Giving Negative Feedback to an employee 3 levels below me

Submitted by Dave Chakraborty
in
General Questions and Comments

I am a VP of a large organization. An employee who is 3 levels below me sent an email with rude comments towards one of his peers. He cc'd his direct reports and managers, including me. I know that his direct manager already has given him negative feedback. BTW - this is not the first time this person has exhibited this behavior.

I interact with this person often, and I am wondering how I should respond. Should I give him negative feed-back personally, or should I ignore the email? On one-hand, I want his manager to handle the situation without me stepping in. On the other hand, I don't want my silence to be interpreted as I "accepted" the behavior.

Appreciate your advice.

Dave

Submitted by Tom Waltz on Thursday October 27th, 2011 12:31 pm

A few things come to mind here:

  1. Do you have a relationship and history with this person, including one-on-ones and positive feedback, that you can give him correcting feedback and have him really listen? If not, then leave it alone. You'd just be exerting your role power.
  2. Is there any reason to believe that the feedback given by his manager already did not have the impact it needed? If so, then follow up with his  manager's manager, who is your direct, and he can coach the manager on how to develop his people
Submitted by David Cybuck on Tuesday November 1st, 2011 7:57 am

 
Its hard for me to interpret what you want to happen from what you wrote. That makes me think you’re unsure of what you want to happen next. You were clear about what DID happen…employee exhibits previously acceptable behavior.
But now, figure out what you want to happen next and make it happen. Here is what I would want to happen. Not my normal style, but…a virtual blanket party (not the actual physical aspects of a blanket party but the overall spirit). Meaning, you hold your direct responsible as if what happened was the direct result of their behavior. Stay focused on what you consider effective behavior and let it roll down hill; let the group/team provide the course correction through negative feedback.
Take that with a grain of salt, I’m not even SVP in my own home much less work. Have a great morning/day!
RC