Squelch rumors that contradict your values. It took a long time with department meetings before they went from just being a gripe session to being productive, and people realized that management wasn’t the enemy. [It takes] constant communication.
You have to say, ‘Now, here’s the truth. Here’s what we’re doing.’ And then you have to make sure to set the example and ensure because some are still skeptical: ‘Yeah, they say they’re going to do this. They’re not going to do it.’ You have to make sure that the pendulum swings way over so everybody understands what you’re doing and that it’s going to happen.
We’ve divided our whole company into four teams without any managers. Every Wednesday, a different team meets with one person in charge of training. They just have an open discussion. Sometimes maybe somebody heard something and rumors get started. It’s a great way to squelch any rumors and get right down to the truth.
Get rid of skeptics. There’s a part in the movie, Patton, where the troops are all backed up and aircraft are coming down striking them with bullets. Patton’s in the back of his jeep and he says, ‘What’s the problem here?’ He drives up to the front, and there’s a gypsy with a mule blocking the bridge. They’re trying to coax the mule out of the way and all of a sudden he just pulls his pistols out, shoots the mule, and they push it over the bridge. All of a sudden, everything’s moving.
Sometimes you get that one person that doesn’t want to change and it causes you more problems. You need to shoot the mule. It also sets an example, too. The people say, ‘This really is going to happen. They really are serious about it.’
After a while, other people come and tell you, ‘So-and-so’s really not pulling their weight.’ They’re fine in the meeting, and then you hear later they’re out in the parking lot griping about everybody.
We had to shoot a couple mules. They just didn’t want to go with the flow. Finally I just walked in one day and I said, ‘You’re not part of the team. It’s time we parted ways.’
The problem is, you’ll never know [if they’d eventually buy in]. You can’t second-guess your judgments all the time.
The sooner you do it, the better. Everybody else knows who they are, and every day you wait, they lose more respect for you for not doing it.
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