I
interested
Guest
Ez-rider,
Open communication between management is not as elusive as it may seem. What is elusive is getting management to act on those things that they perceive as outdated, unfair and ineffectual.
Let me give you an example.
When I was first hired from the outside as a supervisor, I worked as an account executive/salesperson.
The district manager in our work area had a policy that NO employee may ever call the corporate office without his approval. No phone calls whatsoever. If someone in Corporate called you, you were not to return that call until it (subject matter) was reviewed. The reason for this policy? Our district manager did not want to look foolish if anyone happened to say the wrong thing to someone in the corporate office.
I was working on an initiative at the time and had someone in corporate call my office and ask specifically for me. I happened to be there and answer the phone. After a brief conversation with my boss that afternoon, It registered that I had spoken to Corporate. Well, it hit the fan. I was told to return to the office immediately, the district manager grilled me about our conversation, and our policy on talking to the corporate office.
It didn't matter that I was the only one in the district that was in possession of the information that corporate was looking for, nor that the person from corporate had called me and I actually answered the phone. In addition to that, the information was all numerical. Volume and revenue numbers of the branch of a national account in my area. The data that I gave to him was info that I had been sending to him in house mail on a weekly basis, but he had misplaced the most recent mailing and needed the numbers. It was a brief conversation that could not be construed as anything other than informative, and necessary to have. Of course, I could have told him I would call him back, try and track down my boss, have him track down the district manager and then wait for an answer to, if and when, I was to be able to return his phone call.
I made a decision to handle the call.
When I respectfully asked in the meeting why I was being taken to task for making a decision, one of the reasons I assumed Ups had hired me, I was shut down and reminded in no uncertain terms of the policy. Afterwards, my immediate manager and I had a long talk about the culture at Ups, he was honest and upfront, and I think he genuinely felt bad about not supporting my decision to field the call-It was my introduction to it is what it is culture of management at Ups.
What really bothered me though, was when I had the opportunity to discuss this in the following months with many of my peers, most of them did not see the ridiculous nature of the policy. In fact, many of them made lengthy attempts to defend and rationalize such an egregious rule. They openly questioned whether we as supervisors had the, authority and acumen to have a phone conversation with corporate. There were some of them that also felt that it was a ridiculous policy- but that their hands were tied, it was best to, go with the flow. they said.
I was stunned. What really got to me was that 6 months later, when this district manager was promoted, and the policy of calling corporate was abolished by the new manager (he thought it was ridiculous) everybody agreed with him immediately. Those staunch supporters of it just a few weeks before, who had such reverence for the policy, were condemning it and talking about how much better it would be to have more autonomy.
It didnt matter WHAT the policy was, it was just important to align yourself with gameplan of the new manager and not make waves. When I called several of them on the duplicitous nature of their values, they were shocked that I thought it best to make decisions based on what I THOUGHT was best to do in a situation, not what I thought someone might think of me if I made the wrong decision. I asked why after having that policy for 6 years and vehemently defending it, they could abandon it so quickly? The answer, It was no longer the policy of the new manager When I asked if they saw any rationale with the reasons the new manger threw out the policy- (it was a RIDICULOUS policy) they said I was missing the point.
As I said Ez-rider, it was very easy afterward to get my fellow managers to give me their ear on this subject, and open lines of communication. It was almost impossible to get them to see how insane the policy was and the reasons why they supported it. It was fear. Fear of stepping up and saying, this does not make sense. Many of these same people would bemoan the policy outside of work, but never try to do something to fix it.
It is still very much this way today. There is a lot of fear to step outside the box and make the professional decision that you know you have the capability to make. It is far better at Ups if you confer with your manger, he with his-and so up the line and then back down to arrive at a consensus. If you do buck this policy, or take it a step further and report YOUR manager for his/her inability to make a decision you are a marked man. This style of management brings Ups to its knees everyday-whenever you dont empower your people to act in the same professional capacity that you claim to have spent so much time and money hiring and training them, you lose valuable synergies and performance from that employee. If working for Ups is such a great privilege, and we do our best only to keep the best and brightest in our employ-why cant we be trusted to know what is best in our trailer, in our center, and in our package car-that an employee may have been driving for TWENTY FIVE YEARS.
