and it snapped

written March 12, 2010

If there is one thing I miss most about out-of-town business trips, it’s over sleeping in a comfortable hotel room, waking up and ordering room service and slumbering back to sleep until noon. (not unless there was a golf game scheduled)
I had a heck of a session last night. What was supposedly a simple bonding session with the Cebu employees turns ugly when later in the evening, the new manager freaks and storms out of the venue.

Background

Last December, the branch manager (my supposed counterpart as the other VP), tendered his resignation for the simple reason of not wanting to suffer the dreaded 30% salary cut. He had to be replaced and a transition program implemented to allow ease of transfer from one management style to the next.

The incoming manager was formally introduced to me by mid January and I advised her that there was not enough time to “ease in” given the two week period we had. I wasn’t confident that she’d be properly prepared by my counterpart and I am obviously right given what has transpired last night.

Yesterday…

I left Manila feeling confident that this would be a simple bonding session and a simple reassurance to everyone that everything was going to be alright. I was already briefed by one of my senior officers about the issues that I’d need to settle and discuss. The associate director has also been briefed by the Executive Director as to the purpose of my visit. By all accounts, the new manager was knowledgeable of who and what I am.

My talk with the managers inside the office was uneventful. The entire hoola-ballooo is nothing more but a simple case of miscommunication and the slight complexity of assimilating a new manager as well as the other way around of being thrust into managing something you barely knew anything about.

A compromise was met, initial misunderstandings were resolved, everyone happy…. So far. (but it was obviously too early to tell)

I caught a bad show and bad dinner in a nearby restaurant, went back in time to catch our own show and had another dinner with everyone. I delivered the usual pep talk and showed my appreciation for everyone bearing with us, introduced the new programs from the main office and proceeded to getting everyone drunk.

Everything was turning out fine. My talk revolved around communication as the key to our success and as the mingling went on, as I’ve met the new employees and as I chuckled with the old, the alcohol kicked in and so did the hidden personas.

So the adage goes, “in vino veritas”… in wine there is truth.

An employee couldn’t get my cue about quitting while you’re ahead… that tomorrow we start fresh…. Nope, she decided to mouth in detail her indignation in branch operations over the last few weeks while some others seconded, and so a cable snapped and the manager caved in.

As she was ripping the fixed tables off the deck while shouting “I’m so sorry, Sir” while half hysterically crying, I was simply thinking that “this is definitely a first” in this company’s history. Her parting words, “Your people are bad”…

Analysis

Plain and simple, the amount of time of transition was not enough. Branch managers who did not have enough time logged into Manila’s operations are bound to get some major ass-kicking because of their ignorance of the company culture… acquired, accumulated over the last nine years.

The Korean style of management where the manager is king may apply in Korea… not here. Most of our Korean managers know that now, except for a few idiots who are fortunately not with us anymore.

Nevertheless, the transition period of two weeks between managers in a branch is enough time to assure of a smooth transitional phase. Unfortunately, I believe that the period was not well utilized… because the outgoing manager was … errr… an idiot. --- enough said!