“When we avoid difficult conversations, we trade short-term discomfort for long-term dysfunction.” Peter Bromberg
A contractor friend of mine came to my house recently to do some work. I asked, out of curiosity, if he had any help. I knew he owned and ran the business, and I know how challenging that is. “Well, I had one guy coming – Jason, but he called in and can’t work because he forgot he had midterm examinations for college,” he said. I laughed out of bewilderment but also because I could empathize with his situation as a small business owner myself. I’ve led people for over 30-years, and I’ve heard it all. He wasn’t too upset over it. He did say it would save him some payroll. I appreciated his optimism and his attitude but the whole scenario got me thinking – about leadership of course. “What would I do?”
One thought which entered my mind is the bad light it cast on his business. He came to my house to do laborious work. I would have expected a crew or at least another person helping him. I’m sure he had other customers to serve that day. Did this throw his schedule off? When I hear excuses from businesses, I’m not very sympathetic. If they are short employees or overwhelmed for whatever reason and the product or service suffers, it is not my fault. I’m not an overly critical customer looking for the next 1-star review opportunity. I am sympathetic, but I do expect good products and services. Moreover, I expect businesses to equip and man themselves appropriately for the product they sell or service they offer. I knew this person and he didn’t offer any excuses. Instead, he got right to work – it’s why I chose him.
I left the house and him behind completing his work contemplating my own leadership approach to this scenario. How in the world does a person forget about their mid-term exams? Was he lying? If he was, what a horrible cover story he picked. Was Jason raised properly? Did anyone ever teach him about responsibility, dependability, and consideration of others to name just a few lessons of one’s youth? Perhaps not. I didn’t begin ‘younger generation bashing’ – careless, lazy… I don’t do that. I always think of those who taught Jason. Whatever Jason’s flaw(s), his leader needs to have a difficult conversation with him. Here is how I would have handled it…
