members when they violate our standards, correct someone who's behavior is in clear violation of company standards.

"On the Friday following the Tuesday night's lesson, Jenna showed up late again. Following the DARE+ approach, I pulled her aside, then said, ‘I noticed you were late this morning, what happened?'

"She explained that since she got married, her usual routine had changed. She was really struggling to balance her home life and work life. After carefully listening, I reminded her of our "on-time" standard at Carpet USA, and why it was important that she shows up on time as scheduled. I told her she was admired by our crew who wanted to emulate her and how much I counted on her. Then I asked her to agree to come up with a routine that would allow her to get back on track. She agreed, and over the past five weeks she has been on time every day. She is an effective, reliable employee once again.

"The lesson I learned from this experience is I can effectively call our team to the higher ground and uphold our company standards by following Turbo Leadership Systems' DARE+ approach.

"The action I call you to take is whenever you see a coworker/team member doing a sub-standard job, don't wait for things to change, hope they will change, or lose your temper. Instead follow the DARE + approach, start by saying, 'what happened?" Then listen intently before you remind them of the standard, ask for their agreement and end with encouragement.

"The benefit you will gain is a higher standard of performance, exceptional teamwork, and the respect of everyone on your team. Morale and performance will improve."

Entropy causes things to naturally run down. People cut corners. If left to nature, things continue to run down. It's the leader's role to call the team to the higher ground everyone can take pride in.

Don't be late in asking your team to be on time.