If your problem-solving process involves the fastest route between two points, you might be missing some interesting scenery. Jack Burke illustrates the importance of approaching your problems and possible solutions with an open mind.
I seldom write about employee issues, but as I emphasize in the book Creating Customer Connections your employees are your primary customers. How you treat them is how they treat your customers!
Every owner, no matter how enlightened, can relate to employee problems and morale issues. A former employer turned client was experiencing just such problems and I’d like to share how we arrived at a creative solution. You might or might not identify with the problem or the solution, but I hope that you’ll see the value of using creative problem solving to break out of the traditional envelope.
In the mid-80s National Coach Corp., a shuttle bus manufacturer, was recovering from an automotive recession while simultaneously dealing with substantial growth issues. All of this resulted in a concerted effort to maintain high visibility on a face-to-face basis with their clients. This meant that the sales division was spending a lot more time on the road than usual.
THE PROBLEM
Although the 'commissioned' sales executives were making a lot of money (more contact = more sales), morale was dropping to an all-time low. The spouses were extremely agitated over the increased travel time. Their complaints were taking a heavy toll of emotional stress on the sales personnel.
So the problem was: How do you fix a personal family issue that involves non-employees, occurs mostly in the homes — not the worksite — and results from actions that are absolutely essential to corporate survival?
THE EVALUATION
The CEO of National Coach was a direct, head-on type of executive. His first reaction was to 'tell the salespeople to handle it with their spouses' (they had already been trying to do this with no success).*
* Note that the sales staff was involved in evaluating the problem.
His second reaction was to bribe the spouses by holding the annual planning meeting at a resort and including spouses (the employees felt that this might help, but was only a band-aid that would soon fall off).
The CEO thought that he should address the issue during a speech where the wives would be present (everyone acknowledged that this might not be effective, as the spouses looked upon him and his Vice President of Sales as 'the enemy').
At this point, our company was called on to create a message that would assuage or defuse this spousal issue.
THE SOLUTION
The message, if it were to work, meant that the messenger had to be acceptable. I might also mention that the spouses were all of the traditional female variety. After much discussion of messengers, from therapists to male sex symbols, we decided on a popular children’s toy: a talking teddy bear that could be reprogrammed to carry the needed message.
Teddy was the hit of the meeting! As each couple checked into the resort, the wife was presented with her personal Teddy. Upon pulling his string, Teddy said, 'Hi, I’m Teddy and we need to talk. The elves tell me that it’s been a rough year on you, what with all that traveling your hubby has had to do for the company. And while he’s off having fun, your stuck all alone trying to keep the fires burning on the home front. Sooo ... while big and ugly is cruising the jet stream at 35,000 feet and you’re faced with another night with no one to help warm those cold sheets, how’s about you and me snuggling up together. After all, my job description qualifies me as a main squeeze, I never steal the covers, my feet are always warm, my beard doesn’t scratch, and I never, never snore. So how about a date?'
THE RESULTS
The results far exceeded our hopes and expectations. Teddy immediately pulled a seething resentment out into the open. The humor, albeit slightly risqué, got the spouses laughing which enabled them to talk about it. The issue became poolside material for chatting among the wives, as well as dinner table discussions among everyone. Bringing the problem out of the closet and enabling people to share their feelings eased the pain dramatically. All of this enabled the CEO to openly talk about the extra travel in his speech, show the difference it was making for the company, and explain that it would eventually drop back down to more acceptable levels.
THE MORAL
Don’t let tradition stifle creativity when it comes to addressing problems; and always remember that humor can be the essential ingredient in a cure.