More on respect

A man I know had a bad experience at work recently. He has been with the company for seventeen years and has always had very good performance reviews. A year ago, a new manager came aboard. Even though George (not his real name) has continued to work in the same way as before, and has had no adverse comments from the new manager in the meantime, a recent performance review shocked him to the core. The written document accused him of poor performance, and the overall rating was the exact opposite to the one he has always received before.

To make matters worse, the manager has made disparaging remarks about George in front of his co-workers, who were as shocked as George. As a manager, you should never never never do this. If you must criticize or chastize a person, do it in private. And even in doing so, use language that criticizes the behaviour rather than the person. Calling someone stupid, or similar insults, is simply not acceptable.

Not surprisingly, George is looking for another job, and some of his co-workers are also thinking about it. The company will lose at least one good employee, possibly more—all because a manager did not show respect.