I have a service technician that is very negative and challenging in our staff meetings. For example, we pay for our technicians uniforms (shirts) and have allowed them to wear shorts and jeans on site for years. Recently we had a staff meeting and told them that jeans and shorts were no longer satisfactory for projecting our image and that they had a month to outfit themselves in Dockers or business casual attire. The service tech in question asked if we were going to pay for their pants, then informed us that other small businesses he’d worked for paid for them, then asked if he could still wear jeans on Fridays. I obviously answered no, no and no and informed him that I thought he’d be the best dressed tech in town on Fridays. His attitude is like this at every meeting how do I turn it into a team player attitude?
The Team Doc Says…
At face value, I don’t see his attitude as negative nor view him as a “non team player” — of course I can’t hear his tone of voice. Is it possible there are some issues between you and him (challenging your authority?). His questions were not unreasonable for this particular situation.
Questioning decisions is not a bad thing. Many breakthroughs have come about in companies because one (or a few people) didn’t just shake their heads up and down and say “OK.”
It sounds to me like you and your company may benefit from involving the front line folks in some of your decision making. They’ll have more ownership in the outcome if you go that direction.
Hop on over to my blog post Team Whiner or Winner? It’s a quick read and may give you some ideas on how to deal with this issue.
Best regards,
Denise O’Berry
aka ‘Team Doc’
P.S. What do you think? Simply click on the Comment link below and let me know!
