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Its not my problem, find a solution

Dr. Celeste Fabrie




How often do I hear managers telling their staff that they are not interested in their problems;
Just find a solution thats what you are paid for!
Im going to keep this article brief and not get into heavy details about the wrongs and rights.
There is enough been written about every kind of misdemeanour at the top. Its these kind of
managers whom I refer to as cowards that I indirectly or directly deal with on a regular basis.
No matter how many expensive workshops, coachings, therapy sessions or heaven knows
what they participate in, many still dont know how to manage their departments. Simple
behaviour like finding the time to sit down with their employees and listen to them on a
regular basis seems to be a heavy task. Respect and trust must be earned. I often get
continuous feedback from my clients, not always a comfortable feeling, but it helps both
parties to improve their relationships and performance. Some of them are unable to face
objective criticism about their overall management techniques. But then, they are the ones
who fail in the end. I always say that prevention is better than cure.
It is often that I sit on the receiving end and have to hear all about their problems with their
bosses, work councils, staff laziness, gossiping secretaries, human resources, grumpy wives,
many complexes and the best thing is; they have just recently completed a 3 day management
workshop and have now been promoted from manager to leader! That is when I drop off my
chair. Wow, congratulations. Now that you are a leader you can now sort out the problems
we spoke about with your department last week. How about, explaining to me your proposed
solutions. The answer: Thats not my job! (Easier to pass the buck onto the next person
instead of facing the consequences on ones own.)


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Its not a matter about its not my responsibility to deal with others problems but it is a
question of good management to find a path of effective communication linking all parties
associated with the problem. We do have a thing called a think tank or a morning get-
together over a cup of coffee before work starts. One manager walks around his department
and greets his co-workers. Its all a matter of involvement. Simple, but effective. But, I dont
want to go into all that.
I am only speaking from my own experiences from single coachings to group trainings. I carry
around a little black book with me. And there I have listed the profiles of certain managers
whom I have studied over the years. They call this profiling in my business. Many of them
have changed companies and sometimes I get to meet them again in their role as a manager,
but for a different company. Same problems, same bad habits. One chap is an absolute
despot. I compare him to Stalin. He regularly insults his members of staff at meetings. Nobody,
is able to stand up against him, afraid that they will lose their job or get demoted to a dusty
office in the cellar. This type of character is machtgeil (power hungry) as they say in German.
The motto is; as long as these crazies are sitting on the throne been supported by other like-
minded individuals, the rest of the company will suffer. They plant the seed of distrust leading
to a high turnover of employees, demotivated individuals and mobbing.
The fact is, no matter how many titles one has to his/her name that does not change who you
really are. Companies, especially here in Germany are full of hot-winded individuals hiding
behind their status symbols, titles and positions of authority. But really, a lot of them have sat
on my couch, helplessly insecure to cope with their daily responsibilities. These basic
weaknesses show themselves in their weak management behaviour. And this trickles from the
top, right down to the bottom of the hierarchy order. A classic example was the ladies toilet
of a large bank in Frankfurt am Main. A young trainee at a noble bank was told to clean the
toilets as part of his 3 year internship. He was the best informant about the banks ethics from
the Managing Director right down to customer service. The same young man is now working
for the competition running his own successful department.




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Again, many of these characters I have mentioned above have either got their job through
their network of buddies or are great actors. Whatever way, no fancy training courses or fat
salary are going to change their management skills. I have recently experienced in my group
training that the boss also wanted to join his employees in the training experience. Of course,
I had to explain to him the rules of the game; He only kills the learning experience of his staff.
I gave him the choice: either him or me.
So, coming back to the question about its not my problem, find a solution. The answer is
rather obvious: The problems exist because of bad leadership! No amount of money can save
a dying patient.
Just off the records: One of the best tactics I use to judge the quality and success of a
companys management system is the toilet paper test. The better the quality of the toilet
paper, the more successful is the companys personnel relationships. This test was recently
performed by myself with all leading hotels in Germany. 3 failed the test.
Goes to prove that the small things in life that make the real difference, are always overlooked.

PS: My couch still has enough capacity for a couple of managers