AboutEd Parr Expertise How to organize employees, how to stop infighting, how to handle problem employees, more. I have 25+ yrs. of experience managing within a variety of industries and labor environments. I have managed from 50 to 1,000 staff on projects with P&L responsibility ranging from $100K to $30MIL. I currently serve as the Managing Director of a Software Development Technology Ctr. for a
professional services consulting firm. I enjoy helping people, especially supervisors and managers, evolve in their careers.
Experience Over 15 years of senior management experience including: systems development, technical help desks, customer service, back-office operations, branch administration and regulatory compliance. Responsibilities have been as large as 1,000 professionals delivering projects with P&L as high as $30 million and assets totaling more than $10 billion. Customer interaction has ranged from client CEOs to customer service reps.
Greatest accomplishment: Helping employees become the best they can be.
Expert: Ed Parr Date: 5/1/2008 Subject: Generational gap
Question We are a small to mid-size manufacturer. A few years ago for various reasons we made the management team (7) co-owners. The 3 founders are approaching retirement age and are trying to groom successors from this team. With this in mind, about 18 months ago we brought in a 29 year old energetic, bright, personable and enthusiastic young man. We expected him to initially work in the area of sales & marketing. Incidentally he came to us from our largest customer - being formerly a buyer that we came to know (he didn't want to move with the company to another state).
Except for him, the team has been together for 5 to 25 years. They are all hard working, focused, team spirited, and rely on their peers. They work long hours and willingly lend a hand to do whatever it takes. There is virtually no politics here and no "that's not my job" mentality.
We are fairly liberal with our management team; we expect they will take time off when they need to including sick, personal and vacation time. But also expect them to whatever it takes to get their jobs done.
Our new guy, Jack, is doing a pretty good job. However, he has a few short comings that we suspect may be partly inherent in his generation. Whereas everyone else shows up for our 7:30 (am) daily overview meeting he is either late or doesn’t attend. He and his wife recently had their first baby. He takes off frequently during the day for personal reasons. Not necessarily hours at a time, but much more often than anyone else. He has pushed the unspecified vacation days limit with frequent long weekends. And last, but not least, spends hours each day on the phone. Since his job requires a lot of phone time including, presumably, chatting up customers, this is somewhat expected, but it’s hard to tell if it’s personal or business. By the way, our offices are along a short hallway and pretty much everyone knows what’s going on with everyone. This hasn’t been a problem in the past, if someone needs to, they’ll close their door.
When we have customer visits everyone scrambles to get ready…our large plant includes huge machinery and warehouses that need to be spic n span. Yesterday, for example, our CEO was wiping down grease from a machine ..this is not at all unusual. Jack, doesn’t pitch in.
He does have potential, but just doesn’t seem to have the same work-ethic as his peers and they resent it. He definitely feels that he is contributing to our company. He wants us to succeed and expects to make this area his home. He likely hopes to become one of the top guys (CEO?) and certainly enjoys working here.
He received a review some months ago and was advised of these issues (although possibly not in the strongest terms). Things improved for a bit, but are going back to his norm again.
Our question is how do we address the problem when he certainly doesn’t see that he is giving less than his all? He is, by far, the youngest on our team (oldest being 62). Most of the guys would have barely taken off for the birth of their children much less taken off an afternoon to go to the photographer’s. All the articles about generational differences make us wonder how to bridge the gap. It is very unlikely we’ll be able to change the attitude (or perception) of the rest of our team, so we need to figure out how to get Jack to fit in.
Answer Dear Faith,
Thank you for your question. It sounds like you have hired a KID (Jack) with potential, but you don’t know how best deploy him. I recommend that you stop looking at him as a successor to your management team. Why? Because you don’t yet know whether he can produce results in his current role. Therefore, there is no need to project his abilities forward to CEO or any other senior management role until you know he can produce in his current job. It’s a wait and see situation.
As I see it, you have two challenges: 1.) Can the KID produce viable RESULTS today or in the near future? 2.) Who is the appropriate successor to your senior management retirees?
Okay, I’m not ignoring your “generational differences” question, but it has no application here. Why? As a manager, I have no concerns about my direct reports, who are managers, doing what they need to maintain “balance” in their lives so long as they produce RESULTS. RESULTS are what counts not age or work style (within reason of course). What am I saying?
First, I am assuming KID behaves in a way that is consistent with your organization’s general rules of engagement: He arrives to meetings on time; he works within a specified set of core hours so that his team can reach him (this may or may not be onsite depending on your business model, but he is available during these hours to solve problems for his team); he treats people with respect; etc., etc. If he doesn’t comply with your general rules of engagement, then give him his walking papers. He’s not a vibrational match you’re your organization. He will never fit in. Second, if KID diligently follows your rules of engagement, you should assign him to a role that makes use of his strongest aptitudes. If this is sales, then so be it. If this is COO, then so be it. I caution you, however, that a great sales guy does not necessarily have the best aptitudes to be a leader. These are vastly different functions. The only way to know for sure what his strongest aptitudes are is to have him tested by www.JOCRF.org. It will cost you $600, but it will give you a definitive answer on whether or not he is best suited for management, sales, engineering, whatever. Send his aptitude scores to me, and I will decipher these for you in terms of his managerial potential only. JOCRF can tell you if he is a fit for other job roles. Once you have placed him in his best fit job, then measure his RESULTS regardless of his work habits so long as he adheres to your general rules of engagement. If he does not produce in his assigned role, then you’ve made a mistake in hiring him. Show him the door. Recruit another candidate, from inside or outside your organization, but this time have the candidate’s aptitudes tested by JOCRF before you hire him/her for the role that KID vacated.
Next problem. What do you do about a senior management successor? Similar path to the above, but a bit more structure is required. First, look at your internal candidates. It doesn’t matter whether they’ve got the right degree credentials or not. Do they have the work ethic and managerial abilities you are looking for in a senior manager? If yes, then have the candidate(s) tested by JOCRF. Yes, you pay the $600 for each of them. Send me their test scores, and I will tell you whether they have the right stuff to manage. I cannot tell you whether they are a fit for your management culture. Only you can do that. So only test those that you believe you will hire if they have the “right stuff” from a managerial aptitudes perspective. I can answer this last question for you. If you can’t identify any internal candidates, then find an executive recruiting company you trust. Put the onus on them to have their candidates, who pass YOUR muster for experience as a manager in your industry and who have great references in YOUR opinion, tested by JOCRF to determine whether they are “management material.” Again, send me their aptitude scores, and I will tell you whether they have the “right stuff” to manage. Once you have found the right person, be sure he has the DESIRE to be a CEO or COO or other. What? Yes, one can have the aptitudes to manage, but for whatever reason, they might not have the PASSION for it. What is PASSION in this context? You defined it in your write-up when you described how you and the other senior manager/owners work day-to-day. You LOVE your work above all else. You will only be happy working with or for another manager who LOVES your business the same way you LOVE it. That is the PASSION you want in your next manager regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, whatever. If he/she has it, pay whatever it takes. Then, turn him/her loose to make you rich!
Faith, I hope this response helps you resolve this challenge. Of course, feel free to email me follow-up questions. Please do rate me on AllExperts and give me your feedback if this response helped you. Your positive feedback helps sell my service to others who just read the first few lines of my questioners’ comments. (Translation: Please say nice things about me because this is all that visitors read on this site :-). Also, your candid feedback will help me advise others more effectively.
