Over on Twitter, GreyKnight1234 posted this story in response to this essay, and so now (with their permission) I re-post their words here:
Excellent article, and very helpful to me. I own a small business remodeling and making repairs on houses. I am a boss who is on the ground with my men, leading by example. Sometimes, a man needs to be corrected for the sake of the crew, and tempers sometimes flare.
I have lost my cool on a few occasions, but have gotten better at it over time. I just had to fire a guy this week, who blatantly defied my instructions, and then me, in front of the crew and my customer. It was done publicly, so I had to fire him publicly. Had he not been so bullheaded in his disregard for my repeated instructions, and then taken it to childish rants in front of everyone, I wouldn't have fired him. Also, had I not fired him, I feel that I would have lost the respect of the other guys, and would only have had to deal with the issue again at another time, as this was the second time he had defied simple instructions. The first time, it was only me and him, and he finally did what I was instructing him to do, so I let it go.
Many times, it is tempting to take the passive-aggressive approach you referred to, because when tempers flare, and you are working with energetic, prideful guys out in the heat, sometimes it can lead to blows being exchanged if you don't approach the situation in the right way. But your advice is correct and very helpful.
I always try to keep personal comments out of it, but have sometimes got caught up in the moment when a guy is insolent or arrogant, and raised my voice, or used swear words. Thankfully, on this last occasion, I only raised my voice, and then only because the guy wouldn't hush and listen to what I was saying.
If there is ever a next time, I won't even raise my voice, but will wait until the other person stops venting, and then calmly tell them whatever I need to say.
Basically, he was refusing to perform the task we were doing with the proper tool. His reason was that it was faster to use another tool. However, the other tool could potentially damage what we were working on. It was hot and humid, and he was wanting to take a shortcut in order to get done, and out of the sun, faster. I told him three or four times, not to use the faster tool. He blatantly disregarded my instructions, so I told him to get down off the roof. Before he got down, he began saying that he wasn't there to take orders from me, and that he left his Dad's house years ago.
So, I told him to go home. He continued yelling nonsense, so I told him to immediately get off of my jobsite, and to find himself another job. He left, and the next day, (yesterday), I met him and gave him his final paycheck from me.
https://twitter.com/GreyKnight1234/status/1644828317768470528
Over on Twitter, GreyKnight1234 posted this story in response to this essay, and so now (with their permission) I re-post their words here:
Excellent article, and very helpful to me. I own a small business remodeling and making repairs on houses. I am a boss who is on the ground with my men, leading by example. Sometimes, a man needs to be corrected for the sake of the crew, and tempers sometimes flare.
I have lost my cool on a few occasions, but have gotten better at it over time. I just had to fire a guy this week, who blatantly defied my instructions, and then me, in front of the crew and my customer. It was done publicly, so I had to fire him publicly. Had he not been so bullheaded in his disregard for my repeated instructions, and then taken it to childish rants in front of everyone, I wouldn't have fired him. Also, had I not fired him, I feel that I would have lost the respect of the other guys, and would only have had to deal with the issue again at another time, as this was the second time he had defied simple instructions. The first time, it was only me and him, and he finally did what I was instructing him to do, so I let it go.
Many times, it is tempting to take the passive-aggressive approach you referred to, because when tempers flare, and you are working with energetic, prideful guys out in the heat, sometimes it can lead to blows being exchanged if you don't approach the situation in the right way. But your advice is correct and very helpful.
I always try to keep personal comments out of it, but have sometimes got caught up in the moment when a guy is insolent or arrogant, and raised my voice, or used swear words. Thankfully, on this last occasion, I only raised my voice, and then only because the guy wouldn't hush and listen to what I was saying.
If there is ever a next time, I won't even raise my voice, but will wait until the other person stops venting, and then calmly tell them whatever I need to say.
Basically, he was refusing to perform the task we were doing with the proper tool. His reason was that it was faster to use another tool. However, the other tool could potentially damage what we were working on. It was hot and humid, and he was wanting to take a shortcut in order to get done, and out of the sun, faster. I told him three or four times, not to use the faster tool. He blatantly disregarded my instructions, so I told him to get down off the roof. Before he got down, he began saying that he wasn't there to take orders from me, and that he left his Dad's house years ago.
So, I told him to go home. He continued yelling nonsense, so I told him to immediately get off of my jobsite, and to find himself another job. He left, and the next day, (yesterday), I met him and gave him his final paycheck from me.