Scenario: Barry sat in his office, his head in his hands. His office had closed an hour ago, but Barry was sitting there, alone, trying to determine what he could do. The problem that had been festering for months, simmering below the surface, had finally erupted today, and it seemed to Barry that all the options he had to choose from were bad. Why couldn’t they simply get along?
“They” were two of his most critical people. Steve was a crack superintendent. He had come on board eight months ago in the middle of a difficult job and had managed to turn the project around. What had been a money-losing proposition had managed to break even, and Barry was grateful. While Steve was good at his job, he lacked the people skills necessary to keep things moving smoothly. Several subcontractors had come to Barry privately, complaining about Steve’s high-handed manner of dealing with them. While Steve often left bruised egos in his wake, Barry had to admit that he got things done.
Peter was Barry’s construction manager. Ostensibly, he was Steve’s supervisor, responsible for overseeing the technical and financial aspects of Steve’s projects. Steve, with his blustery, take-charge attitude, had short-circuited some of Peter’s administrative procedures, selecting which subs he wanted to work with, for example, and making life difficult for the ones he didn’t like. Barry had been forced to talk to Steve several times, asking him to be less abrasive, but the guy seemed to be hardwired for creating dissent.
Peter, on the other hand, seemed to go too far the other way. He was wonderful with clients and with subcontractors, but his need to be liked made it difficult for him to come down hard on people who weren’t performing.
Barry had the same problem. He disliked confrontation, and he recognized that one of the things he respected about Steve was his tendency to break a few heads to get things done. Things reached a critical point when one of the subs went to Peter and told him that Steve had unilaterally changed the job specifications after the contract was let. Steve had insisted that if the sub couldn’t do the job the way he wanted, he would find one who would.
In a rage, Peter stormed into Barry’s office. “That was the last straw,” he fumed.
“What’s the latest problem?” Barry asked. Peter told him what the sub had said. “But it isn’t just this instance,” Peter reiterated. “He’s been trying to undermine my authority for months. He even told one sub not to talk to me; he’d let them know what was needed on the job.”
“What would you like me to do?” Barry asked.
“Get rid of him. Find someone else. None of our other superintendents create this kind of animosity. I’ve had several subs tell me they’re not going to bid on our work anymore, at least not if Steve is the superintendent.”
“Let me think about it,” Barry said. “I’ll talk to you in the morning.” What a mess, Barry thought. He didn’t want to get rid of Steve. Good superintendents were hard to find. But he couldn’t afford to lose Peter, either. He’d been with Barry for years and knew the business backwards and forwards. If only they could just get along.
