why don’t we do a better job of training managers? by Alison Green on September 26, 2023 Why don’t we do a better job of training managers? How effectively a team is managed has a huge impact on what results it achieves … so it’s bizarre that we routinely throw people into management roles without any training whatsoever or with training that’s woefully insufficient. At Slate today, I wrote about why it’s […] Read the full article →
my employee says he’s “already thought of” every suggestion I make by Alison Green on September 25, 2023 A reader writes: I’ve got an odd situation happening with a male staff member on my team. I’m his boss and a woman. We are similar in age (I’m a couple of years older), and he has more experience in specific areas of his work than I do, and I have more expertise in other […] Read the full article →
my team keeps complaining about someone I don’t manage by Alison Green on September 20, 2023 A reader writes: I direct a department that’s on a different floor than the rest of our office. A portion of my team’s workflow has to go through an administrative person in another department, Jane, who reports to another department director. Jane is new — she started six months ago — and she seems overwhelmed. […] Read the full article →
my employee demands to know where I am at all times by Alison Green on September 13, 2023 A reader writes: I started a new management role three months ago and am managing a small team. One of my staff was under-performing when I started, and one of my directives was to get them on a coaching plan, which I have. As a result, they have made complaints that I’m out to get […] Read the full article →
my employee says she has “pregnancy brain” by Alison Green on September 12, 2023 A reader writes: My lead administrative assistant, who is normally fantastic, is pregnant. In the past few weeks, she has made some very significant errors, two of which in particular have ended up causing a good bit of drama, increasing workload for others in my department, and also costing our organization a not-insignificant chunk of […] Read the full article →
I saw a private text about my intern having sex on her desk by Alison Green on September 12, 2023 A reader writes: I have a question about something that happened to me earlier in my career and what I should have done. I worked in a very small office: the executive director, myself, and an intern (who I managed). Often people would be in the office alone if others were out at meetings or […] Read the full article →
how to tell my employee I made a mistake with a client by Alison Green on September 11, 2023 A reader writes: My employee, Joe, met with a client, Alice, who had previously met with me before Joe started in his role). I know that my meeting with Alice went poorly — she was making unreasonable requests and displayed a level of inflexibility that I knew would not get her where she needed, but […] Read the full article →
my employee wants to go part-time in summers but we really need her full-time by Alison Green on September 6, 2023 A reader writes: I own a small business with six full-time employees. One of my employees, my bookkeeper Leah, has grandchildren and has recently asked to work part-time (two days off, three days on) in summers so she can spend more time with them. She is a good, long-standing employee. However, this really presents many […] Read the full article →
my manager told a coworker to write an apology letter to a higher-up by Alison Green on September 5, 2023 A reader writes: I’m semi-close with a coworker, Jasper, outside of work (friend of a friend), but I keep my distance at work because he has a pretty bad attitude problem that has gone relatively unchecked by management for a long time. We are not on the same team but work in the same area […] Read the full article →
my employee’s reading and writing skills aren’t good enough by Alison Green on August 30, 2023 A reader writes: I have an employee who is chomping at the bit for a promotion that she’s not currently qualified for. Luckily, my company has processes in place for that: I wrote up a plan, outlining what she’s already doing well and where I need to see improvement in order to recommend her for […] Read the full article →