how do I approach an employee?

Question

I am reosrt operations manager and I have a manager who has been the subject of the topic as far as not getting things done. There have been instances where a group comes in the next morning and thier meeting room is not ready and I have to pull myself fromother groups and get the job done for her. I had a talk with her but this happened a gain when a B&B did not have a place to have breakfast the morning after their arrival. She spends alot of time on the phone and does not spend time outside with the guests as much as I woul like her to. She has a monotone attitude and I wish I could help her to improve herself in this area. I am meeting with her this afternoon and I want to approach her in a manner where she does not feel I am picking on her and I want her to leave the office knowing and confidant that I want her to stay, but I also want to get my point across in the areas she needs to improve. Please help. I appreciate any advice.

Answer 1

The first thing you should ask yourself is whether or not she's worth keeping as an employee.

1. Bring up the concerns you have, and provide specific instances of her performance.

2. Explain how her actions / in action affected the customer and co-workers

3. Review with her what your expectations are for the position

4. Ask her if she needs assistance with her duties, or if something is interfering with her ablility to do her best work that maybe you can assist with.

5. Review your expectations with her and make sure she understands them.

6. If there are some issues, discuss and action plan with her (with guidelines and a time limit for review), and make sure she's clear on how to handle the issues. Make sure you establish a timeline for you to get together to see how the plan is working.

7. When you are done, thank her for her time, and let her know you're available to discuss any concerns or challenges she may have.

8. Restate your meeting in the form of a memo, send it to her and a copy to HR.

If the issues persist, then you should document every instance, and acknowledge as much as you can in writing. I don't know how likely it is that her behavior will change, but you would be giving her every opportunity to get help. If you have to terminate her, at least you've made clear what your expectations were, what she's responsible for and offered to help her.

Answer 2

It sounds to me like you have an employee that either has had a personal issue pop up that is interfering with her job duties, or you have a manager that should never have been promoted to into this position.

I was taught by a great manager and he gave me the "sandwich technique". Whenever you are in this situation, you should always Compliment first, then talk about the problems, the compliment again before she leaves. My manager taught me to use human nature and he was so right. The first compliment always sets a positive vibe in the room and eases the hurt the employee will feel while you are talking about the problems. Then the last compliment, will end the meeting on a positive note.

I would begin the "bad part" by talking about your expectations and the facts that you have had to pick up her slack. Tell her that this is unacceptable and forces you into the bad position of not completing your own work in order to complete hers. Ask for her cooperation and tell her your door is always open. If this behavior is recent, ask her if there is something going on in her life that is affecting her work and what is there that you can do to help her?

After the meeting I would summarize it in writing and re-iterate to her the expectations you outlined. Also include a future time when the two of you will get back together and discuss her progress.

Good luck, managing is one of the toughest tasks.

Answer 3

That is a tough one. I don't think you can accomplish that w/o her feeling negative. You want to scare her into better work. Explain to her that her lack of organization, and social skills is hurting the hotel business. That whenever she plans a meeting, but does not handle the BEO's properly, so the meeting isn't set up, that cost the hotel money, and that company is displaced and angry--etc. Explain to her that social skills are a must for the job in the sales force. You have to build relationships.
Give her a deadline for improvement. Tell her that if this behavior continues you will be forced to look at other candidates who are willing to complete the job duties and tasks.

You can throw in a few positive marks, but you want her to know that you are not pleased with her lack of success.

Answer 4

Write procedures and checklist prior to the meeting that needs to be done. Have her show this to you before the program begins and improve on it as needed. Also document her attempts to check if the meeting is going okay. As she becomes better in her work let her check and guarantee her quality. If you don't want to be directly involve ask an assistant to do the check list. But then in the end it is up to her to do her quality check and not bug you down with policing her.

Answer 5

Is there a chance that perhaps she does not see you so much as her superior but, rather as a friend? If so may be she feels that you will always be there to clean up after her. And if you have been cleaning up her messes, than you are only facilitating her continued lack of respect for you.

Perhaps it is time to stop being nice and start showing her, who IS the boss.

If she is not taking advantage of you, then you need to make sure she understands that you will have to take the necessary disciplinary actions, every time she does not do her job correctly, and that it is up to her to save her job or not, as you will only be doing your job.