Three days before I was laid off from Disney, I went up to Don Hahn and said: "Don? Everybody around here seems to be getting new computers. Can I get a new computer too?"
Looking back, I came off like a twelve-year-old whining to Mother. Don looked at me with half-open mouth. Paused. Then his mouth firmed up, and he smiled and said "Sure."
A few days later, I was terminated. I'm pretty sure that Don knew I was going to be separated from service and that no computer would ever be sitting on my desk, because I wasn't going to be around any more. (Lots of people knew, just not me.) But he said "Sure" because it was an easier and gentler road to take than snorting through his nose and saying: "Computer? You're not going to need one of those, laddy buck. The start of next week, you're outta here."
Now. Don would never have said the above. He's a classy guy. But his smile and "Sure" is what most people in the animation industry do when confronted by an employee they know isn't working out and is about to be slipped the axe, and they are asked an uncomfortable question like "Are you happy with my work? Is everything okay?" They sidestep the issue, secure in the knowledge that somebody else will be delivering the bad news.
Why do they do this? Because they don't want to get trapped in a tense moment that might be the dark portal to Unpleasantness. And because they don't want to be the Bad Guy.
I bring this up because Don's response two decades ago is one I've seen over and over again, all over the business.
A Hanna-Barbera exec once asked me if I could give an employee the bad news that he was being let go. I said, "Ah, no. I file grievances against termination. Firing artists is YOUR job."
A mucky-muck at another studio pulled me into his office one time and railed against some supervisors who wouldn't level with him. "I went down and ASKED them if there were problems with anybody on their crews. The jerk-waters told me everything was fine, absolutely no problems. And NOW that the new season has started and I've hired everybody BACK, they're telling me two of the board artists are awful and they don't want them. Why the f*ck didn't they tell me this when I asked them three months ago?"
I had a simple answer for him: Nobody wants to be the Bad Guy.
A few months ago, an artist with lots of experience complained about not getting rehired at a studio for a new batch of shows. I checked around and discovered that there'd been personality conflicts and work issues, and that the supervisors were maybe, probably not going to, like ask him back.
Think anybody leveled with him? Of course not. Because nobody wants to be the...you know.
And just last week, we got a call from a studio complaining about an artist who wasn't producing any work the studio could use. We asked how long this had been going on. Three months, we were told, and they wanted to get rid of him the next day.
We informed them that they had to write him up and give him a chance to improve. The studio was outraged. "He's no good! He hasn't been any good since he started!" We asked if they had talked to him about this. The answer was "no." We asked if anyone had brought up performance issues during his two-month probationary period. The answer was again "no." We asked why.
"Well...he's a really nice guy and he tries hard. And nobody wanted to like, give him the bad news..."
Are we detecting a pattern here? Are we scoping out a mind-set? Supervisors and leads in every corner of animation hate being the bearers of bad news. If someone's designs are off or their animation is weak, nothing gets said until the transgressor reaches the point of no return and people are tearing their hair out behind closed doors. And finally somebody trots down to Human Resources and cries down a manager's shirt front and the decision is made to terminate.
And then the artist, who's been rolling along without a negative word being said by anybody, gets summoned to the studio's professional executioner and told his work isn't up to snuff, and thank you goodbye.
I don't blame any of the above on some evil conspiracy. It is simply human nature to avoid conflict and unpleasantness. There are certainly managers who communicate and keep staff in the loop. But there are also lots of supervisors who let bad situations ride...and ride...and ride. Nobody wants to be the evil doer.
The lesson here? Don't expect lots of honesty when things aren't working out. This is Hollywood, after all, land of the tall manure pile. Just learn from the experience and strive to do better...and have your antenna further out...the next time.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Nobody Wants To Be The Bad Guy
Three days before I was laid off from Disney, I went up to Don Hahn and said: "Don? Everybody around here seems to be getting new computers. Can I get a new computer too?"
Looking back, I came off like a twelve-year-old whining to Mother. Don looked at me with half-open mouth. Paused. Then his mouth firmed up, and he smiled and said "Sure."
