Andrew
Jedi Master
Hello Everyone,
I’m writing in today requesting an honest assessment by the group, of a situation I will soon find myself in and am uncertain whether my observations and assessment of the situation are accurate.
Background Information:
I’m an Independent Contractor that works with/for a Real Estate Investor here in Southern California, that manages a small team of about 6. Essentially, the company buys real estate from people in distressing situations, I.E. Inherited homes (loss of a family member), Foreclosures, Divorces, Bankruptcy, etc.
I’ve been with him and his wife for almost 4 years now. I build manage & maintain all of their web-properties, advising on marketing strategies amongst various other IT and other Marketing related tasks. They were also kind enough to provide me office space free of charge to do my work in. So for the better part of this time, I have worked consistently at their office.
Over the past 2 years, business growth has slowed.
The team and myself, recently received a group email informing us that on the 10th-11th of September we will be having a Team Meeting, involving a set of Business Coaches my partner/client has hired to come in and consult on his business.
In this email, ALL team members were given a MANDATORY reading assignment; The book is “Traction” by Gino Wickman.
In a nutshell, it gives you a solid foundational strategy for structuring an organization, rooting out problems and ensuring you have the Right People doing the Right jobs in the company. As well as establishing a set of Company Core Values, that the entire team stands behind and upholds throughout the company.
My Client recently spoke with me, and offered me a position on his Leadership team as the Director of Operations.
This lead him to ask me to be a part of the Leadership meeting on the 9th of September; a day before the Team Meeting is to be held.
Here’s where things get tricky.
Inside of this book, there are two concepts that stood out to me:
His clients (IMO) are going through some extremely difficult challenges; Divorce, Foreclosure, Loss of a Father or Mother, etc.
The problem is, I don’t feel that two people on his team, who are the first-point of contact in a Customer interaction, genuinely care - or care at all for that matter - about others or their situations.
We’ll name these people Beth and Sue.
Sue can be left out of this conversation as I cannot accurately make an assessment of her character as she works remotely from Virginia. However, we do have call recordings of poor customer support; Stern, Cold, Matter-a-Fact responses to people who could probably use a little more compassion and understanding. But this can be worked on.
Beth on the other hand, is someone I work very closely with on a day-to-day basis, and have done so for the past 2 years.
On a daily basis, she is constantly whining & complaining about how much she HATES other people & her Husband!
Unbelievably inappropriate behavior.
She consistently bad mouths others, appears to be racially prejudiced against non-whites, comes up with inappropriate ‘nicknames’ for people renting my clients office spaces, and has even bad mouthed my client behind his back, referring to him as a ‘Tree-Hugger’ & ‘Helpless’.
And this is someone who is dealing DIRECTLY with my clients’, clients!!
There is a current transaction that is currently up in the air, due to the fact that the seller is FRUSTRATED with BOTH Beth & Sue and is unwilling to talk to them further. Making this now my Clients problem - one he should not be having to deal with - and the potential of losing the deal, which is highly probable now.
Yesterday, I asked Beth: “So how's the reading coming along?”
Since I’ve noticed her copy of her book has NOT left her desk!
Her response?
She laughed!
“I don’t have time to read. I’m much too busy for that. I work 15 hour days. I’ll do it this weekend”.
Unbelievable.
Until this point, I’ve been an Independent Contractor so I felt it was not my place to report on my Clients employees or the job they’re doing. Nor is my client able to witness this behavior because right when he shows up, she changes her tune.
From my perspective, if my client truly wants to do something great (and this is up to him) and make his business grow, then a primary core value MUST be a genuine desire in his people to want to help others.
Seeing some of the reactions his clients have given him when a transaction goes smoothly is amazing to me. Seeing the emotional relief of someone, who was terrified she was going to lose her family home because she couldn’t afford it, and to have my client come in, buy it from her, remodel the entire thing and invite her back for a walkthrough and letting her know her home has gone to a firefighter and his new family, and to see the sheer joy & tears in her eyes was humbling. And to hear her say that he had done right by her family, and she couldn’t have picked a better guy to take over her home was just moving.
I don't know about anyone else on the team, but I see a lot of potential to do good for others. To take care of others in distressing situations that are genuinely seeking out help.
Seeing how this is NOT the case for Beth, I’m left with the feeling of responsibility - now that I'm being included on Leadership meetings - of informing my client of her behavior, and that I think she may be hindering his business in the present and potential long term, rather than helping it, and she may need to go.
Before I do this however, I wanted to consult with the forum about what I’m seeing and if I’m seeing this situation clearly and my assessment is accurate of this individual. Aside from this unacceptable behavior she has great work ethic, knows all the details of being a Transaction Coordinator and how to do the job properly.
However, I feel she is the Wrong Person in the Right Seat, as the Book puts it. And this is a big problem.
If this was a matter of getting better at human relations and dealing with people, I wouldn’t be bringing this up. There’s books that can easily help with that.
But I feel this a much deeper, psychological issue this individual has and I don’t feel she has any intention on improving or wanting to. And that simply doesn’t belong in an organization that is based off of Servicing Others.
So, I apologize for the length of this. If you read the whole thing, I appreciate you very much and your time. And if you have a mirror, or feedback or anything, I am open to it.
Thank you everyone.
