I was working at my desk one late afternoon when I got a call from a client back in Baltimore. It was about 8pm his time and he sounded aggravated and more than a little tipsy. "I'm going to read you something that I'm going to give to my lead tech tomorrow morning!" he said. "I'm not putting up with this B.S. anymore!" I let him read me this scathing letter that was guaranteed to lose a tech that had been with him for years.

After he vented for a while (he was like a charged up condenser and I was bleeding the charge out of him—painful but necessary). When he finally wound down I calmly asked him, "What's going on?" He went on about this once upon a time great tech that has now become a belligerent, uncooperative pain-in-the-butt! (I wound him back up!)

I asked him if he would put down his saber for a minute and allow me to ask him some questions. He agreed reluctantly but told me it did not matter what I said, "this guy is HISTORY! And if the Service Writer doesn't snap out of it he's next!" I told him fair enough and then started to pull the string. Something BIG must have changed with this tech and I needed to find out what it was.

So I proceeded with my questions:

When did his attitude change? What was going on at the shop at this time? Did he hire anyone new prior to the attitude change? This question got his attention. "You know I hired a new tech about two weeks prior to the start of the problem." "Oh really" I said. "Tell me about him."

Turns out he had hired a new tech about two months ago. The guy had good references and seemed to know his business, but in hind sight the owner admitted there were some weird things about him. Nothing he could put his finger on but just an odd feeling about the guy.

His first couple of weeks everything seemed fine but then he realized some little changes started to appear. Even in his inebriated state the light was coming on!

"You know I just realized my top tech stop joining us at lunch. He and the new tech got buddy-buddy and are always going out to lunch together." "This is also around the same time that he (the top tech) started having trouble with the service writer. These guys use to get along, now they’re at each others throats."

At this point I told him that maybe he was pointing his gun at the wrong target. I wanted him to cool off and do some more inspecting. I sent him a special survey to use with all of his employees. This survey was developed over years of working with people and employees and it always gets to the heart of the matter.

When we got the surveys done the owner was shocked at the results and the comments by the other employees and he realized that he was about to make a HUGE mistake in his employee management.

I heard from him a couple of weeks later and he was a changed man! He could now laugh about it and he admitted something to me that made me smile. He said," You know, I thought you were way off base but it turned out you were right on the money. I was about to fire two of my best people over this guy. I found out from another shop owner that this guy has a nickname. You want to know what it is? INSTIGATOR!"

Making decisions, especially important ones about employees is not something you want to do half cocked. Employee management is tough and you need to be armed with the correct information before you make any moves. If you did no other training this year get trained in how to handle employees. Your life will greatly improve. Wishing you Success!

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