Hi all,
I have a direct report who does not communicate very openly, and sometimes only with one word answers. By not communicating openly, I mean that when I ask questions like "How's your week been, what's been going on for you?" in our one-on-one's, the answer I get is "good".
I've experimented a bit in my responses - sometimes I've just sat there and not responded, waiting for him to continue with more detail, sometimes, I've just asked question after question to get more detail out of him.
In our last one on one, I gave him specific feedback: When he doesn't communicate openly with me, I wonder what he has been doing, and what is going on. I don't get a clear understanding of the work he has completed, or what issues he is working on. I then gave examples of the kind of detail that he could include in an answer (i.e. how many calls are in the queue, what changes he has worked on, what more involved support calls he has done, if he needs any resouces to do his job etc etc).
Also, last month, I sent him an email (because I needed it to be more formal, and recorded) about his performance based on both the way I measured his performance and the feedback I had gotten from his customers (no communication, this is a recurring theme with this DR). The email contained very specific requirements for him to meet as a basic standard in his role. I also got him working on only his core role - no project work at all, until I could trust that his work was being done. And I gave examples of how I would be able to trust him (consistently communicating with me about when he would be late, updating me regularly on the work I delegated to him, reather than me needing to question him about it etc).
So, I now have project work that is right up his alley - he would love it. And at our last one on one, I indicated that I thought he was technically (he is an IT support guy) good, and doing his work, but that he was still not communicating (which is when I went on to give examples of how and who and when to communicate). I said I wanted to trust him, and wanted to give him this project work, so let's see how he does til the next one on one.
The project is critical to my team - and it has to be done in a really short timeframe. One that I know I will need to be able to trust the person without question for me to give the work to them. Today, just as I registered the guy on a course to learn about the new technology I wanted him to implement, I got more customer feedback about no communication.
I'm really disappointed. I need to speak with him, as well as the customer. But what do I do now? My other direct reports are incredibly busy with other projects and our business as usual support work. I need this project work done, and I don't trust my direct report.
Do I give him the project work, and meet with him daily to make sure it's all going to plan? Do I give the project work to someone else, despite the team work?
In reality, he's really letting our team down, and I feel I may not have been a good manager. I should do more feedback more often. I feel I am failing my direct report, but I also need him to be an independant individual contributer I can trust.
Help?!
Michelle
Some Questions
When you got to the "What can you do differently?" part of the feedback model, what did he say?
Have you been coaching him on communications? What resources have been used? What resources have you suggested? What resources did he find for himself? Have you gotten him to listen to the communications casts on MT?
What other behaviours have you noticed?
What is his DISC type? Have you listened to the casts on how to communicate with different DISC types?
Stephen
Focus on specific BEHAVIORS
Michelle,
PM me if you want to have a 10-minute phone conversation on this.
One quick point, "When he doesn't communicate openly with me" is not behavior. He may feel he IS openly communicating with you. Answering with one word answers, failing to send status reports, not responding within 24 hours of an email ... those are behaviors.
Perhaps you paraphrased your feedback. If so, fine. Otherwise, give that some thought.
Mike
You need to be more
You need to be more specific.
In your feedback, give him specific behaviors and include measurement.
"consistently communicating with me about when he would be late, updating me regularly on the work I delegated to him, reather than me needing to question him about it etc"
Consistently = ???
regularly = ???
Also, more specifically define what behaviors would be "good communication with customers."
If he is reticent when you ask open-ended questions, you will need to build a good history of him answering specific questions first.
You will need to ask specific questions more to get him to talk, then create a history of positive response for talking with you. He will be more open if you consistently encourage him sharing with you.
Hi all, Awesome replies -
Hi all,
Awesome replies - thanks for your time writing in response. I've decided that my best course of action is a 'back to basics' approach - I'll be making this direct report a priority (rather than my own work), and I will take the risk and give the project work to him... but I'll also move where I sit. I figure that if I sit in the desk next to his, it will be easy to look up, turn around and give feedback/check in with him.
I plan to have a conversation with him, and let him know I was disappointed to get an email from a customer that said he didn't communicate enough. And in the same conversation, let him know where I want him to be, and ask him what he needs to get there.
Regards
Michelle
He's going to hate you
He's going to hate you babysitting him.