A few days later, I was terminated. I'm pretty sure that Don knew I was going to be separated from service and that no computer would ever be sitting on my desk, because I wasn't going to be around any more. (Lots of people knew, just not me.) But he said "Sure" because it was an easier and gentler road to take than snorting through his nose and saying: "Computer? You're not going to need one of those, laddy buck. The start of next week, you're outta here."
Now. Don would never have said the above. He's a classy guy. But his smile and "Sure" is what most people in the animation industry do when confronted by an employee they know isn't working out and is about to be slipped the axe, and they are asked an uncomfortable question like "Are you happy with my work? Is everything okay?" They sidestep the issue, secure in the knowledge that somebody else will be delivering the bad news.
Why do they do this? Because they don't want to get trapped in a tense moment that might be the dark portal to Unpleasantness. And because they don't want to be the Bad Guy.
I bring this up because Don's response two decades ago is one I've seen over and over again, all over the business.
A Hanna-Barbera exec once asked me if I could give an employee the bad news that he was being let go. I said, "Ah, no. I file grievances against termination. Firing artists is YOUR job."
A mucky-muck at another studio pulled me into his office one time and railed against some supervisors who wouldn't level with him. "I went down and ASKED them if there were problems with anybody on their crews. The jerk-waters told me everything was fine, absolutely no problems. And NOW that the new season has started and I've hired everybody BACK, they're telling me two of the board artists are awful and they don't want them. Why the f*ck didn't they tell me this when I asked them three months ago?"
I had a simple answer for him: Nobody wants to be the Bad Guy.
A few months ago, an artist with lots of experience complained about not getting rehired at a studio for a new batch of shows. I checked around and discovered that there'd been personality conflicts and work issues, and that the supervisors were maybe, probably not going to, like ask him back.
Think anybody leveled with him? Of course not. Because nobody wants to be the...you know.
And just last week, we got a call from a studio complaining about an artist who wasn't producing any work the studio could use. We asked how long this had been going on. Three months, we were told, and they wanted to get rid of him the next day.
We informed them that they had to write him up and give him a chance to improve. The studio was outraged. "He's no good! He hasn't been any good since he started!" We asked if they had talked to him about this. The answer was "no." We asked if anyone had brought up performance issues during his two-month probationary period. The answer was again "no." We asked why.
"Well...he's a really nice guy and he tries hard. And nobody wanted to like, give him the bad news..."
Are we detecting a pattern here? Are we scoping out a mind-set? Supervisors and leads in every corner of animation hate being the bearers of bad news. If someone's designs are off or their animation is weak, nothing gets said until the transgressor reaches the point of no return and people are tearing their hair out behind closed doors. And finally somebody trots down to Human Resources and cries down a manager's shirt front and the decision is made to terminate.
And then the artist, who's been rolling along without a negative word being said by anybody, gets summoned to the studio's professional executioner and told his work isn't up to snuff, and thank you goodbye.
I don't blame any of the above on some evil conspiracy. It is simply human nature to avoid conflict and unpleasantness. There are certainly managers who communicate and keep staff in the loop. But there are also lots of supervisors who let bad situations ride...and ride...and ride. Nobody wants to be the evil doer.
The lesson here? Don't expect lots of honesty when things aren't working out. This is Hollywood, after all, land of the tall manure pile. Just learn from the experience and strive to do better...and have your antenna further out...the next time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
12 comments:
Excellent points, reminds of when I hired a "farter" on my staff. For those who don't know, a "farter" is someone who drains colours into his anus and then farts on canvas to produce the desired product. Anyway this farter would'nt eat the cans of Libby's beans his supervisor had given him, he instead wanted to use a "natural digestive enhancer" which did'nt work at all. Well after about 4 hours of discussion he finally eat 2 cans of Libby's beans and farted out some of this best work.
There was a time, some years ago when top managers took responsibility for their post. They hired, and they fired when neccesary. That was their job.
