Stories About Dead Elephants (Submit your favorite stories for our upcoming newsletter)

Dead Elephants can be anywhere. Here are a couple of stories about Dead Elephants in organizations.*

A couple of years ago a memo came down from upper management. A new product had to be made ready for market in three month's time and it wasn't ready. The memo declared that starting today everyone was expected to work 10 hour days, six days a week. No vacations, no time off. While everyone grumbled we all knew this was what it would take to meet the deadline. That is everyone except for Tom. Tom and the Division Manager were buddies and had gone to school together. When Tom got the memo, he looked at it, crumbled it up and said loudly, I'm going bird hunting next month anyway. So we all looked at one another and wondered if he would get away with his declaration. As the hunting trip approached Tom didn't say anything more about his trip. But Monday morning sure enough Tom was gone. In fact he was gone all week. The rest of us were still putting in our 60 hour weeks and had to try to cover the gaps created by his absence. The boss said nothing about Tom or to acknowledge the violation of his edict memo.

When Tom came back to work he acted as if nothing unusual had happened. Needless to say, the rest of us were angry at both Tom and the managers who had allowed this situation to happen. At lunch break one day some of us began talking about how unfair this whole situation was and how we were being exploited. What could we do? Go find another job? An alternative for some, but not all. The best answer seemed to just quit working as hard on the project. After all, management didn't really seem to care as much as they said about the outcome. So we all began taking things a little easier. Forget the deadline, lets do things as we can. We decided we needed to keep "looking" busy, but certainly not put out any extra effort.

Well, as you can imagine, we didn't make the deadline, but the product got to market anyway. We did miss the best opportunity for sales, but it only affected company profit. None of us got fired. But we really learned our lesson. Now we only do what is necessary - not one thing more!

Managers viewpoint - For two years or so, this company has been struggling with an uncommitted workforce and no one can figure out why? Absenteeism is high and so is turnover. We've tried three different motivational programs, including incentive pay, and only got lip service from employees. People you hire these days just aren't as good as they used to be. Profits are down and competition is getting tougher. If only the workers would just do things our way and act like they cared.

Dead Elephant time: This dead elephant is right in the middle of things. No one really remembers the memo, at least not daily, but the culture at the employee level is to do only what is necessary to get by. Management is not aware of the underlying reason for the change in employee behavior. Most of them don't even know Tom and weren't aware of the hunting trip. All they see are the results. Profits are down and costs are up. Meanwhile the dead elephant keeps getting bigger and more stinky.

Resolution: Leadership Associates was called in by management as a last resort effort to motivate the workforce. After spending time in the operation, we discovered the root cause of the problem. To correct the situation, we created a strategic planning team with members from the workforce as well as management. We addressed this problem and others in an open forum. We created an implementation program to put in place an agreed upon a problem solving method for current and future problems of this nature. Most importantly we opened up communications. And secondly, manager realized the need for change to become fair and consistent and to become lead managers instead of boss managers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sally and Mary haven't liked each other since the day they first met. They are both hard workers and excellent employees. But their backgrounds are different and they can't seem to find a way to relate to each other. Sally has been with the company for a number of years and Mary only a few months. Sally's job is to process time cards and pass along new hire information to headquarters. Mary's job is to process paperwork for temporary workers in the shop who actually work for an agency across town. Quite often though, Mary needs access to information that Sally keeps in order to cross reference job numbers. Mary has figured out a new system for getting this information that would make things easier for both of them, but is reluctant to approach Sally because of their personal differences. So she has decided it would be more pleasant to spend several hours each week recreating lists on her own computer. Sally knows Mary is doing this and has told another worker that Mary is just being stubborn.

The manager of this department is aware that Sally and Mary don't seem to get along well, but so far there has been no real blowup. He really doesn't like to interfere, so for now he has decided to stay out of things.

Dead Elephant time: Not only is time being spent on duplicating work, but valuable opportunities are being lost because these two employees aren't focusing on common goals that could benefit the company in many ways. The rift is getting bigger by the day. Both Sally and Mary have been out of the office more lately and there is rumor Mary may be looking for a new job. The dead elephant is lying right in the middle of this situation. Both women know it is there, but don't know what to do about so they try to ignore it. The boss doesn't want to get involved and hopes that somehow it will all just go away. Not likely.

Resolution: Leadership Associates was called in to determine why the company was losing so much money due to employee turnover. We talked to many people in the organization and one of the situations discovered was this rift. The first change had to come from the manager. He needed to learn that his inaction was actually costing the company money and that he needed to develop the problem solving skills necessary to supervise people. Sally and Mary were taken off site for a day, along with the manager to work on ways they could work together focused on company goals, not personal differences. They have now formed a work team along with three other people and won an award last year for a money saving idea.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Situations are based on a composite of actual events, but are fictional and names have been changed.