How to motivate a manager?

So heres the deal: I work for a small business of about 15 employees that sells and services high end office equipment (blueprint machines etc). I’m not a manager at the moment but the vice president of the company who is also the sales manager wants me to take her position in the next few years.

I’m in the sales department now but I already have a major voice in the company.

The service department manager has been with the company for over 10 years and was pretty much given that title by default since he outlasted the other employees who would have been considered first.

He has had his new title (which also came with an office and a 1st gen Tundra to drive as a company vehicle) for over a year now and I’m starting to notice a lot of things that aren’t good. He has lost the respect of literally every employee in his department due to his actions that include: refusing to assist techs that are struggling in the field on certain jobs, sleeping in his office whenever the CEO isn't around, mounting a 50 inch television on his desk to play computer games while at work. And the worst part? He has completely trashed the 1st gen Tundra that was given to him. It literally looks like it survived a tornado on the inside and out. And the dude is the face of our service department but still dresses like he did when he was a tech....a very unprofessional look for the company. So basically the guy sits in the office all day every day and does absolutely nothing unless someone asks him to order parts.

He is creating a toxic environment back there that is going to blow up sooner or later. Do I reach out to him and tell him what I’m seeing? Do I put a book on leadership on his desk? Do I talk with higher ups and voice my opinion? How do you motivate someone like that? If I was in charge this dude would be packing his bags 6 months ago.

@Sean266 I know you read a lot about leadership, any suggestions?

 

If it was something like that I could understand but ever since he got the position he has been clearly taking advantage of it. He will randomly just lock his door and go to sleep because he stayed up late the night before playing video games. He doesn’t have any type of stress at home, no wife no kids. I have been keeping my mouth shut for a while until I realized how detrimental it is to the company and hearing the technicians complain to me about him. Also costing the company some serious $$ by forgetting to order parts on time and having to overnight them. This is a weekly occurance. I find it hard to approach him about some of these things because someone in my role wouldn’t normally know about a lot of the stuff he does without hearing it from a tech and I certainly don’t want to throw anyone under the bus.

 

This is my line of thinking as well. I have gotten pretty worked up over it because the shitty service has nearly cost me a sale multiple times. I guess I just felt like I needed to vent and collect my thoughts rather than going into it guns blazing with a lot of emotion.

 

everyone i've ever worked for has been the top part of this picture. the only exception was the owner of the dive shop where i used to teach.

 

This is good reading here.

 

i deal with this every day. it's a total fubar situation and i don't see it ever changing.

 

Inform higher ups; but don't come across as you're doing it to get the job yourself. Then it looks like backstabbing (which I doubt it will come across this way since it sounds like you are well respected already).

 

Idiots. They should have hired Mexicans. We get the job done!!

 

Oh I definitely dont want this guys job, if I stay here a few more years I will be his boss.

I would like someone more deserving to take his place though.

 

Then I think you found your solution to the problem as @ColoradoTJ said above. I also think that if more people join in on the conversation with the higher ups, then it lends itself to more credence that what you're saying is a real issue that needs to be addressed. Does this guy have goals/quotas he needs to hit? What are his performance standards and is he hitting them?

 

I think that is part of the problem. There aren’t any real goals for the service department other than keeping our customers happy and up and running. There aren’t any performance numbers that I can point to and say this needs to change. Its just the culture that he has created back there that is going to end up costing us. We have some really great techs that pick up the slack and keep things functioning at a high enough level but how can you stay motivated when your manager doesnt do a thing or give you any support? I’m afraid we are going to lose some of these guys and then we will really be screwed because his success rate in hiring is the worst I have ever seen. This is due to a major flaw in his hiring/training process but I won’t even get into all of that.

 

If all of your coworkers feel the same, then you guys need to get together and raise this concern. Also to think about, if they don't fire him, will it cause even more friction at the office now that he knows you guys called him out to his superiors?

 

Being a leader means leading by example. Take the steps that a leader would to figure out a solution to the problem. Have conversations, dialogue, present solutions to help if necessary. If direct interaction doesn't work. Then taking your concerns to the next level is appropriate.

Being someone that oversees several different departments and classifications of employees, the number one quality I want to see in my supervisors or managers is the ability to objectively view the situation and take steps they are capable of to remedy the problem at hand.

Also, many times a subordinate will get caught in the middle of handling a manager's responsibilities solely on the fact that it is the right thing to do. While we can all agree that the work needs to be completed, the appropriate management need to be made aware of the issues and if this is a recurring issue. Covering up an manager/fellow employees weaknesses can be a ticking time bomb that doesn't usually end well.

 

Thats what I’m trying to avoid. If they keep him around I don’t want to be responsible for all the tension. On the other hand if I’m not the one to speak up then nobody is going to. The techs that have complained to me feel out of place talking to upper management about problems like this and pretty much see me as their voice so I don’t want to let them down or make things worse but this may be one of those things that gets worse before it gets better.

 

Agreed, catch the rat on camera, problem solved. Easy peasy

 

i'm not on that track. never have been. never will be.