Deal with trouble
About five years ago, when Henze was a director, she had a district manager who was uncomfortable with the visits she made. It turns out, the district manager was not guiding the business by the company’s core beliefs. Eventually, the manager resigned but the damage had already been done.
It took about two months from the start of the process to the resignation, which may not seem like much, but to the employees under that manager, it seemed like forever.
&#x
201C;It took many months before the employees really felt that they were moving in the right direction, and that they felt supported because they had not felt that way for a long period of time,” she says.
Either you or people whom you trust will have to stick around that location to make sure that everyone gets back on the same page and is buying in to the company’s beliefs.
“That’s what I call hand-holding,” she says. “Not micromanaging, but that’s a period of time that you really have to hand-hold the leadership in that organization as well as the employees in that organization.
“What I mean by that is making sure that if you are not there as the leader that there are other people there representing you that you trust and that are on message. You may infuse some additional leadership for an additional period of time.”
You might also move a more productive manager to the troubled locations to settle things down.
“You might move one store manager to a different store and put the other store manager in the troubled store,” she says. “You really have to strategically ensure that you’ve got the right people there in the long-term permanent positions.”
Don’t put the new leader hired to replace the bad leader in the troubled location. Instead, start them out in a location that is doing well.
“Because then the new leader, if they are in another location and if they are in a store that is really getting it and they want to improve, they will feed off of their employees and they will feed off of that new environment,” she says.
“The other, trusted employee going into the troubled store — the employees will respond very quickly. You’ve got to kind of mix some things up sometimes to make sure people get the support they need.”
If you stay engaged, not only will the employees get that support, but you may be molding a future leader, while, at the same time, keeping the company heading in the right direction.
“We foster a growth and development culture within our organization, which helps us see what the customer sees and helps us hear what our employees are seeing and doing,” she says. “So, we are constantly building the future leaders of the company and we are constantly focused on how we can improve our results. For us, the good news is that it’s worked and that our results continue to be strong. We have the highest customer loyalty in the entire industry. So, I think that’s the benefit. The benefit of it is in the results and in the development of your people to become the next leaders to help carry the company forward.”
How to reach: Verizon Wireless, (800) 922-0204 or www.verizonwireless.com
