jwyckoff's picture Submitted by jwyckoff on
in

Forums

Manager Tools Trinity

I have two employees (1 skip, 1 a DR of a peer) that need to work together, but are both:
a) stubborn
b) half-wrong
c) half right, and
d) can't see the other side of the situation.

[b]What's the best way to get them to see each other's side and work together? [/b]

The options I see are:
1) sit them both down and facilitate communication b/w them
2) work with each individually. I can give pretty direct feedback to my skip, but I don't want to do too much to my peer's DR.

I don't like either of these -- as I don't see them learning much of the lesson.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
connick.

WillDuke's picture
Training Badge
Submitted by WillDuke on Friday November 16th, 2007 5:32 pm

Are they both aware of the issue?

Could you make them swap sides and present the other's point of view?

Without details I'm probably not much help. :)

juliahhavener's picture
Licensee Badge
Submitted by juliahhavener on Friday November 16th, 2007 8:58 pm

I think you may need a facilitated discussion. You need to start out with both employees having the solid assurance that they MUST be able to work with each other and that their bosses are certain if they can just get on the same side of the table they will be unstoppable as a team.

Not knowing details and the people, it's hard to say what will work. They need to be given the realization that 'right' isn't at issue.

tlhausmann's picture
Licensee BadgeTraining Badge
Submitted by tlhausmann on Saturday November 17th, 2007 9:02 am

[quote="connick"]I have two employees (1 skip, 1 a DR of a peer) that need to work together[/quote]

This is a tough one. Is there an established trust relationship with the DR of your peer? I had a similar situation (different non-profit than now) where I served as the mediator for regular discussions. My situation was different in that (1) I was new and (2) had limited role authority to bring the two together. The mediated discussions continued for a number of months while _together_ we turned the project around.

For the DR of the peer, if you have no trusted relationship nor any role authority then you may have to approach your peer and request backing. I absolutely acknowledge that I may be wrong and how stressful such matters are for leaders.

connick, you acknowledge they need to work together. So julia is right that you may need a facilitated discussion--in my *particular* case mediation was the way I chose to move forward.

jhack's picture
Submitted by jhack on Saturday November 17th, 2007 12:07 pm

Mark and Mike, in the podcast on conflicts among your directs (you did listen to that one, right?) specifically say that bringing the two of them into your office and having them "make up" is a bad idea.

Your concept of a facilitated session may differ, but the point that they will say and do anything just to get back to their desks is still valid.

Individual feedback is probably the right place to start. You should should also talk to your peer - their support and feedback is going to be crucial.

John