Hi, new to the site so hello to you all. I am looking for some advice. I have been a manager for coming up to 4 years now, after coming back off maternity leave I was assigned a new team within my old division and there is one character that I am struggling with. Let's call him James! James was still on probation when I started, within 2 weeks of be managing him I received a complaint about him from another department which I had to speak to him about, it was in relation to his attitude on a training course. He was at first very dismissive of me so I came down a bit harder which seemed to work. There was then an issue of him never being at his desk! always wandering around the building chatting to other colleagues! coupled with his general bad attitude I extended his probation setting him clear goals to meet. This worked well, he showed good improvement and all was fine. We made him permanent and he made us aware of medical issues of depression and dyslexia. I set up weekly one to ones with him, we talked a lot about him and being part of the team but also he spoke about being bored in the role and wanting to take on projects. I said in the last one to one we had that I wanted him to master his role before taking on any projects. He took it fine at the time but then he missed the next two one to ones, when I approached him about it he said he had nothing to say at them. I said I still wanted to meet and he questioned the structure. I said there wasn't a formal structure as it was an informal catch up but a one to one should follow a pattern of current work, upcoming work, training, any issues, support needed etc. we then met again where he was very uncommunicative, it was uncomfortable. He wouldn't look at me and almost portrayed a image of someone who was being abused! Must make it clear that I am not in any way hard line manager, I see myself as being quite open and friendly! The whole persona confused me. When I questioned him about his change in behaviour I got little back. He has since communicated very formally to me via email on things he has no option to do so on, but apart from that he hasn't really spoken to me. Our next one to one is coming up and I am struggling to know what angle to take with him. Generally I think he has a problem with being managed full stop and I know he takes a dim view on the management structure seeing it as very much him and them. Any advice much appreciated!
Why did you hire him?
Out of curiosity, why did you hire him permanently off of probation? It sounds to me like you saw some of the red flags (which should be exactly what this time is for, to see if there are any red flags before hiring someone). Moot point now, but I was just wondering.
That said, he still doesn't sound like a good fit for your group. You mentioned a bunch of problems and issue and nowhere did you you say anything like "but he's really smart and great at x." To me, that would be a different recommendation if you had, but as it is, it sounds like you should cut ties as he doesn't sound like a good fit.
-Rick
Couple thoughts: * Check out
Couple thoughts:
* Check out DISC profiles - yours and his both. Pay for him to take it if you really want to know - I would, in this case, since it's going to be harder to manage him without knowing that. (He sounds like a high I to me, with the going-around-talking-all-the-time; you sound more like a D or C to me. Whatever you both are, I'd be willing to bet the results are very different.) Make sure you give him yours - this is information-sharing, not extra information for you. (Better yet, it might be good to get this for ALL your directs, at which point he is just participating as everyone else is. Listen to the How to Roll Out DISC to Your Team casts first.)
* Once you know the DISC profiles, it might be worth it to get the I am an X and my direct is a Y cast(s) from the Effective Relationships series. (Plural if you or him has a mixed profile, like high D/highC or whatever - I'd get every one that applies.) I love the series. For a boss, it tells you what your direct does and doesn't want from you as a manager, how they handle deadlines, how they handle conflict, and a host of other things. Including advice on O3s, feedback, coaching, and delegation. I would NOT get him the corresponding cast for i am an X and my boss is a Y. I'd tell him I was going to listen to the appropriate one for me in order to give me better ideas on how to work with him, and leave it to him to consider that it might be good for him to make that effort reciprocally.
* I'm not sure you've really communicated the purpose of one-on-ones to him. They're to develop a relationship that will enable the two of you to work more effectively together. (And, there *is* a structure to them - it's just loose. 10 minutes for him, where he sets the agenda and talks about whatever he wants to talk about; 10 for you, you set the agenda; 10 for the future. Or 15 for him and 15 for you. Approximately; if he does start talking, I'd let him run for as long as you can afford to.)
* O3s should *NOT* follow a pattern of *anything* in terms of what he talks to you about, unless he wants it that way. He can talk to you about, as you say, current work, upcoming work, training, any issues, support needed etc...or he can talk about his weekend, his kids, puppies and rainbows and unicorns, if that's what he wants. *You* can ask about current work, upcoming work, training, any issues, support needed, etc. in your part, that's fine. His part should be more about whatever he wants to talk about. If he's a high I like it sounds like he might be, being told he should talk about that list of topics is going to be pretty off-putting to him.
* Ask him, in one of your parts of an O3, whether sufficient accommodation has been made for his dyslexia. Ask your HR department what's appropriate in terms of accommodations, first, just so you can tell if he's being reasonable. Ask it carefully, make sure you're really sounding considerate - practice it with someone first if you have to, and ask them 'did that sound I like I really care or like I'm going through the motions?' If it sounds like you're going through the motions, you're not ready to ask it yet. The purpose for asking this is for him to know that you care that his workplace cares and is willing to work with him to help him work around it, if needed.
* If you've gotten to the feedback stage, MAKE SURE you give him positive feedback on stuff he does well. It's really easy to fall into the trap of 'this guy is a poor performer, I can't give him positive feedback'. Give him positive feedback and he might feel like, well, his work is being noticed in a positive way. It is REALLY HARD to stay motivated and productive when you feel like every time you make a typo, you get hammered, and every time you do well you get ignored. While how he feels is his fault, there ARE things you can do that can make it easier for him to get into things.
* At some point, if he improves his performance and attitude, ask him to talk to you about the project work he'd like to do and what he would see his role as being. Do this before you're really convinced he's ready. You can tell him that while you don't think he's quite far enough that you're ready to give him a project, you can see he's getting there and you want to be prepared when he is.
* Document everything - good and bad. Write yourself a note, dated, with what happened - not just an email to yourself. Mark says he's been in court with yellow sticky notes that recorded when negative and positive feedback were given and won the wrongful termination case that was for; it can also be used to check for improvement. (If you look back 8 weeks ago and he had 5 pieces of negative feedback and 1 of positive, and this week you've given him 3 of negative and 3 of positive, that's an improvement worth noting.)
* There's a cast called 'How to Fire Someone (Well, Almost)', that tells how to deal with the process. It's really about trying to rescue someone as an employee *and* providing the documentation you need if you do finally decide to fire someone. That's at http://www.manager-tools.com/2006/02/how-to-fire-someone-well-almost
Well ok, that was more than a couple of things. Hopefully something in here will help you.
How did it go?
ROOKIE1982 :I would like to know what have you tried so far and how are you doing?
I agree with Rookie, we
I agree with Rookie, we need more info on what you've tried so far. I have worked with plenty of employees that were tough to manage at first. I disagree with the MT philosophy to "fire quickly", some people who do good work just need more mentoring and molding. I've turned several poor performers into rocks stars. Tell us what action steps you have taken thus far.