Have you ever had one of those awkward moments when you're talking about someone who isn't doing what they're supposed to be doing, and they're in the room? Well, now I have too.
Let me set the scene for you. I'm attending my first ever presentation to a Board of Directors meeting for a credit union to give them our recommendations as to what they should be doing with their branch. It's in a tiny little room (maybe 10ft by 6 ft) with no fan or air conditioning of any kind. Oh yeah, and it's 70+ degrees outside. Now lets add 15 people to this scene, mostly older members of the board, plus my boss, the president of our company, and myself. In this room there is also a little projector that we give our presentations on. This little guy gives off incredible amounts of heat. So with all these things added up we're looking at about 90 degrees, give or take.
As we're rolling through the presentation, we get to their branch office. Everyone sits up a little straighter in their chairs, this is the part everyone wants to know about. they have this tiny little branch that is in a fantastic demographic area, and it's barely doing any business at all. Our recommendation: remodel the branch, change the manager of the branch to someone who will aggressively pursue new members and loan opportunities. This is what everyone wanted to hear, exactly what they were thinking. Everyone, that is, except the manager of the branch who just happens to be sitting in the room. She is this little 65 year old lady who just doesn't want to spend the effort going after the people that live around her branch.
So basically, we told this little old lady, in front of everyone that she works for, that she's not doing her job and that she should be replaced. I'm suprised that she didn't fall down and die right there in that room. Talk about awkward...
On a positive note, the rest of the board loved the presentation, and hopefully we'll be able to get some more work out of the deal. But man, that was not a great feeling...
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