I was going to lunch and walked into the elevator with someone whose physical presence gave off an aura of great stress. Feeling the tension in the air as I walked in, and always wanting to test my role as a leader, I enthusiastically said, as cheerfully as I could, "Hello, how are you?" I was certain I could lift the mood in the elevator.
She replied, "I hate my job. My boss is a complete asshole and so are all the people I work with. I watched the clock all morning. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I work with a bunch of F#$%# idiots." She continued the negative tirade all the way to the first floor and stormed out.
I was so stunned I just stood there. The elevator door closed and I looked toward the heavens and proclaimed aloud, "Thank God she doesn't work for me!"
Leaders need to make certain that workers like the elevator lady receive massive help when attitudes head south. Most often it requires using all of your skills to help them find a new job as soon as possible, but sometimes it can involve moving them to a new job within the company that might turn them from a liability to an asset. I have experienced turnarounds that were just shy of miraculous.
I reinvented my own job frequently within the companies I worked for as I have the attention span of a small cat, and all jobs, even the presidential job at the top of the company, can become mundane after time. But I was never as far gone as the elevator lady. Oftentimes valuable employees, whom you have spent a great deal of time and effort training, just need a change in direction.
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