The most important thing I got out of business school (from one of the
other students, not the school) was "management by telling". You
gotta tell people, in fairly crystal clear pointed language, exactly
what the problem is and what they need to change.
No hinting, no hoping, no telling others with the hope word will get
around.
If it is a difficult thing, write out a script to go by. Don't wing
it. Some people do not have enough of an asshole quotient to follow
through on their own.
If I realize that I am avoiding eye contact with an employee, I know
that I have to have the discussion. And they are probably on their
way out.
There was a memorable scene in "Rocket Boys" where Homer's father was
faced with an employee the screwed up. Homer expected his dad to fire
the guy. The dad explained that you have to tell a man what he did
wrong if you expect him to change. No point in firing someone unless
you have told them what they did wrong and then didn't change.
-----Original Message----- From: Brian Webster
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2021 12:10 PM
To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group'
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Employee Handling
Remember that it's human nature to resist change. When you make
suggestions
there is change for her even if you don't see it. She may have some
form of
anxiety and deals with it by thinking everything out in her head for
the day
at the start of every day. If you go in and change what she had already
thought out and coped with for her day, it creates major stress for
her even
if she doesn't realize it. The best managers recognize that everyone
has a
certain level of bad reaction to change, be it planned or unplanned.
Helping
people process the change always helps the workflow and workplace vibe.
Simple things like saying "I know you had this planned for today but
we need
to do this instead" (and then tell them you realize that will cause them
delay on the other work) and being ok with it pushing the other tasks
out,
will go a long way in realizing they don't have to do BOTH things at the
same time. You being reasonable about the change is something they likely
aren't prepared to hear from you. People have a strange way of adding
pressure to their lives without realizing it.
Good managers also know when not to make changes even if they would do
things differently. In the end if their process works for them and it
causes
no issues with the business, what should you care how they do it? You
aren't
actually doing the work, so don't you micromanage their work process.
That
has a way of pissing a person off, where they think hell they don't do
any
of this why should they be changing it. If you have to change for
accounting
reasons or because other processes farther down the line are affected (in
this case maybe regulatory filings or shipping information off to
external
accountants), then tell them why you NEED to make the change, then
show them
or tell them where it's affecting the farther processes. Sometimes they
don't look at the whole picture, just their own tasks at hand. The change
can then be easier to handle since it has a real purpose. Also sharing
the
whole process sometimes lets employees think about things more and
they may
offer up suggestions as well that improve things.
When it comes to the additional hire, talk to the existing person. Ask
her
what tasks consume the most time in her day and what seems to create
timing
pressures for her. Ask her what process or task she might like relief or
help for. Then create the new position for those specific tasks and it
might
make her realize you are doing this for her relief. If she insists she
can
do it all, tell her you are concerned for her stress and happiness at
work
and you want to take pressure off. Get her used to the idea she
doesn't have
to be superwoman or that she needs to do it all and be responsible for it
all. She likely has never had the time to think about it that way, nor
does
she realize that the company is getting bigger and she needs to shift and
split some of her duties based on that. Try to include her in this
process.
If she still has attitude problems then at least you tried to do it the
right way and she just couldn't adapt, then as Chuck said it's time
for her
to move on and learn from her perspective and attitude at another
place of
employment.
About the backup person or train your replacement, I would institute a
company policy that says at least one other person in every job needs a
second person who knows roughly how to do their duties. I would
explain like
this, if a person cannot be sick for a day or two or take vacation,
you have
failed as management by making one irreplaceable and cause the company
major hardship if they are out for a few days. This also applies to
yourself. Everyone needs a break from time to time and that includes
knowing
things will be ok if you take a few days off. You will kill yourself with
being worried or overworked in the long run without making that a
policy and
actually sticking to it.
Thank you,
Brian Webster
www.wirelessmapping.com
-----Original Message-----
From: AF [mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com] On Behalf Of Chuck McCown
via AF
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2021 1:43 PM
To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group
Cc: Chuck McCown
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Employee Handling
After visiting with her about the issues, I would ask her how she
thinks you
should solve the problem.
She might surprise you.
You could have her find and hire someone to share the job duties. She
might
be more considerate of a coworker if it was her that made the
selection. Or
she could turn into maniac micro manager too.
My experience is that a problem employee rarely changes the problem
behavior. And when you finally get around letting them go, no matter how
painful, you wonder why you didn't do it years ago.
You could simply hire a person and have her "train her replacement".
Like
she needs vacation time so someone needs to be backup. She will get the
hint. If she pitches a fit, wish her well in her future search for
happiness. If she begrudgingly trains up the replacement, you have an
immediate plan B for the future. I think I would do this in any case.
-----Original Message----- From: Matt Hoppes
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2021 11:32 AM
To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group
Subject: [AFMUG] Employee Handling
I've got a situation and looking for advice on how to best handle it.
I have an employee who is very detail oriented and does a great job of
organizing things and keeping scheduling running smoothly for the most
part.
However, at times she has expressed that she feels overwhelmed if there
are too many leads coming in and trying to keep them straight - so as a
result at times we have deployed slower than I would like.
We really should hire an additional customer service person, but two
people we've had have left because of her attitude towards them (she can
be blunt, and at times has mood swings).
She basically runs our billing and customer service departments, and
I've given her authority to do that, but when I make suggestions on
things we should or shouldn't be doing she gets very upset about it.
Right now we're working on some expansion projects and she has expressed
various concerns/reasons we shouldn't do things that I think we should
do.
I hesitate to throw out the baby with the bath water, but the behavior
needs to change and thus far I've been unsuccessful at changing this
behavior.
I plan to have a frank conversation with her in the next few days, but
I'm curious to hear thoughts from others on something like this. How do
I best allow autonomy of the department she's managing while also
keeping in mind I sign the paychecks.
