When I was in my twenties, I spent a few summers driving a delivery truck in New York City. In those days, before cell phones, I kept a bunch of dimes in my pocket because of Bobby. You see, Bobby was the dispatcher for the trucking firm. Every morning, he would give me a half dozen assignments all over Manhattan. Then he would say, “Call me when you make the first delivery.” I would do so and at the end of that call, he would say, “Call me when you’ve made the next delivery.” So it would go throughout the day. He did the same thing to the other drivers as well.
At first, I thought, “He doesn’t trust me.” Then I thought, “What a nuisance!” But I couldn’t really rebel. This was a summer position that paid well. So I let it go and played his game. At one point, one of the drivers asked him why everyone had to call in after every delivery.
His response? “Because I might need you to make a pickup somewhere along the way.” But in three summers of working for Bobby, not once was I asked to divert for a pick-up. In reality, this was all about control. I’m not judging him. He probably suffered under the same control when he was a driver.
In this day and age, we no longer deal with this kind of analog set up. Amazon, UPS, FedEx and others can track every move their drivers make right down to the street address at any given time. The same is true for over-the-road truckers. Take an few extra minutes for a potty break? You’ll get a call from dispatch asking why you aren’t moving.
But all this is not confined to trucking and delivery vans. Companies try to track everything these days. Contact customer service? That person is on the clock. Call for tech support? The technician is being measured by the number of contacts per hour. I once called Comcast said my name was Bob Wendover. The rep said, “We don’t have a customer by the name and ended the call.” I called back and said my name was Robert Wendover and was helped immediately. I found out later that that subtle mismatch allowed the first rep to end the call, but still count it as one of his contacts for the hour. How does this encourage quality work or, more importantly, critical thinking?
There are those who would argue, “We don’t want them thinking. We want them doing. We’ll tell them what to think.” But that ends up fostering distrust, burnout, employee turnover and, in some cases, unionization. The baristas at a certain coffee chain come to mind.
Countless senior leaders have complained to me about all the decisions they are “forced” to make because their people don’t make them. The first question I ask in response is, “How much do you encourage those around you to think on their own and use their own way of getting the work done?” Bottom line? You can have control or productivity. But here’s the thing: With control, you also have stress and overwhelm. You can’t get your own work done because you’ve conditioned everyone not to think. They’re happy to do that because it is safer and they still get paid. Is improving the decision culture around you harder? Yes, at first. It takes time to engender trust and compel people to think. But it pays off in more productivity, less turnover, and more critical thinking. This adds to the bottom line and has a positive impact on your work and life balance. So, it’s your choice.