being the boss

All your questions about being the boss, answered — like dealing with low performers, lateness, weird feedback, and more.

my dishonest employee blames technology when he messes up

A reader writes: How do I deal with an employee, Miles, who is dishonest but gets emotional and doubles down when confronted with technological proof? For instance, he’ll tell me he submitted a work product when the timestamps on shared documentation (which are visible to both of us) show that the work wasn’t completed by […]

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my employee panics when we spend money

A reader writes: I have an employee who tries to save every penny of the organization’s money, at the expense of significant amounts of time. I’ve explained sticker price vs time costs multiple times, and yet any amount of money over about $50 sends him into an anxiety spiral where nothing I say makes an […]

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my boss thinks my employee is lying about having cancer

A reader writes: My operations manager, Burton, took me to one side on Friday to ask me whether I had seen any evidence that my employee, Belle, who had been off that week, really had cancer. I am now second-guessing every interaction and whether I have either been manipulated or been a horrible boss. Our […]

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someone is always crying in our morning meetings

A reader writes: Can you help me deal with the amount of crying at work I’m dealing with at the moment? I manage a mid-size team of people who are all very caring and empathetic, and are through and through a great team. Every morning we have a meeting set up for the day. I’m […]

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is it OK to ask my team to do working lunches?

A reader writes: I have a question about working lunches. I manage a small team, and I recently held a brainstorming session for some professional development ideas for next year that the whole team can participate in. One of the options I suggested is (company-sponsored) lunch and learns, where we watch a work-related webinar and […]

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my employee takes credit for the whole team’s work

A reader writes: I’m a fairly experienced manager, but I’ve only been managing my current team for a few months. I’ve been in a couple meetings with one of my team members that I’ve asked her to take the lead on, and she reports out at every meeting. Twice now, as she’s reporting I’ve heard […]

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