Just do the specific behaviors feedback thing. Maybe some role-play with customer communications. Give him specific behaviors to work on then check back and ask him how it's going. Ask for specific results and activities when you ask how it's going. let him know you notice and appreciate improvements.
None of this requires you to move next to the problem child. You could easily publicly embarrass him.
Michelle- You're there, and
Michelle-
You're there, and I recommend you do waht you think best, but I sure wouldn't do that.
1. Never entrust a big project to a weak performer unless you are willing to have it fail and have that be the reason you begin to work on getting rid of someone. Since you can get rid of someone without losing a project, I never recommend that action.
2. Sitting next to him won't solve anything.
3. You DON'T trust him. It's reasonable to draw conclusions from his lack of communication (and feedback relating thereto). NO projects to soeone you don't trust.
4. More feedback - the right kind - and I generally agree with some of the comments above about being somewhat off-track on the details. Stay shorter, and give more. Include step 4.
5. Seriously - your plan is off track. Talk to Mike or me.
Mark
Wahhh...
Cool - thanks for more responses. I also had my HR advisor talk to me (she's a good one - doesn't like policy for policy sake and helps to achieve the things I need). And.... she also doesn't like to tolerate poor performance.
We talked a lot around possible cultural barriers (i.e. how I view people acting with openess and respect may not be how others from other ethnicities show respect and openess) as well - but her feeling is that we're talking about poor performance more than cultural differences.
I'll get in touch with either Mike or Mark - but I feel like I need to pull finger and do proper feedback, coaching etc etc and at the thought of that, I feel like... I'm drowning. I don't have the time to get into a performance management plan - I could delegate stuff, but my staff are busy too, and I've created a whole lot more work coming their way.
I've got a nice head cold coming on, so I'm headed for some sleep before I try thinking more on this tomorrow (and getting in touch with you guys!)
Grab the round floaty
Grab the round floaty thingy! (life saver? life preserver?)
It's just a few (2-3) quick conversations (5-10 min) to start turning performance around this week.
Call Mark or Mike.
It will be quick and they'll give you confidence and ease your management-related stress with soothing actionable advice.
Disappointed...
Well, my manager got back today, and I got to talk over this situation with her - she's another person I rate highly: ethical, sees the big picture, and gets me thinking about the real issues.
Her point was that she wasn't comfortable with me rewarding poor performance with a course and project work. I struggled with taking my director report off the project and course, when I had previously said he'd do it (in between my second and third post, I think). I also felt caught because I didn't want to take him off the project and to have him use that as an excuse to 'turn' - i.e. be angry and on a very basic level, not like me or his work. (Yes, I know, I'm not there to be liked, so I set that feeling aside, and did what I thought was needed).
Talking with my manager, I came to the conclusion that I would rather put my effort into something constructive: getting another direct report to do this work instead. Someone whose technical skills might not be all there, but that would learn from the opportunity of the project. It seemed a better use of my time to be more hands-on for this project and work it through with the direct who was learning, than to use my time to babysit (and annoy) someone who I still couldn't trust to deliver my vision.
There was also stuff around setting a bad example for the rest of my team. So, the upshot was that I had a difficult conversation with my direct, which was along the lines of that as I still didn't have trust in him to represent me on this project, or the confidence that he would deliver to my vision, I was pulling him from the project. I said more, but essentally it boiled down to that I needed his performance to improve or we would need to do a more formal performance improvement plan (I work in government, there are particular processes I must follow). I said I hated to be having this conversation, that I had hired him with the faith that he would be a senior in my team, but that he just hadn't performed to that level and that I have faith we can work together to improve. I asked him to come to our next one on one with ideas on how we could both work towards achieving a much higher level of performance.
I'm down to working out specifc, easy to measure metrics for what makes for a performing member in my team. He seemed really unhappy.
I'm definitely disappointed that it has gotten to this point. I feel like I am failing him. I will sort out a call to Mike in the next day - I'm in a completely different timezone and I have a really stuffy nose/croaky voice with this cold so it could make for a bit of fun.
Michelle
Michelle, Sometimes wisdom
Michelle,
Sometimes wisdom comes from bad experiences ... there's a lesson here and my guess is you're well on your way to avoiding it in the future.
We'll talk soon!
Best Regards,
Mike