April 17, 2010Phrase got young employee to grow up and show up

Filed under: The PowerPhrase of the Week by merylrunion |

When Lee called the night before her first day on the job to ask if she could come a half hour late, Brad didn’t think much about it. The work could be done at any time and being flexible was easy.

When Lee called fifteen minutes before she was supposed to arrive to ask if she could delay another half hour, Brad wondered but said it would be fine. Lee did a great job and Brad hired her to come back to work more the following week and continue on an ongoing basis.

the next week, Lee called a half hour before she was due and said,

- How’s the weather up there?

There was a bit of fog, but it was clear and became more clear that Lee wanted to change the day and hoped the weather would give her an out.

It didn’t, and so Lee asked if she could come later in the week. Brad asked her why she was calling a half hour before she was due to ask, and Lee hedged. Brad kept asking until Lee said something that made sense.

It actually worked well for Brad to change the day, but he made his point clearly and graciously. He said,

When an adult makes an appointment with me, I expect them to honor it, give me plenty of notice, or at least have a good reason.

Lee not only agreed, but reassured him that she valued the work and would be accountable. She called him again a half hour later to say,

How can I regain your trust?

Brad assured her that by calling, she had. (Lee gets a PowerPhrase kudo too.)

Lee spoke with me about the incident and said, “I wanted to call him back because he was pretty firey with me.” He hadn’t been mean, but he had a determined, probing intensity. I was impressed that Lee took the extra step to call him, knowing how intense his feeling was. There was no blame – just total accountability. They work together well now that things are clear.

An associate of mine makes a good living teaching seminars about “total accountability.” It’s up to us to create covenants of accountability with each other and insist that we all show up for each other as promised. Lee started the conversation like an unaccountable kid trying to slide with excuses and stories. She ended up as a very mature adult. Brad’s firey directness might have sent someone who wasn’t ready to face reality to turn and run. In Lee’s case, the fire achemized her to a higher stance. Impressive for a 19 year old. It took her 30 minutes. It’s taken me 30 years to make that transition.