JPNor
Shared on Fri, 06/06/2008 - 22:37Just for a quick "yay me" I was promoted to a Director position at my job this week. Yay me. The promotion came with some potentially lucrative bonus incentives provided my sales team hits certain numbers. Higher numbers = higher bonuses. I'm planning on making an absurd amount of money this year.
In order to do this I don't have to re-invent the wheel but I definitely have to shine it up and pop some spinning rims on it. So I got the sales team together for a quick meeting this morning and introduced a couple new ideas. Nothing ridiculous or even that difficult, just taking several existing processes and ramping them up a bit. And everybody seemed to be on board with the new ideas.
Except for Debbie Downer.
I have one sales rep who has been with us for almost a year. She is a bit older yet inexperienced. Her numbers are there, but nothing to brag about. She does her job, but I can tell that even after a year she still doesn't quite "get" it. And I have never met anybody who is so adverse to change. Just a few months after she started, I hired an assistant to take care of some of the BS paperwork so she and the rest of the team would be able to concentrate more on making money. Regardless of the fact that my assistant was basically there to make her life easier, she still had nothing but complaints about her work. (For the record, the assistant was excellent at her job).
Back to today. Every single point of business, Debbie Downer had three counterpoints. Hand written thank you notes to accompany the new account welcome package - "some people in the department have atrocious handwriting." More trade shows - "I need more money to buy more nice clothes." Two brand new feature upgrades - "great, more product knowledge I have to memorize". These are obviously tiny hurdles but they are constant. To quote our office manager, "she bleeds negativity."
Generally I dismiss those negative concerns as non-issues and keep moving forward. But her annual review is coming up in a couple weeks - I can't wait to see her reaction when I score her on the "attitude" section.
Debbie Downer works all different kinds of jobs, everywhere in the world. Does she also work next to you? How do you handle it?
In order to do this I don't have to re-invent the wheel but I definitely have to shine it up and pop some spinning rims on it. So I got the sales team together for a quick meeting this morning and introduced a couple new ideas. Nothing ridiculous or even that difficult, just taking several existing processes and ramping them up a bit. And everybody seemed to be on board with the new ideas.
Except for Debbie Downer.
I have one sales rep who has been with us for almost a year. She is a bit older yet inexperienced. Her numbers are there, but nothing to brag about. She does her job, but I can tell that even after a year she still doesn't quite "get" it. And I have never met anybody who is so adverse to change. Just a few months after she started, I hired an assistant to take care of some of the BS paperwork so she and the rest of the team would be able to concentrate more on making money. Regardless of the fact that my assistant was basically there to make her life easier, she still had nothing but complaints about her work. (For the record, the assistant was excellent at her job).
Back to today. Every single point of business, Debbie Downer had three counterpoints. Hand written thank you notes to accompany the new account welcome package - "some people in the department have atrocious handwriting." More trade shows - "I need more money to buy more nice clothes." Two brand new feature upgrades - "great, more product knowledge I have to memorize". These are obviously tiny hurdles but they are constant. To quote our office manager, "she bleeds negativity."
Generally I dismiss those negative concerns as non-issues and keep moving forward. But her annual review is coming up in a couple weeks - I can't wait to see her reaction when I score her on the "attitude" section.
Debbie Downer works all different kinds of jobs, everywhere in the world. Does she also work next to you? How do you handle it?
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Comments
Submitted by JPNor on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 12:38
Submitted by corbin_dallas on Sat, 06/07/2008 - 07:22
Submitted by Science on Sat, 06/07/2008 - 11:31
Submitted by wilderz on Tue, 06/10/2008 - 08:08
Submitted by VenomRudman on Sun, 06/08/2008 - 01:00