Page 53 - The Voice of Authority

always need a wide variety of compressed gases such as ni-
trogen, helium, and so forth in the lab. We had a guy re-
sponsible for the seven processes, all of which need these
gases. About two months away from occupancy, I checked
the drawings for that suite and didn’t notice the specialty
gases on the plans. I thought there was an error in the draw-
ings. So I call him in and I ask, ‘Are you aware there’re no
specialty gases in that lab?’ ”
“ ‘Yes,’ he says, rather matter-of-factly. He’d known it
for five months! But he was going to wait until we got ready
to move in and say, ‘Hey, there’s a problem. We can’t move
in—I just noticed there are no gases in here.’ He was afraid
somebody would be upset with him! If we’d known about
the problem five months earlier, we could have started get-
ting the gases in there at that point. As it was, we were two
months from scheduled move-in already, and getting the
gases in there would take us at least another three months.
All because he was afraid to tell somebody!”
If giving bad news gives you the shakes . . .
. . . Focus on the next step: If some action or inaction
on your part has caused the problem, explain what steps
you’ve taken to date to correct the situation and what op-
tions you think may be appropriate as next steps. In other
words, instead of dumping the problem, assume the posi-
tion of “I’m advising you of a major problem. Here’s what
I’m thinking and doing about it, and I need your input to
go further.”
. . . Share your ego strength: Shoulder any responsibil-
ity that’s yours. Assume that others may take out their
anger on you, the message bearer; that’s human nature.
Then try to focus their attention on the problem or issue
and the solution.
Bad news is bad news—whether it’s going up the chain,

Is It Complete? 41