By Jeff Bell. Artwork by Eric Löbbecke
“That’s telling him who’s Boss,” said Earl. “He won’t try that again.”
Larry gazed at Earl in bemusement. “So, the issue was…?”
“Clearly, the issue was that he was dragging his feet on my job and he needed me to kick his arse!”
“Wait a minute Earl, you do know that he has promised to bring this forward for us, don’t you?”
“I don’t give a damn. When someone promises a job, they get onto it right away—no excuses!”
“Just slow down Earl. When I first called his office, they said that he was not taking orders for any new installs for another 3 months. I told them about our urgent need and he gave me a call himself. He said that he would fit us in over this weekend and the next because of our work for the charity.”
“And…?” said Earl. “It’s Friday and they needed a rocket.”
“Well, it’s Friday and the equipment for the install hasn’t even arrived in town yet. Why did you jump the gun like that? It’s just not necessary, and it’s embarrassing!”
“Embarrassing?! People need to be told Earl; they won’t do what you want unless you hammer them. I show them who’s the Boss—like I said—and they live in fear until the job is done. That’s the way of the world!”
“Well, it’s not the way of my world, as you know Earl.”
“Yeah, Mr Softly-Softly. You don’t catchee no monkey like that Larry! People understand force and they respond to pressure. You just have to be strong enough to let them know where they stand,” said Earl. “And that’s below me!”
“So, when has that ever worked? Where is the space? Where is the autonomy for the supplier to exercise their own judgement, to take full responsibility for the job we have trusted them to do?”
“Trust?! You don’t rely on trust Larry. You rely on no-room-to-wriggle-out-of-doing-the-job!”
“It’s just where we differ Earl. People won’t give you their best if they feel that you are pushing them down. They will get demoralized or resentful, or both.
“I think that people are basically good and given the chance, will do the right thing. And this guy is no fool, but you are treating him like one.
“He is doing us a favour—he believes in the charity too—but his goodwill to us will evaporate if you treat him that way,” said Larry.
“Goodwill, what’s that got to do with it? We’re paying him, aren’t we? And pretty much top dollar too,” said Earl. “Money is what it’s all about.”
“The goodwill part is moving us ahead of the queue Earl. Pure and simple. The event is in 2 weeks and we cannot produce the goods without his help. If we alienate him, we won’t make it and the charity will won’t even get a guernsey. Let’s give him the opportunity to deliver well for us.
“First, we have to deliver—in this part of the process we are the supplier, he is our customer. Never mind the arse-kicking. We need to give him the job definition—tell him exactly what exactly is required, down to specific product numbers if necessary; tell him when we want it, with any milestones and what the deliverables will be at the end; and this also means the drop-dead date—when it is just impossible to do anything else—showtime!
“And yes, the must-have for us both is a successful event for the charity. But you know that we’re doing OK out of this—so we need to pay him well for his work. And no hard Ts&Cs like you normally give. Let’s pay him in 7 days this time.
“If we do all of that, and when we express our confidence in him, he will find a way to overcome any problems he encounters. He will deliver. We will look good because then, we can do what we have promised.
“Earl, let’s lift him up.
“And when we do, he will lift us up too.
“Earl? Earl, are you with me?”
“Yep. You lost me back there with ‘people are basically good’. Where does that come from?”