By Gary Markle
A once reliable employee has been slipping and nearly cost you $200,000. What do you do?
One large construction company had to answer that uncomfortable question when a long time and highly valued dispatcher started making major mistakes for the first time in 38 years. If his scheduling gaffe hadn’t been caught by another employee, it would have meant a couple hundred thousand dollars in fees and penalties.
Roger, the 64-year-old Vice President of Logistics, had never needed supervision before. What would cause such a marked and ruinous change in his behavior?
Determined to get to the bottom of it, the COO and HR Director both sat down with the VP to have a tough discussion. To their surprise, Roger seemed foggy and distracted. He couldn’t stay focused on the important conversation they were having.
In the debrief the COO questioned whether age might be impacting Roger’s mental acuity. Did they have sufficient cause to warrant job removal? Could termination expose them to a potential charge of age discrimination?
Fortunately, the decision was able to wait until the company rolled out the Catalytic Coaching process and I had the opportunity to sit in to help. After we discussed their concerns, we elected not to start coaching with a blue sheet featuring a Job Threatening message. Instead, we asked Roger to fill out the yellow Employee Input sheet and go through the whole cycle. His responses floored everyone.
Roger wasn’t actually having issues with his mental clarity. It was his wife. What began as some signs of early dementia had escalated to a diagnosis of full blown Alzheimer's. After 45 years together, with him by her side each day, she rarely knew who he was anymore.
Roger worked forty to fifty hours a week and then returned home to keep constant vigil. Their children lived in other states and his only help was a part time nurse. He was too afraid and embarrassed to ask anyone for help. He worried so constantly that he got very little sleep. He looked and felt like a lost zombie.
When we asked him why he worked so many hours when he was clearly needed at home, he replied that he didn’t want to create a greater burden for his colleagues. The company was trying to keep up with a huge work demand and he felt obligated to do his part.
When the owner discovered the true nature of the problem he immediately switched gears. “Roger, we can figure out how to get the work done. We’ll get to someone to fill in. You need to be home with Sally. She needs you.”
As Roger wiped away tears I asked him how old he was. When informed that he was 68, I asked if he was financially capable of retirement. His reply was forceful. “Oh Hell, yeah. We made our number three years ago. Sally was the head secretary to the Dean of the university president.” This started the tears again.
They had all the money needed to enjoy the idyllic retirement they’d planned for decades, but now all those dreams were vanishing. He was losing the love of his life while balancing the escalating demands of taking care of her. With no family or other support system that could help, Roger was feeling increasingly isolated and depressed.
The COO put his hand on Roger’s arm. He thanked him for his loyal service, but asked to expedite the retirement process. He called in the HR leader and instructed him to connect Roger with any available resources and support. The HR Director suggested leveraging the counseling provided in their Employee Assistance Program, which a tearful Roger readily agreed to.
The very next week, Roger started family medical leave and was formally retired within two months. He returned on contract to help train a replacement once they identified a quality candidate, ensuring his years of experience and insight were formally transferred to the next generation dispatcher. Most importantly, he was allowed to be emotionally present for his ailing wife during her final moments of awareness.
Those mere 45 minutes of the yellow sheet meeting led to massive positive change.
● It saved the emotional and physical well-being of a highly valued employee.
● It prevented potential legal issues surrounding protected classes.
● It created an opportunity for a promising up and comer to stretch their skills and further their career.
● It reinforced vital industry knowledge and skills into the next generation of company leadership.
In short, it created a win-win-win for everyone involved. Getting below the surface was uncomfortable, but transformative.
Have you ever experienced that kind of transformative conversation? I’d love to hear about what it uncovered and how you navigated the path forward.
Garold (Gary) Markle is the creator of Catalytic Coaching and author of Catalytic Coaching: The End of the Performance Review. He brings real world experience from 17 years in HR leadership in major corporations coupled with over 20 years of teaching small and mid-sized organizations how to cultivate their leadership, retain employees, develop their talent, and increase profitability by ditching their detrimental performance reviews for a proven Coaching process.
