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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>Administrative and Office Support |
I'm a new manager, how should I handle a problem key employee? |
How can I assert my authority without coming accross as a complete jerk? What I do with my employees, is that I am honest and frank with them and down to the point. If there is a problem I address it, business is business.. You have to keep the respect in check with them, or you will have more problems. How you approach the problem. Your tone , your behavior..I had to address an attendance problem just today with one of my employees. She was mad because I addressed it , she will get over it. I had not raised my voice to speak to her, I did it in a respectful way. I can't control how she feels when she walks away, but she knows where I stand. Being new well, your employees in time will get to know you a little bit better and find out how you run things. Have a team meeting to lay down your ground rules and get everyone's buy-in. If the worker is still a problem. privately discuss with him the issue, and what improvements you want to see by when. Get this in writing and both of you sign it. If no improvement in the time agreed, he is for the high jump. Everyone is valued, but noone is invaluable. The best way to be assertive is to state your claim simply and to the point with a even tone. Try not to let any negative emotion show through. Keeping calm and cool while delivering a harsh message will make the message more assertive. Also plan what you are going to say before you say it, write out a little script, which will help you stay on topic and in control. Pratice on a relative and ask how your tone was, make sure they dont feel victimized. :) Good luck! Meet with him in a private area free from phone interuption. First start with his/her good points. Something they do well. Then start talking about "Oppurtunities for Improvement". Give him/her clear goals on what they can do to improve their job performance. "Benchmarks", if you will. Maybe meet with them again in a month to see if they have improved or have met their "Benchmarks". Good luck! i have been self-employed for about 40 years. i have faced this problem many times. i appoint a new manager and one of my key employees decides not to accept the new manager even if means a key employ must go. i just have a talk with the new manager and explain why i needed a manager in the first place [ to better help me run my business ]. i have never under minded a manager. i stand behind all of his actions. call the key employee into your office and try to reason with him as to what his problem seems to be. after you hear him out weigh out what he has said and tell you will talk again in a couple of days. if you find that his problem can not be worked out with you there is only one thing to do is give him a choice as to shape up or resign. you will find out in most cases he will come around to your way of thinking. if he goes above your head he should be fired on the spot. that is why i hired you in the first place [ to solve these problems without me having to be brothered ]. do your job or it could be your job on the line. buck First, I would devise a plan to counteract whatever it is that makes this person a "key" employee. Possibly train a current employee with a better attitude, train yourself. What is it that you rely on from this person? I don't know what business it is but you can easily insert yourself into this persons work; meet his contacts/customers, bird dog him as he gives his speil, teach yourself how to fix the copier. With the exception of being the bosses son-in-law or this is a large "intelectual product" businessyou can gain whatever information this person has. You don't have to be a jerl? "Hey Bob, I just want to understand how you are so successful so I'm going to go with you when you...." The bottom line is you need to evaluate or balance out this person's contribution to their expense of being a problem. Will the company actually collapse if he leaves? Am I risking 3 or 4 good productive employees just to hang on to my star? Sit your star down and say hey you do a good job but your disruptive. I have 10 employees and I can't have one guy messing it up for everybody. Shape up or ship out. Give him a chance to be a good team member but make the consequences of failure clear and be prepared to follow through. One guy may think you are a jerk but 9 will think you are a great manager. That is what being a manager is. Show this key employee some respect first then explain what you need from them. Call them in your office for a private chat. Explain you respect their work and are happy to have someone like that on your teem. Let them know you value them and ask them to help you out since you are a new manager by showing you more respect in public or whatever it is you need from them. If you need to say it to make it plain let them know they would be hard to replace and you don't want to have to do that. |
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