Victim Culture Destroys Businesses

How often have you encountered situations where a missed deadline or a performance metric was attributed to someone else's actions or inactions? For instance, 'I would have finished the job estimate on time, but Bobby in the Purchasing Department went on vacation and did not get me the price quotes before he left.' Do these instances of blame-shifting sound familiar in your company?

Our top purchasing manager, a true asset to the team, was working in a challenging situation. Despite her best efforts, she was constantly at the mercy of other departments. The warehouse was bleeding inventory, manufacturing wasted materials, and the flow of information was unreliable. Essentially, she was a victim of the company's culture of blame-shifting and operating in silos.

How did she respond? Faced with the prospect of production delays due to missing materials, she didn't back down. Instead, she worked tirelessly, often seven days a week, and invested thousands of dollars to ensure the 600-person workforce could continue making products. Her resilience and commitment in the face of adversity were inspiring and a testament to her commitment to overcoming challenges.

In our first week working together, we met to discuss the situation.

I got her attention by telling her that she only had to do three things to be successful in her job.

1.???? Acquire components on time

2.???? Always obtain the “best special price”.

3.???? Never run out or throw away materials.

In our ensuing conversation, her frustration with other departments and her unwavering commitment to never failing were palpable and profoundly understandable. I expected this reaction from someone who takes immense pride in their work and is deeply affected by others' under-performance.

I asked her why she tolerated other departments' under-performance. Why was she their babysitter compensating for their lack of support? It was causing her stress, costing the company money, and overworking her purchasing team.

She explained she felt powerless to change the situation as the previous executive team had never supported her needs. This lack of employee empowerment is a significant issue that many businesses need to address. By definition, victims are not empowered. Her job was complicated and made even more difficult by the other departments. She bought hundreds of perishable items daily, most of which had a shelf life of less than seven days. This threat of spoilage is a vast complication not experienced by most purchasing teams.

Despite the challenges, she remained resilient, uncompromising, and unwavering. She never backed down, nor was she afraid to stand her ground. She resorted to the most practical way to keep the plant running. Without the support of the prior executive team, she took the only action she could—doubled down on her purchasing team's efforts. Her resilience and unwavering commitment to the company in the face of adversity were genuinely inspiring.

She was burning out, and her leaving would significantly impact the company. How would you handle the situation?

She needs support to push back on the other departments, possibly by allowing production failures due to missing materials The manufacturing shortage would shine the light on the root cause. Her get-it-done and never-fail strength was part of the problem. She could not tolerate failure – she never wanted the company to fall short. Her behavior was admirable but was only perpetuating the problem. She needed support, but we had to shift the responsibility from her to the root cause. A failure would not be hers. She reluctantly accepted a possible production failure to support identifying the root cause and to foster improvements.

We empowered her, gave her the authority to push back, and immediately took action when there were failures. Usually, in real-time, we would call all those involved into a room to dissect and determine the immediate fix and how to prevent it in the future. This was accomplished with me in the room to show in no uncertain terms that the president was supporting her efforts.

As our meeting concluded, I thought I had seen a gleam in her eye. She left my office motivated and with a new power. No longer would she have to consent to be a victim and babysit other departments. No longer would she be the victim.

The results:

1.???? Within a month, her team no longer worked seven days weekly to keep the plant stocked. Her stress diminished. Burnout was avoided

2.???? We had minimal production interruption. It quickly became apparent to everyone involved that the being the root cause was a hot potato. Nobody wanted to be holding that hot potato. Silos diminished, and interdepartmental cooperation improved.

3.???? Material costs dropped by nearly 20% within six months, saving millions annually.?

The team learned to identify and deal with the hot potato. Nobody wanted to hold the hot potato and get burned. If they were the cause, they must take responsibility for rectifying the situation—identifying, exposing, and obtaining resources and support to fix it.

It takes the executive team’s tenacity to get all the participants in the same room to identify the root cause and solve the problem. Full daily participation by the executive team is mandatory. Not being a victim must become the committed and apparent culture of the company.

If you have victims, you have silos. Silos are expensive and debilitating to the company.

Four things to watch out for when you adopt a no-victim attitude.

1.???? Some employees enjoy being victims. They will never change and can be subversive to your goals. They are probably too lazy for your operation and need to work elsewhere.

2.???? Focus on improvement, not punishment. We want the hot potato owners to take responsibility for improvement, not focus on the fact that there was a failure. Good employees take responsibility and move forward. Be sure to support that attitude.

3.???? Never allow “he said, she said.” Always get all those touched by the hot potato in the same room simultaneously to analyze and solve the issue. Make sure there are timelines and follow-ups.

4.???? Don’t delay. Deal with the hot potato in real-time and never accept a response of “next week.” Demand specifics. If it takes a couple of hours to analyze, don’t give the hot potato owners a week. Intensity for improvement is the environment you want.

At the year-end Christmas Party, the employees gave me a t-shirt that said, in giant letters, “Don’t Be A Victim.” That slogan often became a mantra in the company and our hiring interviews. Candidates who were experienced and comfortable playing the victim were not hired.