One of the oldest jokes in sales seminars starts by asking, "What do you get when you promote your best salesperson to management?" The answer -- "A lousy salesmanager and a weaker sales force."
This is not always true, of course. Some excellent salespeople prove to be equally excellent salesmanagers. But there is a point to this old story, because the skills that make someone an excellent salesperson (or plumber or shipping clerk or network installer or whatever) -- are not quite the same skills that lead to excellence in management.
This is part of the general lesson that the manager in this case learns, but she is faced with a more particular problem -- what to do about it. Can you give her some ideas? Post your suggestions on the contest discussion board, and if our judges pick your commentary as best, you'll win one of our gen-u-wine (and very collectible!) Hard@Work Mugs, not to mention fame, riches, and romantic fulfillment (well, one out of three ain't bad). Give it a shot -- you might get your name in our Hall of Fame!
Branch manager Rebecca Frankel loved John O'Dwyer's work. John was simply the best teller Rebecca had ever seen. John made friends with everyone who came into the bank. Customers would often wait in line just for a chance to visit with him.
When a supervisory position opened up, Rebecca was happy to give John the promotion. And John was even happier. "I can't tell you how much this means to me," he declared. "I'll do anything to make this work."
As a supervisor, John was just as friendly as ever -- too friendly, in fact. He seemed incapable of saying "no" to his former co-workers. He let them off nearly everytime they asked, wrecking the duty schedule and lengthening the lines at the windows. Customers who were once happy to wait their chance to chat with John started to grumble.
Transaction error rates increased too. Rebecca brought this to John's attention several times. Each time John said he would talk to the tellers about being more careful. But error rates are still too high.
Rebecca has given John a written list of top priorities, and sent him to a full-day seminar on supervising assertively. John has the list posted above his desk, and he's told Rebecca that the seminar really opened his eyes about how to be a boss.
John comes in early and is always one of the last to leave. Rebecca knows he couldn't be working any harder, but everytime she sees him, all she can think of is what a big mistake she made in promoting him. And to make matters worse, there's no going back. Even if John would agree to go back to being a teller, Rebecca couldn't reassign him: his one clear success as supervisor has been hiring an excellent teller as his own replacement.
Rebecca feels she can't let the situation with John continue, but she's not sure how to proceed either.
What do you suggest?
Check out the Top of the Rockpile answer to our last case, I've Got You, Babel.
And dig a little deeper into the Rockcontest Archives.
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