How To Deal with an Unsafe Hotshot Desk Jockey

How do you handle a new “desk jockey” (not in the field) person who makes unrealistic promises to management or customers and then compromises safety to meet those promises?

Some examples:

• The new sales “super star” at your contracting firm frequently writes contracts that understate the required time and labor hours. Unfortunately, the company president sees this guy as a “rain maker.”
• At your manufacturing plant, the new plant manager wants the dollar value of maintenance inventory reduced 50%. Without consulting the maintenance department, he removed large amounts of PPE and even got rid of things like spare test leads.
• The new maintenance manager lectured his subordinates about using too many consumables. He’s removing the box of foam ear plugs from just outside the shop door and limiting people to one pair of replacement safety glasses every six months. He told the electricians to quit throwing away so many gloves, and he spends about 95% of his day sitting at his computer.

You may have some examples of your own, having run into people who seem clueless about what it actually takes to do the job. Rather than fight them head-on, show them how they can improve their performance and stop putting others at risk.

Take that sales super star as an example. If you complain to the company president (who probably hired this person), what do you think will happen? There might be some discussion, but the company president wants to defend the hiring decision and so does the sales super star. Things could get even worse.

A better approach is to help the sales super star take the long view. Start the conversation with some praise. “Steve, I really appreciate that you are working so hard to bring more revenue into this company. It’s a good thing.”

After Steve thanks you for the compliment, say something like, “I’m totally onboard with making a better financial future for this company. You are too, right?”

After Steve agrees and makes some comments, ask: “Can I ask you what would happen to the company if Roger over there got burned to a crisp in an arc blast and it comes out in court that happened because he was rushing to meet an unrealistic schedule?

Now you’ve broached the subject of the inevitable results of trying to meet unrealistic contract requirements. As much as you feel the urge to tell Steve what he should do, ask questions instead. Get him to say what is wrong and how it should be fixed. Some questions you could ask:

• Have you seen a cable pull being done before?
• How many sticks of 1-inch EMT do you think you could carry at one time from where we park our trucks at the ABC plant to halfway inside? I think that’s a few football fields.
• We’re going to do X on Job Y tomorrow. I understand you’ve never seen this done before. How would you like to see it firsthand, so you aren’t in the dark about it? You may even have some ideas on how we can do it better.
• How long do you meet with a prospective customer to close a sale? What if someone told you to cut that time by 25%, do you think your success rate would go up or go down?

You can use a similar process for any desk jockey. Try to get them to see the work as it’s actually being done, not as they imagine it’s done. If permissible, see if they will do some hands-on. “Here, Bill, grab this 500MCM cable, and help me unspool it.”

The more collegial your approach is, the better your results will be. Rather than trigger a defensive reaction, you want to stimulate a learning response.

Someone who thinks installing a 150-hp motor on a client’s site should take only an hour has never installed a 150-hp motor on a client’s site. Sure, you can test for phase rotation and connect it in that time. But there are many other steps, including alignment — and the client might make you stand around for 20 minutes before you can start work. Is the motor is at the work location, or do you have to bring it there? Will the equipment needed to lift the motor already be there, provided by the client? Or do you bring your own?

If a person underestimates the resources needed based on ignorance what it takes to do the job, the most effective solution is to educate that person on what it actually takes.