Good Morning,
Years ago I spent a short time working for a company where there were many, many problems. I being new to the industry was not much of a help like one person in a lifeboat trying to keep it afloat during a hurricane.
One of the many issues was chaotic leadership which often created the hurricanes and tsunamis which hit the site week after week.
About two months into my stint at this company, the site manager pulled me into their office and scolded me about providing training for the new hires that were coming in the door nearly as fast as those who quit were leaving the site. To put it in perspective, I have never filled out so much termination paperwork in the three months I worked in this company than in any other management job I worked...combined. Most were people simply quitting.
Anyway, this manager berated me for trying to train the new hires, that I was not skilled enough to provide the training that was necessary to do the job right. And, in all honesty, I wasn't the right guy to do the training as I was very poorly trained (the trainer who I started with printed out notes and read them out loud to a group of new hires). The problem was, there was no trainer, that person who had 'trained' me had either quit or was fired shortly after I started, I never found out. In either case, there was no trainer and the new folks had to learn from someone, so, being a line supervisor, folks looked to me, and I took initiative. I thought it was my job.
Oddly enough, the VERY next day after the manager ripped me a new one, the HR manager who started there a few weeks prior walked up to me with two new hires who happened to start that day and needed to be trained. My counterpart was very skilled in the company and could train, but was not in on this day.
I advised the HR person that I was not to provide the training as not having the necessary skills. That I was forbidden to train by the site manager.
That HR person advised that there was no one else who could provide the training, therefore I had to start their training.
So, the vicious cycle continued. Management was not aligned with HR on who was to perform the training and when. Attempts to rectify the situation on the front lines was met with reprimands.
This being one of many problems facing the site, it only served to make matters worse. Needless to say, shortly after I was terminated from that position (I see it now as a blessing), the entire site was shut down. What a mess....
A good part of the trouble was the lack of alignment in the management strata. Little to no communication between HR and Management on core issues like new hires and training. Little or no communication between management and management itself.
What could have been done? Planning for one. Instead of constantly reacting and triaging problems, management could have actually formulated a plan which could have been communicated to all stakeholders.
In the end, quality suffered and stress increased, and ultimately chaos driven by a healthy dose Business Stupid cost many people their jobs as the site closed.
Enjoy
Sanford Berenberg
sanford@berenberg.net
www.berenberg.net
sanford@berenberg.net
www.berenberg.net
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