Till HRD brings to India the work culture of Japan or a system like The UK, where plumbers can get more emoluments than an Oxford Don; dealing with technical experts can be difficult. They have the expertise and leadership qualities, etc. but the direction can be wrong! One way is to use their ego (they have plenty of that), deflate it first, and then push the rest to good use! Without wasting time looking for a Harvard Case Study, or calling in an expert or consultant!
Take the case of Merry Mason, name changed. He was a good mason; but as my predecessor had told me, had not done any work for many years and substitutes it beautifully with problems and excuses. He dropped in to see me on the second day of my taking over the work shop. He talked big about himself, about how he had worked with the earlier GM, Director etc. and how he had trained them. I gave him time to think that he had me impressed. Then I told him it was so nice to meet a good mason like him, and that you have such a nice watch. He immediately started talking about how he got it, etc. (blah, blah !)Then I asked him what time it was. He said 10:30. Then I asked him what time his shift started. He said 8 am. He started feeling that something was not going right. I felt it was time to twist the knife. I asked him to show me his hand. He showed, as if I was a palmist. It was clean. I asked him, how is it possible that an able mason like him is wearing a watch at work, has clean hands indicating that he had not even touched his tools since morning! He visibly shrunk, now looked sheepish.
I called his supervisor and it was agreed that he will work hard to finish commitments, ensuring quality.
I fuelled his ego by asking his opinion etc occasionally. He became a good chap.
I did not mind the joke doing the rounds that I was allergic to clean hands!
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