Want an easy way to locate the jerks in your company? Look for departments with a lot of detractors. Chances are good that the department is run by a jerk. “But how do I find these detractors,” you say. “And what the heck is a detractor anyway?” A detractor is someone who actively runs down the company to others. The glass is always half-empty to a detractor. No matter what the company does, the net detractor will have something negative to say about it. This is as opposed to a promoter of the company, who will almost always have positive things to say about the company. The detractor not only has something negative to say, he or she is vocal about it. The worst detractors will go out of their way to tell coworkers, family, friends and even the general public about the latest transgression of the company. Every company and most departments will have some detractors. It’s just the way some people are wired. The existence of detractors isn’t really proof that there is anything wrong with the company or its management. What you are looking for is “net detractor” departments. A “net detractor” department is a department with more detractors than promoters. If you have a net detractor department you have a problem. If you have a net detractor company you are headed for disaster. In fact, one of the ways we identify whether a company is vulnerable to a union organizing campaign is measuring the number of net detractors in the organization. The bottom line is that if you have more promoters than detractors it will be very difficult for a union campaign to get traction. What do these detractors have to do with finding jerks in your organization? Well, it turns out that jerks spend most of their waking hours producing detractors. Find the detractors and the jerks aren’t far behind. When a jerk is at work in your organization, they are constantly creating turmoil. Someone who is wired to be a pessimist will of course complain about this behavior. But eventually what happens is that even the more positive promoter employees turn into detractors. When you find this behavior pattern you’ve found a jerk at work. The good news is that if you work on the jerk, you will normally see the department switch from a net detractor group to a net promoter group. Which brings us back to the original question – how do you find these detractors? Here is a simple 3 question survey we use to identify promoters and detractors in a company:
- I would recommend the company as a great place to work.
- If I had to do it again, I would still go to work here.
- When I tell others about where I work, my comments are always positive.
Our research shows that these 3 questions not only predict promoter behavior, but they very highly correlate to overall satisfaction with the company. In other words, if you have a net promoter culture, you have a very satisfied workforce. If you are in search for jerks in your organization, our 3-question survey is like GPS for finding them. We’re working on a version that comes with turn-by-turn directions from a perky English lady, but for now you’ll just have to read the rest of the book to figure out what to do with the jerks once you find them.