Open communication between management is not as elusive as it may seem. What is elusive is getting management to act on those things that they perceive as outdated, unfair and ineffectual.
Let me give you an example.
When I was first hired from the outside as a supervisor, I worked as an account executive/salesperson.
The district manager in our work area had a policy that NO employee may ever call the corporate office without his approval. No phone calls whatsoever. If someone in Corporate called you, you were not to return that call until it (subject matter) was reviewed. The reason for this policy? Our district manager did not want to look foolish if anyone happened to say the wrong thing to someone in the corporate office.
I was working on an initiative at the time and had someone in corporate call my office and ask specifically for me. I happened to be there and answer the phone. After a brief conversation with my boss that afternoon, It registered that I had spoken to Corporate. Well, it hit the fan. I was told to return to the office immediately, the district manager grilled me about our conversation, and our policy on talking to the corporate office.
It didn't matter that I was the only one in the district that was in possession of the information that corporate was looking for, nor that the person from corporate had called me and I actually answered the phone. In addition to that, the information was all numerical. Volume and revenue numbers of the branch of a national account in my area. The data that I gave to him was info that I had been sending to him in house mail on a weekly basis, but he had misplaced the most recent mailing and needed the numbers. It was a brief conversation that could not be construed as anything other than informative, and necessary to have. Of course, I could have told him I would call him back, try and track down my boss, have him track down the district manager and then wait for an answer to, if and when, I was to be able to return his phone call.
I made a decision to handle the call.
When I respectfully asked in the meeting why I was being taken to task for making a decision, one of the reasons I assumed Ups had hired me, I was shut down and reminded in no uncertain terms of the policy. Afterwards, my immediate manager and I had a long talk about the culture at Ups, he was honest and upfront, and I think he genuinely felt bad about not supporting my decision to field the call-It was my introduction to it is what it is culture of management at Ups.
What really bothered me though, was when I had the opportunity to discuss this in the following months with many of my peers, most of them did not see the ridiculous nature of the policy. In fact, many of them made lengthy attempts to defend and rationalize such an egregious rule. They openly questioned whether we as supervisors had the, authority and acumen to have a phone conversation with corporate. There were some of them that also felt that it was a ridiculous policy- but that their hands were tied, it was best to, go with the flow. they said.
I was stunned. What really got to me was that 6 months later, when this district manager was promoted, and the policy of calling corporate was abolished by the new manager (he thought it was ridiculous) everybody agreed with him immediately. Those staunch supporters of it just a few weeks before, who had such reverence for the policy, were condemning it and talking about how much better it would be to have more autonomy.
It didnt matter WHAT the policy was, it was just important to align yourself with gameplan of the new manager and not make waves. When I called several of them on the duplicitous nature of their values, they were shocked that I thought it best to make decisions based on what I THOUGHT was best to do in a situation, not what I thought someone might think of me if I made the wrong decision. I asked why after having that policy for 6 years and vehemently defending it, they could abandon it so quickly? The answer, It was no longer the policy of the new manager When I asked if they saw any rationale with the reasons the new manger threw out the policy- (it was a RIDICULOUS policy) they said I was missing the point.
As I said Ez-rider, it was very easy afterward to get my fellow managers to give me their ear on this subject, and open lines of communication. It was almost impossible to get them to see how insane the policy was and the reasons why they supported it. It was fear. Fear of stepping up and saying, this does not make sense. Many of these same people would bemoan the policy outside of work, but never try to do something to fix it.
It is still very much this way today. There is a lot of fear to step outside the box and make the professional decision that you know you have the capability to make. It is far better at Ups if you confer with your manger, he with his-and so up the line and then back down to arrive at a consensus. If you do buck this policy, or take it a step further and report YOUR manager for his/her inability to make a decision you are a marked man. This style of management brings Ups to its knees everyday-whenever you dont empower your people to act in the same professional capacity that you claim to have spent so much time and money hiring and training them, you lose valuable synergies and performance from that employee. If working for Ups is such a great privilege, and we do our best only to keep the best and brightest in our employ-why cant we be trusted to know what is best in our trailer, in our center, and in our package car-that an employee may have been driving for TWENTY FIVE YEARS.