Today, we have Human Resources. The Wimp Factor is a part of corporate America, and nobody wants to be the bad guy. Meaning, nobody wants to do their job.
An employee being sacked should be told why. That's what bosses used to do. That's their responsibility. We've all become Wimps, I guess.
Even more than that, Floyd, people should get honest feedback as their sliding towards the door, while they have time to improve. I understand that some people don't take criticism well, but, as you say, giving it should be part of a supervisor's job.
How about this one, Kevin? A supervisor refuses to re-hire an artist and, instead of discussing the reasons with the artist, runs the artist down to his union rep, then swears him to secrecy, giving the artist no chance to rebut or cure. Would you say this
union rep needs to be reminded whom he is representing? When someone we know becomes management they are being paid to represent the interests of the company and it's executives, by any means neccessary, not the artist, no matter what their "personal" relationships they had in the past.
Actually, anonymous, supervisors almost always tell me nothing. (In the case of an artist who I think we might both know, one supervisor told me nothing, and the other failed to return my phone call. So much for "running down.")
I HAVE, in the course of an investigation, asked questions of co-workers who are NOT supervisors. And they've given me information that I've passed on in order to correct false impressions. I HAVE kept their reports confidential because if I didn't, I'd never get information from them again. And because they were irrelevant -- as bystanders -- to the problems the artist was having. They were simply giving me their takes on what the problems were.
If a given artist fails to meet deadlines, alienates supervisors or co-workers, there is little a union business rep can do to help that artist un-crap the bed. (I can tell you when Disney laid me off, the union did nothing. But then, I knew it was powerless to get me my job back. I had managed to alienate the new animation chief Peter Schneider with my winning ways, and so I found myself looking for other work. I didn't like it, but there it was.)
Unions and union reps mostly help with violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (pension hours, terminations without notice, etc.) As for the rest, individuals gain jobs and individuals lose jobs -- for a variety of reasons. And so it has been since animation began.
Sounds like Steve is getting blamed for a problem with a supervisor, a problem that Steve didn't even know about until after the fact.
Perhaps this artist, whom we both know, was not laying any blame on this rep nor was expecting him to "do" anything, per se, outside of giving the artist, his constituant, the benefit of the doubt. The mess in question will be cleaned up or it won't, but the least the artist, confronted by an intransigent corporate mind-set, can expect from his union rep is a sympathetic ear rather than what appeared to be a leap on the bandwagon.
In consideration of this being a public forum, perhaps this exchange would be best continued in private.
I think in the most part people work hard, and do there best. I also think the boss or the super need to say something, if there is a problem. But there is always someone who can make things hard for you to, so you can't always please everybody.
And nobody likes to be let go.
But I'm glad that nobody's ever have a gun in there hands.
I always look at my family, and people in general and everbody goes through it.
It's a good day and the suns out, other things are down the road.
where does one go to complain about HR?
boy is my list long...
INhuman Resources I say. Their only job is to protect
the company, we are nothing to them.
I used to naively think HR was a resource for employees. But, as you allude to, they're hired by the company and their job is to serve the company. That said, there are good people in many HR departments -- you just always have to realize that, in the best case scenario, they're trying to serve both you and the company. And in the worst case scenario...
Great article.
I've been the "victim" of not being told that my director/producer/supervisor/whatever didn't like me and/or my work and then not get hired back on a show when it gets picked up again. Sometimes I can figure out why, but other times I'm completely baffled.
A little honesty that's well-handled can go a looooooooong way in helping both artists and supervisors get the work done to the best of their abilities given the circumstances they're working under. If it's handled right, there doesn't need to be a "bad guy" so often.
I totally agree, Red. Supervisors need to be professional enough to give honest feedback, and supervisees (if that's a word) need to be just as professional in taking that feedback.
Either party can wreck the process, though the supervisor has the advantage in usually initiating things. I've found it useful to occasionally go out of my way to seek an honest critique if I wasn't sure I was on the same page as my supervisor. I think it can head off a potentially negative situation.
Post a Comment