Don't Be That Boss: How Great Communicators Get the Most Out of Their Employees and Their Careers

Chapter 8. 2:00 PM Disciplining an Employee: Hit Them with Specifics or Don't Hit Them at All

2:03: Chad Reaches Out to Mike

Best-selling authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan are still chatting about Execution on Chad's CD player as he pulls out of the parking lot of Tracy's building to head back to his office. Choosing to stop his continuing business education for a minute, he turns down the volume on the Execution guys and takes stock of the day. It isn't an uplifting experience.

First, there was the mess at the dry cleaners; then there was the dust-up with Phil, which had ended okay, but was a definite loss because Lynne was now monitoring the situation. The sales and financial meetings had plodded along but were nothing special. The strategic planning update was a minor loss. His team was behind on the goals they had all agreed upon. The Steve Moreno meeting was a disaster. It's never good when the customer bites your head off in front of one of your employees. He had to admit lunch was no better than a draw. He landed James, but wound up paying more than he had anticipated. Chad wondered what, if anything, he could have done to get James on board, feeling great, at the right budget number.

Then there was Tracy. This meeting was the most confusing to Chad. The result was fine; they were hoping for her to move on price and delivery, but didn't count on it. She listened, agreed they were doing well, and agreed to keep listening. Overall, that was a minor accomplishment. But, as he ...