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09 September 2007

Managment Advice Taken →[More:]
If you read my previous post, then you deserve an update.

I spoke with my boss, and through some manipulative wrangling with my co-manager in tow, I got him to agree with me that this is serious. His suggestion? "I'll sit down with them and go over each and every mistake." So he agreed with the seriousness, but his method of dealing with this sucks. Since he's the one that can fire people, and not me, I had to turn elsewhere.

I went to our HR department that essentially said, "Talk with them each in a mentoring tone and let them know they need to improve or else you won't recommend their contracts be renewed. We don't counsel contract employees or give them reviews due to lawsuit possibilities. Make it clear that they have one month to improve their work and focus. If they don't then come back to us and we'll begin the paperwork of not renewing their contract."

With this info under my belt, I sat the worst offenders down and said "There is another project starting up soon. I know you're bored. I know you want to do something more exciting. Considering your current lack of focus and poor work, I can't recommend you for a project change. In fact, at the same time that the workers for that project will be chosen, I'll need to submit my recommendations for contract renewal. If I had to make the decision today, I would recommend not renewing. I know you can do better, I expect you to do better. We'll meet in one week to talk about your longterm goals. It's my job as a manager to make sure that you're doing the job that you're best suited for. If that job isn't here, then I need to help you transition into doing a job elsewhere. Think about it and we'll meet next week."

I got some blustery excuses and some "I'm not the only one, you know." I kept the focus on each person and kept a very even and cold tone. I'm normally a warm and jokey person. While I don't have the authority to end their contracts, if I put a recommendation on their record that their contract not get renewed, then my boss has to jump through hoops to override my decision.

Thanks again to everyone, especially Taz. And I'm serious. If you have print production skills with Quark/InDesign, let me know. I'm happy to pass on resumes to the people who manager our freelancers.

post by: Cinnamon at: 15:12 | 4 comments

That kind of shit is why I no longer want to be a boss of any kind.

posted by jonmc 09 September | 16:04

Sounds like you are doing what you have to - motivating people who don't care about their work is hard and usually, impossible. I have a member of my team who is like this and, because she has been working here for 10 years with every previous team leader just copping out and letting her go because it was the easy way out makes the whole thing much harder. I have had those "difficult conversations" with her a few times now and we are about to go down a formal "diminished performance" route, which means even more work for me, with no certainly of a positive result at the end. What makes it worse is that I can't tell the other team members (who often bitch about her lack of sharing the workload) about what's happening because policy says I can't, so just have to say "I'm doing what I can and I agree with you that it isn't fair - you just have to trust me that everything that can be done is being done".

Management can be hard sometimes, but it also has its rewards - I focus my thoughts on the members of my team who are performing well (all but one now, thanks to a gratefully received resignation) and make sure they know I appreciate their work.

The only real suggestion I can make is to ensure that you focus any difficult conversations on their performance rather than any personality issues. Make sure you always have those conversations in a different place to where they work, if possible (a meeting room or similar) and make sure there is a clearly defined start and end to that conversation. If you act normally at all other times, they will (hopefully) realise that you are concerned about their work performance only and that it's not a personal thing. After each of those conversations, send an e-mail to them, summarising the meeting and emphasising anything that has been agreed to, so there is no confusion about the outcome of the meeting.

Good luck.

posted by dg 09 September | 18:00

That last bit about emailing is a great point, dg. This way I'll have a more provable copy of this type of conversation. I've written down bullet points, dates and times, but this is much better.

And many, if not all of, my problems with stafers are directly related to the fact that the people who were in charge of them sucked before I got the job. And since I was the nice cool one who was at their level when they got hired, I'm struggling with maintaining that easy-going nature with moments where I want to slap some sense into them. I understand why passive aggressiveness is so much easier than doing things directly but I hate it, and the people who can't recognize that it isn't a useful skill.

posted by Cinnamon 09 September | 20:41

The main reason I do the e-mail thing is that it gives all parties involved the chance to correct the record if they see fit, giving them ownership of the process. These things are never pleasant for anyone involved, but making sure everyone got the same message from each meeting can go a surprisingly long way towards gaining acceptance of the process itself.

I have the same problem re the previous supervisors - I feel sorry for those who have been mis-managed for all these years and then I have to come down on them hard for not performing. That I have been here for less time than most of my team and have been promoted ahead of some of them doesn't help, either. Still, that's why we get the big bucks, right?

posted by dg 09 September | 21:29

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