Yes, I know, it’s been a while.  Lots of travel, lots of airports, lots of cabs, lots of hotel rooms, lots of speeches, lots of laughs, lots of “ah’s”.

But that shouldn’t take me from writing my blog, and for that, lots of apologies.

I’m here in Virginia Beach, looking out onto the ocean.  Hypnotic really.  The waves hitting the surf, the wind whipping around us here on the seventeenth floor, the sound of navy jets piercing the sky, seagulls screeching, children laughing.  And those waves.  That it’s 83 degrees and sunny today helps too!

Yea, I like it here.

The fact that the Virginia State SHRM council was nice enough to bring me out here  for an opening three hour workshop and breakout session as well as scorin’ me an oceanfront room at the Hilton doesn’t hurt either.

I had about 130 folks for my breakout session yesterday, we played my Employee Hold’em card game, spoke on the importance of Hi-Po’s to an organization and talked about Metrics that Matter, it was a good group, and a nice way to spend a Sunday morning.

One of the attendees asked me what to do about a “long-term very caustic manager” in her four-hundred employee company who was fairly well insulated from any company action or discipline.  I asked her why he wasn’t being talked to by his boss or coached by somebody from H.R.  She was very hesitant to answer, so I pushed a little harder.

“Who is he married to?” I asked. OK, I might not have used the word “married”, I’ve got David Letterman on my mind.

She turned white as a sheet.

Eek, guess I hit the nail on the head with that one.

“He is married to our EVP of Marketing” she said, “and we’re afraid if we take the necessary action on him, we can wind up losing her”.  OK, she might not have used the word “married” either.

Ouch.  Nasty nasty stuff.

She asked my opinion on what the company should do.  Bad move on her part.

“Fire him and start looking for a replacement to her.”  I didn’t even need to think about it.

See, the real problem isn’t that the company is letting a misbehaving manager get away with stuff.  It isn’t that the threat of losing “two-for-one” has given them management paralysis.   The real problem is that 398 other employees have seen the company DO NOTHING year after year after year as it relates to a manager who is clearly unable or unwilling to do his or her job.

Nasty nasty stuff.

She asked if I would be willing to talk to her boss about the situation, and I told her I would be happy to.  We’re talking on Thursday, I’ll let you know what happened.  Confidentially, of course!

… the sound of the waves hitting the sand.  Magical.  I’m going to miss Virginia Beach.  I wonder if they have sand in Minnesota.

More tomorrow!