Would These Five “Rules” Work For You?

One of the really nice parts about writing a newspaper column is that you get mail from your readers. Fortunately most of the emails I have gotten over the last several years have been positive. But they tend to be “atta boy” type comments. I don’t get a great number of specific suggestions or comments about future columns. However, in response to my May column, I did get such a specific recommendation.

A dear friend, Maureen Kane Wade, who has been a teacher and career guidance counselor for a lot of years, said she made it a point to tell “her” kids that there were five “things” they needed to do to keep their jobs. As the kids say, damn straight stuff:
1. Show up everyday
2. Be on time.
3. Follow directions
4. Get along with your co-workers
5. Be able to be trusted.

Show Up Every Day

If you are fortunate, the majority of your (fellow) employees show up at their work place most days. What if they don’t? You lose the ability to interact with them. You don’t have access to their best thinking. You don’t have the continuity of action/reactions that is present when you review yesterday’s decisions/deliberations with your fellows.

The absence of an employee upsets the cohesiveness of the team; the absentee needs to be brought up to speed when s/he returns to work. At some level, that is a waste of valuable time. Had the person been at work the previous day, you wouldn’t have to dedicate your time to playing “court reporter”. Think about any set of circumstances when a key player is missing; the team simply doesn’t operate the same.

Should attendance be a hiring criterion when people are being interviewed? Don’t you think you should be exploring the interviewee’s work ethic? Even if a person is a great performer isn’t his/her contribution to the team significantly lessened if you don’t know if they cannot be relied upon to be there.

Is the employee ‘PRESENT’ when they are physically present in a meeting? Shouldn’t you at the supervisor expect them to be fully invested in the immediate conversation?

Be On Time

Timeliness has been a fetish of mine for as long as I can remember. It fascinates me how lovely; thoughtful people can be oblivious to other people’s time. Obviously one interpretation of a person’s late arrival is their disdain for the other person’s time; my time is clearly more important than yours. I had a client who was “always” late for staff meetings. His team saw it as a lack of respect problem rather than a time management problem. The boss was “dissing” his staff. Even when he did in fact have something more important to do, he was not forgiven for his tardiness. The presumption was that he is always late anyway, why should I believe that he was really more gainfully occupied with some other matter this time?

Once you get past the lack of respect being evidenced, you have the practical considerations. If a person is late by 15 minutes, it might mean that you now have 15 less minutes to handle the scheduled agenda items. Alternatively, the tardy person has put the squeeze on the other person(s) in attendance.

Commonly people will say, s/he is always late, plan for it. Sounds nice, but it is the rationalization of an enabler. A friend of mine has a 15 minute rule; if the other person is late by more than 15 minutes, he leaves the rendezvous point. He says he refuses to be held hostage by another’s insensitivity. What’s your experience, do you think a 15 minute rule would be helpful in your dealings with others?

Follow Directions

Again, an issue that seems so obvious, how could it be a problem? Well, it is for many people. To start with, giving understandable directions is a challenge. We may be telling someone to do something that we know backward and forward, how could the listener not know what is meant? Try to describe to another intelligent person how to change a baby’s diaper. Many of us who have changed hundreds of diapers normally don’t think about how it is done; we just know. But obviously if you have to explain it to someone else, they don’t know. So you need to work on your ability to either give or accept understandable directions.

If the direction giver is not clear in his/her expectations, ask for clarity at the front end. Don’t wait until both of you are frustrated by the explanation. If you don’t agree with the directions, respectfully ask for clarification, it will minimize the chance of misunderstanding. Better to annoy the direction giver at the beginning of the process, than later on, when a lot of time has elapsed, at which time you are also fighting a significant time problem.

Get Along With Your Co-Workers

One of the biggest problems with people being properly integrated into a new job situation is their inability to get along with their fellow employees. To a very large extent, it can be facilitated by your decision to get along. Not to roll over, but to get along. Frequently new hires don’t establish alliances with their fellow workers. They haven’t acquired the support of their fellows. Instead they believe that the deciding factor of their success will be the product of their work or their industry knowledge.
Think of the people who have been successful in your own organization. When the boss asked how the “new person” was doing, s/he received positive feedback because the new employee had acquired support, not because s/he had sold the biggest order in the firm’s history. On the other hand, if the response to the boss’ question is timid and reserved, that probably will be perceived negatively by the boss.
To acquire the support of one’s fellow co-workers does not require you to be a panderer or unusually solicitous, but rather you need to be true to yourself. I heard someone say, “I don’t know what it will take for you to be successful, but I do know what it takes to fail; trying to please everyone”.

Need To Be Trustworthy

Some people are defined by their trustworthiness; even their enemies know that you can “go to the bank” with their word.

Examples of trustworthiness have to be “demonstrated” not just stated. Many of us want to see evidence. Will these people do what they say they will do? Are you seen as a trustworthy person? If a fellow employee tells you something in confidence can they be comfortable in believing that you will hold this matter in the strictest of confidence?

Well, what do you think of Maureen’s admonitions to her students? How do they apply to you and your employees? Maureen’s comments could be useful for individuals at any level in an organization, but the thrust of them seems to be directed towards the new employee, perhaps a recent high school or college graduate just entering the work force.

Two other friends have offered to provide other perspectives. In my upcoming column in September, Bob Ward, a very accomplished executive search consultant, with his own firm headquartered in Naperville, will provide a view of what clients tell him they want in their new employees. In my November column, Tim Corry, Vice President-Human Resources for Jewel Food Stores, will provide his perspective as an employer of a large number of people at all levels.

In addition to the five rules Maureen Kane Wade has suggested to her students, I would add one more. As professor and author, Jeffrey A. Timmons, says, “ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO. It is the glue and fiber that binds successful relationships.” It seems to me that this rule could be the synopsis of all the above five. Carpe Diem.

James F. Fitzgerald, president of James F. Fitzgerald & Associates, Inc., an Oak Brook, IL-based senior executive coaching and senior executive career transition firm. Phone: 630-684-2204. Email: jamesffitz@sbcglobal.net