Submitted by john334455 on
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After a brief discussion about some challenges my directs (managers) have been having my manager asked me to set up a meeting with all of them and me and him. I also have scheduled a meeting one on one with him to get into more details and present some options for some org changes under me. Some of my managers are under-performing. I have received quite a lot of feedback from my peers on this. Sometimes the feedback was one sided (from outside the team), but it still concerns me that my team is not dealing with it or hearing of it more directly themselves. In addition I sought out more feedback from around the company: I heard some positive and some negative comments. I have lots of details to share with my boss if necessary.
What's the best way to present the situation to my boss? Do I need to have a "x" is not working so I suggest we do "y" sort of clarity or can I present the issues clearly without having a definitive plan of action that is going to fix the issue?
I think it's imperative that I present the problems at hand as they are affecting my overall team's rep, they are making it difficult to manage projects and it's taking a huge amount of my time to manage these senior members. In addition they are not working well together. The lack of cooperation is one thing that is holding me back from presenting a specific plan to my manager. It's not clear to me what affect I can make with a reorg alone or by perhaps adding one new more experienced manager to the team. (Those are the two options I know I might be able to leverage).
I have some concerns about how much detail to get into about the behavior with my manager. A couple of my directs have been on the edge of insubordination (or over the edge). They have refused to take direction, asked me to do their work for them, blamed others for things they had control of or direct reponsibility to manage.
Increasingly large concentric circles
Looking at this from the executive perspective, one team of managers is filled with underperformers. The common factor: their boss. That's you.
You need a plan to improve your team's performance. You need to explain to your boss the steps YOU are going to take to turn this around.
Are you following the MT trinity? One on ones, feedback and coaching? If not, then you need to start now, and you need to explain to your boss you plan to roll out these techniques and how they will address the specific shortcomings of your team members' performance.
Yes, you need to know the details of your directs' skills, traits, and abilities. Their strengths and weaknesses, and how those relate to the requirements of the job. And how your adoption of coaching and feedback will address those shortcomings.
If the situation is what it seems in your brief above, you are the one at most risk.
John Hack