First and foremost I deserve public adomation for avoiding a potentially akward situation by NOT giving feedback. I willingly accept it from everyone here!
I have a key employee who is a direct report that used to by my supervisor and trained me and helped me develop in the business. She left the company a few years ago, and was recently re-hired by the company. Now I am her supervisor, yet half her age. I have noticed very innefective behavior lately, but have felt very awkward bringing it up. She is a very defensive person (part of the behavior I want to give feedback on), not to mention that I feel akward in giving feedback to someone who used to be my manager.
Any suggestions from people who have been in similiar situations on how to break the ice?
Also, does feedback have to be private, or is there anything inherrently wrong with offering feedback in front of other members of your team?
Brad
Giving feedback to a former manager who is now a direct?
Not to quote Mark, but I will :-)
Feedback is just... feedback. What ice is there to break? What awkwardness is there to be had?
I realize there *CAN* be awkwardness, but don't think about it. The more you think there will be emotion and awkwardness in the conversation -- the more there *will* be emotion and awkwardness in the conversation.
The more factual you are, the less of a deal it will be.
Giving feedback to a former manager who is now a direct?
I don't know what adomation is, but I don't think you deserve that in public anymore than she deserves her feedback in public.
Yes, she needs feedback, and it's your job to give it to her. Failing to do so is unprofessional. There is a saying, from executives to managers: "don't make come down there and do your job for you."
And I can't believe that you listened to all the feedback casts and have to ask whether you can do this in public. NO. Always "not in public."
Do the right thing Brad. Follow the model, do it with love and respect and compassion in your heart, and deliver the feedback. It would be lacking in compassion to NOT do it, and then 6 months from now have a very different conversation.
Mark
Giving feedback to a former manager who is now a direct?
Brad,
I went through the very same thing today. As you and I have privately discussed, I am also a young owner/manager. We have 2 retail locations that are located about 2 hours from each other, and my office is in one of the locations.
My store manager in the remote location has been making some very serious errors the last few weeks, so we brought him here to discuss and give feedback as I'm only there a few days a month. This manager was someone that my father hired 14 years ago, when I was only 13 years old. I've grown up with my employees, and have been worried about giving adjusting feedback until I actually did. Our meeting today went wonderfully. He wanted the feedback, and has requested more.
The more you do One on Ones and provide feedback, the more you and your directs will want One on Ones and feedback. [b]This Manager Tools stuff really works![/b]
You need to give feedback as soon as you can after you've noticed behaviors, and you'll all be better for it in the end.
And never in public. That needs to be said one more time. I'm sure there have been many times when your father reamed you out (not that that's feedback) in front of the staff as you were growing up, so you know how it feels.
Chad
I DID IT
I just wanted to let everyone know here that thanks to your encouragement and your advice I overcame my irrational fear of feedback. The great thing is how casual and how effortless everything felt as I followed the model. My former manager was very eager to hear the feedback and was not defensive in the least. In fact she stated that she knew this was an issue for her to work on and encouraged the feedback. I was very relieved to see how smoothly it went. In fact, it cleared much of the tension we were both feeling before. Thank you for your support and your direction.
In unrelated news, I have been holding weekly hot wash meetings with my most unproductive department for the past 6 weeks. Well, the month of December they had their most profitable month in 2 years! Like Chad says, "This Manager Tools stuff really works!"
Giving feedback to a former manager who is now a direct?
Bradley-
Well done you!
It's still funny to me how we make things like difficult conversations into moutains looming in front of our windshields... but in our rear view mirrors, they seem like mole hills.
Remember this the next time you hesitate!
It's a privilege to serve you.
Mark
Giving feedback to a former manager who is now a direct?
Glad to hear it Bradley. Keep it up. I find new things every day to put to use!
staff found sleeping at work
Hello, first post on MT but i have lurked for a couple of years
Does anyone have any practical experience of dealing with a member of staff who falls to sleep at her desk?
The environment is an emergency radio dispatch centre , so fairly important, although this behavior tends to occur in quieter periods (nights and early mornings) and the staff member is coming towards the end of her career.
I have given initial feedback on this and other attendance issues. She states she has no issues but cant sleep at night. I have offered occupational health referal but this has been declined.
My manager is not particularly supportive when it comes to escalating failure to response to feedback.
I want to change this behaviour, can anyone suggest realistic measures, or any other practical ways of dealing with this issue
Simon
Document Document Document
<redacted>
Not Exactly.
We really dislike the phrase, "verbal, written, final written, and then out." that phrase is from the disciplinary process at a lot of companies, and it was written by lawyers to reduce litigation risk. All of the reasons for it are about failure, not success.
Give her feedback, every time, yes. Pay attention to step 4, where she commits. After repeated commitments to change, move to systemic feedback. IF that fails, you could coach her on it, but in this role you probably don't have to, and coule probably move to termination. Just remember, if you do that, you've failed. It might be the right thing to do...but it's still a failure.
Please do listen to the Systemic Feedback cast.
Document your feedback instances and potentially review them in one on ones. If you're not doing One on Ones, this will be harder.