I’m writing in today requesting an honest assessment by the group, of a situation I will soon find myself in and am uncertain whether my observations and assessment of the situation are accurate.
Background Information:
I’m an Independent Contractor that works with/for a Real Estate Investor here in Southern California, that manages a small team of about 6. Essentially, the company buys real estate from people in distressing situations, I.E. Inherited homes (loss of a family member), Foreclosures, Divorces, Bankruptcy, etc.
I’ve been with him and his wife for almost 4 years now. I build manage & maintain all of their web-properties, advising on marketing strategies amongst various other IT and other Marketing related tasks. They were also kind enough to provide me office space free of charge to do my work in. So for the better part of this time, I have worked consistently at their office.
Over the past 2 years, business growth has slowed.
The team and myself, recently received a group email informing us that on the 10th-11th of September we will be having a Team Meeting, involving a set of Business Coaches my partner/client has hired to come in and consult on his business.
In this email, ALL team members were given a MANDATORY reading assignment; The book is “Traction” by Gino Wickman.
In a nutshell, it gives you a solid foundational strategy for structuring an organization, rooting out problems and ensuring you have the Right People doing the Right jobs in the company. As well as establishing a set of Company Core Values, that the entire team stands behind and upholds throughout the company.
My Client recently spoke with me, and offered me a position on his Leadership team as the Director of Operations.
This lead him to ask me to be a part of the Leadership meeting on the 9th of September; a day before the Team Meeting is to be held.
Here’s where things get tricky.
Inside of this book, there are two concepts that stood out to me:
- A Company’s Core Values
- Having the RIGHT people in the Right seats. I.E. People who GET the Company Vision, WANT the Vision & Have the Capacity to do the job.
His clients (IMO) are going through some extremely difficult challenges; Divorce, Foreclosure, Loss of a Father or Mother, etc.
The problem is, I don’t feel that two people on his team, who are the first-point of contact in a Customer interaction, genuinely care - or care at all for that matter - about others or their situations.
We’ll name these people Beth and Sue.
Sue can be left out of this conversation as I cannot accurately make an assessment of her character as she works remotely from Virginia. However, we do have call recordings of poor customer support; Stern, Cold, Matter-a-Fact responses to people who could probably use a little more compassion and understanding. But this can be worked on.
Beth on the other hand, is someone I work very closely with on a day-to-day basis, and have done so for the past 2 years.
On a daily basis, she is constantly whining & complaining about how much she HATES other people & her Husband!
Unbelievably inappropriate behavior.
She consistently bad mouths others, appears to be racially prejudiced against non-whites, comes up with inappropriate ‘nicknames’ for people renting my clients office spaces, and has even bad mouthed my client behind his back, referring to him as a ‘Tree-Hugger’ & ‘Helpless’.
And this is someone who is dealing DIRECTLY with my clients’, clients!!
There is a current transaction that is currently up in the air, due to the fact that the seller is FRUSTRATED with BOTH Beth & Sue and is unwilling to talk to them further. Making this now my Clients problem - one he should not be having to deal with - and the potential of losing the deal, which is highly probable now.
Yesterday, I asked Beth: “So how's the reading coming along?”
Since I’ve noticed her copy of her book has NOT left her desk!
Her response?
She laughed!
“I don’t have time to read. I’m much too busy for that. I work 15 hour days. I’ll do it this weekend”.
Unbelievable.
Until this point, I’ve been an Independent Contractor so I felt it was not my place to report on my Clients employees or the job they’re doing. Nor is my client able to witness this behavior because right when he shows up, she changes her tune.
From my perspective, if my client truly wants to do something great (and this is up to him) and make his business grow, then a primary core value MUST be a genuine desire in his people to want to help others.
Seeing some of the reactions his clients have given him when a transaction goes smoothly is amazing to me. Seeing the emotional relief of someone, who was terrified she was going to lose her family home because she couldn’t afford it, and to have my client come in, buy it from her, remodel the entire thing and invite her back for a walkthrough and letting her know her home has gone to a firefighter and his new family, and to see the sheer joy & tears in her eyes was humbling. And to hear her say that he had done right by her family, and she couldn’t have picked a better guy to take over her home was just moving.
I don't know about anyone else on the team, but I see a lot of potential to do good for others. To take care of others in distressing situations that are genuinely seeking out help.
Seeing how this is NOT the case for Beth, I’m left with the feeling of responsibility - now that I'm being included on Leadership meetings - of informing my client of her behavior, and that I think she may be hindering his business in the present and potential long term, rather than helping it, and she may need to go.
Before I do this however, I wanted to consult with the forum about what I’m seeing and if I’m seeing this situation clearly and my assessment is accurate of this individual. Aside from this unacceptable behavior she has great work ethic, knows all the details of being a Transaction Coordinator and how to do the job properly.
However, I feel she is the Wrong Person in the Right Seat, as the Book puts it. And this is a big problem.
If this was a matter of getting better at human relations and dealing with people, I wouldn’t be bringing this up. There’s books that can easily help with that.
But I feel this a much deeper, psychological issue this individual has and I don’t feel she has any intention on improving or wanting to. And that simply doesn’t belong in an organization that is based off of Servicing Others.
So, I apologize for the length of this. If you read the whole thing, I appreciate you very much and your time. And if you have a mirror, or feedback or anything, I am open to it.
Thank you everyone.
