Bob is for the most part a great driver. He’s the one to take on the extra run; his logs and safety records are spotless; customers like him. But Bob made a mistake…a big one.

Bob’s dispatcher (we’ll call him Rick — he happens to own the company) arranged for Bob to deliver an extra load of refrigerated product to a processing plant in time for production the following morning. This would be no problem as Bob had five extra hours to reach his destination. Instead of driving straight through, Bob decided to split the run and have a little nap — after all he had lots of time.

Bob failed to set his alarm.

The plant calls dispatch first thing in the morning wanting an ETA on the load. Rick two-ways Bob. No answer. Rick continues to do this for the next hour but Bob’s phone is off — second big mistake.

When Rick finally gets hold of Bob, he finds out he is at least two hours out and the production staff’s waiting. The trucking company will absorb the plant’s losses at $2,500 per hour for every hour of plant downtime.
Rick goes nuts! He blasts Bob on the phone, using all kinds of inflammatory language. Rick is so loud the entire office hears. Tension mounts. Rick calls the plant, and to avoid any condemnation he embellishes Bob’s shortcomings, referring to him as an idiot and irresponsible.

Bob pulls into the yard. He’s tired and wants to go home and forget about this really bad day, but Rick’s waiting in the garage for him.

Round two. The drivers and mechanics lingering in the bay can’t hear him but there’s kicking of tires, waving of hands and a cell phone goes airborne. Strangely, Bob is not formally disciplined. Rick needs him to go out again tomorrow.

Whether you are an owner, driver, or dispatcher, you are probably sympathizing with all the characters in the story. On one hand, Bob’s irresponsibility resulted in lost revenue and strains the relationship with the customer. On the other hand, Rick’s response to this crisis does more than berate, embarrass, and demotivate Bob. Rick has brought other staff into the situation; all of whom have no business being part of Bob’s discipline.

Key Lessons:

Respect your staff when they succeed; respect your staff when they fail. Involve only those directly connected to the situation and your staff will respect you back.

Hold your staff accountable. Simply communicating loudly does nothing. Progressive discipline including suspension is warranted in this situation. By failing to initiate discipline you empower a care-less attitude, which will spread throughout the organization.

Listen to and acknowledge your staff. Your drivers will make mistakes but treating every situation like “the final straw” is reckless.

Address wrongdoing as soon as possible. Preferably, you should address it in the privacy of an office as soon as the driver is back.

Avoid discipline during a run or at the start of a day. Having pre-occupied and upset drivers is simply not smart.

Document, document, document. Too many times I see failure to document come back and bite companies. Without documentation improvements can’t be made, miscommunication abounds, and future discipline for similar incidents cannot happen. Consider putting a time limit on disciplinary notes (depending on the severity of the wrong doing). Once the note has been on file for a set duration, have a shredding party with the driver involved — this lends to enhancing trust and respect.

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman state in the book First Break All the Rules that if employees’ relationship with their managers is fractured, then no amount of perks will persuade employees to perform at top levels.

The best (and most profitable) teams I have had the privilege to work with have great leaders. What distinguishes leaders is their ability to relate well to their staff in addition to holding staff accountable for high standards.

I would argue that in today’s world of competitive pricing, service commitments, and a driver shortage, there is no room for poor leaders… and no room for Rick.