WING TIPS

I have sometimes heard it said that the most challenging part of the business is leading people. While it's often said in jest, the truth is dealing with the different personalities, emotions, and complexity of the people that work with and for you can be more challenging than producing and selling a widget.

I had a guy who worked for me at a senior level once who was talented and extremely good at what he did. He was an easy-going gent, and I got along with him just fine. He was also generally liked by those who worked for him. All was good until I began to smell a faint scent of alcohol on his breath at times. Not wanting to accept what I knew to be true, I asked my COO to keep an eye on him and confirm my suspicions. He reached the same conclusion.

We both confronted him in a heart-felt intervention, and he acknowledged he had a problem. We supported him, and the company paid for a treatment program with the necessary time off to complete it. All was good again in the land of "T," and I felt good about doing the right thing and helping him through a tough time.

The Relapse

Some months later, his number two stopped by my office and asked to have a private conversation. She told me that he was absent from the office for long periods, affecting production. Additionally, when she or others tried to track him down for important business reasons, she discovered that he had not been truthful about his whereabouts. They had tried to cover for him, but others now knew that there was a problem, and he had lost the confidence of his top people. I thanked her for confiding in me and told her I would handle it.

I was shocked and upset. At my level, I had not noticed any changes in his attitude or appearance, nor had I seen any production issues. I was also highly disappointed, given that we had supported him in his treatment program every step of the way. The natural reaction? I had to make a change. For both performance and ethical reasons, he had to go!

I called him to my office and confronted him with this new evidence. Initially, he deflected but ultimately came clean. I told him that I appreciated his talent and prior service, but he had lost his people's confidence and couldn't work here anymore. He broke down and begged for one more chance. He realized he had both some emotional and personal issues, and the alcohol eased the pain. With just one more chance, he would do whatever he needed to to get back on track.

Tough To Be the Captain

Leadership can be tough and lonely at times. I have feelings but a greater responsibility to the organization I lead. A thought came to mind. I told him he was fired because he had lost the trust of his people, and only they could give him another chance. I called his entire team to the conference room and told them that I had fired him and why, and he wanted to talk to them before he left. I sat in the back corner of the room, away from the conference table and everyone else.

He bared his soul to the group, admitting his failures and how he had let them down. He was sorry that he had to lose his career to get himself back on track and asked for a chance to earn their trust again. Several members challenged him, and other issues surfaced. In the end, it was a tough, transparent, and honest conversation.

I got up, gave them each a piece of paper, and asked them to vote in secret whether to bring him back. They decided, unanimously, to give him a second chance. He lived up to his promise to get himself together and was a model employee for the rest of his time with the company.

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A Quote to Consider

"Perhaps the greatest gift we can offer each other is a second chance."

- Lloyd D. Newell

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