"Shape up or ship out!" I said to a person who was going to fail her 5th-month appraisal during her 3rd-month assessment. I could see the tears welling in her eyes as I continued telling her that if her stats don't increase she will be fired. To her, it felt like the end of the world. To me, it was Tuesday.
I was known as the Terminator. The last stage before an employee is cut from the program. Either I work a miracle and they improve or I will sign the termination papers due to either performance, behavior or both.
I have worked as an apprentice baker, bartender, production assistant in a film out, an errand boy in a forwarding company, and even as a laborer in a construction firm for one summer. I've worked for my sister for a number of years and in an effort to get away from her shadow I worked in a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company.
BPO's are prevalent in the Philippines due to cheap labor cost and above average English of a majority of Filipinos. It had good pay, medical and dental benefits and a good career path if you were into that.
Contrary to the belief of many people it is not an easy job. Most people think that we just read from a script, push a few clicks and we magically fix everything. That we waste away the courses we took in college and become a glorified Phone operator.
You need good comprehension skills to understand the problem, good vocabulary in order to get your message across and the patience of a saint if you are troubleshooting a website problem for a person that has slow or worst dial-up internet.
All the while maintaining an Average Handling Time (AHT) of a call less than two minutes. In some centers and lines of business, it can be as low as 10 seconds. Imagine getting hundreds of these calls ranging from calm to irate customers and a supervisor breathing down your neck.
This kind of environment usually bred the supervisors and managers who only look at people as headcount and numbers on their spreadsheets and analytical tools. Each person assigned a number thus they can make cold, hard decisions without losing sleep that they may ruin a person's life.
Imperial March
I was a product of this environment. You are trained to use "The Sandwich Method" in giving feedback. Start with a token praise on what a person does well, then go to the meat of the problem and explain everything that the person is doing wrong and basically blow their confidence and end the session again with the token you can do this. That is the most basic coaching style they recommend that you use.
They are assigned an employee number.Each member of my team was treated like a Stormtrooper. Expendable. Their progress tracked on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and given feedback regularly. If they don't make the grade then they are terminated.
The Empire has fresh recruits every day and the thinking was anyone can be replaced at any given time. The march continued even when people were dropping like flies left and right. Did you know that the attrition rating for most BPO companies is at 70%. That was how fast we churn people out.
Management just loved what I was doing. I was all about the numbers. I was given various awards and was regularly in the top 5 supervisors in the account. In fact, I was in the running to be Supervisor of the Year in the company. I was brutally efficient in my job.
Fear and Anger are the powers I need
I relished my "power" and the "fear" that I invoked in people. I heard some people even cry when they get assigned to my team. Fear was my primary motivation tool. "Shape up or Ship out" was a regular phrase people will hear me say. No one was telling me I was wrong. The numbers spoke for themselves and I was being rewarded for it.
There would be a hushed silence when I enter the floor and people attempted to look busy. I would whistle "The Imperial March" while passing along the rows. I know some people curse my name under their breath, I know I'm called a management dog or even worst. Simply did not care. That was it I never cared for people unless they brought in the numbers I needed. Fail and you get choked until you resign or get terminated.
No one had the guts to tell me that I was hurting people.
A Hero Emerges
He came from nowhere. A fresh graduate with no experience. He greeted everyone cheerily and wanted to be mentored. I saw the rest of the team exchange looks.
He was a fast learner, I'll give him that. Since he still does not have the bad habits of some veterans his mind was easier to mold. He was hitting the targets but as time goes by different factors contributed to his difficulties. I was forcing him to pull his numbers and he was getting more and more withdrawn.
In a way, the light in his eyes was dimming and he looked like all the rest of my Stormtroopers. Afraid.
Then one day as I was going through my morning ritual of scowling at everyone and telling them what needs to be done. A voice squeaked out and asked if he can talk to me. When we entered one of the conference rooms he talked about wanting to resign. This was a conversation I've had with most people in my team.
He began by saying that he is sad that his first job turned out like this. He was expecting that he would be guided and helped. He was expecting that people would be accepting and friendly. He was expecting that he could be one of the best.
What he was not expecting was this was being treated like an idiot. He was not expecting that the environment and people around him to be so toxic and uncaring. He did expect that if he failed he would be thrown under the bus just like that. He did not feel motivated nor did he feel safe. He hated his team and most of all he hated me.
I've heard this a hundred times from a third person or by being shown a Facebook status of one of my former agents how they hate me. This was the first time someone told me to my face.
I was shocked. I did not know how to react. I was expecting just a resignation but I did not expect his honesty. It was the first time that I questioned myself if I was doing the right thing. I told him that we can both think about things over the weekend. To him it was Friday but to me, it was the day I started to change.
Leaders eat last
It was not an overnight change for me. Habits are hard to change especially if it deeply ingrained. I began reading other ways of handling people. I joined workshops out of my own pocket that teaches on how to become better leaders.
I discovered the work of Simon Sinek who takes a more humanistic approach to leading and motivating people. One of the most consistent messages in all his philosophy was of Empathy. We need to care for people and believe that their safety and needs are in our hands and it is our responsibility to help mentor them to become the best versions of themselves.
It led me to value people for who they are and not just the stats they bring into. This paradigm shift of my management style didn't really have a lot of fans in management but I was happier and so were the people in my team. It took a lot more work and time but I never gave up on people. This gave me a lot of deep meaningful connections that I established with the people around me.
I eventually left operations and moved to Human Resources as part of Employee Relations and Motivation. In a way, that person telling me honestly that he hated me prompted me to change how I view things. It led me to the path where I am today and how I treat people. It led me to my passion in believing in the best of people and championing their causes. It led me to my chosen profession of putting Humans first in Human Resources.
It was such a profound experience and I will always remember that young Stormtrooper who stood up against Darth Vader on a Friday afternoon.
