| |
| |
|
Management Information |
|
|
|
A Tricky Supervision Challenge
Many managers believe that treating their team members as responsible adults will assure excellent results. The truth is that while this usually is effective, some people need much firmer limits than others to perform their jobs. Ellen, the manager of a rehabilitation hospital unit, was discussing her frustration in supervising one of her social workers. Ellen would much rather help Angelique be successful at her job than to fire her, but things have not been going well. "When I give her a direction, she says she understands, but then she acts as if she can do just as she pleases." Angelique has been on the unit for a year and a half, but Ellen has only been supervising her directly for a few months. Ellen's frustration began when she noticed the social worker's frequent absences. "She is on a salary, and has some flexibility, but she is expected to be here forty hours a week. She has been coming and going whenever she pleases. Despite my warnings she still refuses to consistently even tell me when she will be gone. When I placed a written reprimand in her file, she cried, and promised to do better, but she hasn't. I have even told her that she is inviting me to micro-manage her, but I am reluctant to cause her the embarrassment of having to punch the time clock, when none of the other workers at her level do that." As Ellen and I discussed the situation, I learned that Ellen was already micro-managing Angelique. Whenever they had a supervision session, Ellen was taking extra pains to make certain that Angelique understood exactly what hours she was expected to be on the unit. We both laughed at the absurdity of helping someone with a Master's degree to read a basic time schedule. When we looked at how Angelique had invited Ellen's micro-management, it was obvious that Angelique was acting like a child who had not learned to respect limits and boundaries. Ellen was being invited to act as her parent. Ellen kept reminding Angelique about the work requirements and when Angelique did not use this information, Ellen was first surprised and then increasingly frustrated. When Angelique's response to discipline (being written up) was tears, Ellen felt an impulse to protect her and not cause her further embarrassment. Instead she tried to be understanding rather than critical. When that didn't work either, Ellen asked for coaching. It's a Power Struggle It's not unusual for a manager and an employee to get into a power struggle like Ellen has with Angelique. It is especially common for people who are still in power struggles with their own parents to get into power struggles with authority figures. Managers and supervisors are readily available authority figures. Instead of seeing the manager as just another person whose job happens to be to give others instructions about how to do their jobs, the Angeliques of the world see managers differently. They see managers as enemies with whom they need to struggle to prove that they are independent and autonomous. Supervisors at work, and significant others in private life, are the prime targets for their need to establish their independence by repeatedly creating and resolving power struggles. Creating Appropriate Limits Angelique had managed to create a power struggle with Ellen; and Ellen, like many forward thinking managers, was confused about what to do. Although she did not want to be Angelique's parent, she did need to provide firm, matter-of-fact consequences for any team member who ignored important rules. When Angelique experiences this discipline she can decide whether or not to give up the struggle and act like a mature adult in the workplace. Whether Ellen likes it or not, she probably can't help Angelique become a productive member of the unit without providing these consequences. Ellen confirmed that this was probably necessary. She knows that Angelique grew up in a wealthy, overindulgent family and that Angelique's father purchased a house for her to live in, and she has few financial responsibilities. Ellen noted, "She has trouble setting appropriate limits for some of the patients she works with, too. Is this another sign of her need for limits?" Once the situation becomes clear, Ellen created a plan. She decided to warn Angelique that if she does not follow the unit's guidelines about working hours and appropriate notification, this month, she will have to punch the time clock next month, and will have written notice warning her of termination placed in her file. "If she does not follow procedures with the time clock, she will then be terminated." Ellen was relieved. "I want to get out of the power struggle and supervise her appropriately. She is certainly intelligent enough to keep her job if she wants it." For more secrets please visit Laurie at http://www.DareToSayIt.com Free Mini-course: "Secrets for Turning Difficult Conversations into Amazing Opportunities for Cooperation and Success?" www.DareToSayIt.com introducing the information packed ebook, "I Wouldn't Dare say That!" How to Have Important Conversations that Build Working Relationships. About The Author Laurie Weiss, Ph.D., is an internationally known executive coach, psychotherapist, and author. Laurie Weiss, Ph.D., Master Certified Coach
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Inventory Management 101 Inventory management may seem complicated to some, but if one truly thinks about what the words "inventory management" mean, it is a simple concept. Inventory is basically a list of goods and materials that are held by a business and are available in stock. Real Costs in Distribution and What it Means To Your Company Ever feel that all the lawyers in thh Country need to give their lives up for our freedom, by exiting the planet forthwith? Yes, me too. In an article in CCJ-Commercial Carrier Journal entitled "Ticking Away" The Insurance Time Bomb. Provisioning/User Management System Upgrades: Part I -- Ten Reasons Why Not To Do An Upgrade Tommy Sherman daily monitors a helpdesk-provisioning queue for a large company. The current provisioning/user management system was written with homegrown software. Managing Employees Is A Little Like Herding Cats Q: I started my small business about a year ago and it's grown steadily. I like having my own business, but I'm having a tough time managing people. Character: Is It Necessary In Leadership? (Part Two) In the first part of this two part article, I talked about the importance of character in leadership. After all, the best leadership involves the people bonding with the leader in deep, human, emotional ways. Creativity and Innovation Management: Specialisation or Generalisation? Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Uncommon Common Sense - Know What is the Most Important Thing in Your Business Over 3 of my meetings with 3 business owners last week, what really shocked me was how uncommon common sense was. 2 out of 3 I spoke to do not know what is the most important thing in their business. The Devil We Know "I'm in an abusive relationship," sighed Andrew. "My bookkeeper annoys the hell out of me but I just can't let him go. Get More Impact From Your Annual Conference How can you get more attention for your conference and your association? Use some of these Power Marketing? tips and ideas. It won't cost much. Bringing Ideas to Life: Seven Principles for Pulling Together You're so excited you're practically bouncing off the walls. This idea-your best ever-is not only going to save the company tens of thousands of dollars this year, it's eventually going to be a moneymaker. 14 Ways to De-Stress Employee Vacations Employees truly deserve paid vacations. Theystruggle through stressful jobs most of the year,and productivity goes down if they don't get abreak. 5 Awesome Actions of Highly Creative Leaders! How many times have you wondered why you are unable to "think-out-of-the-box" more often?We are all products of our environment and our backgrounds usually prevent us from viewing situations with the unique eyes of our personal experience.However, the leaders who think "out-of-the-proverbial-box" do so by incorporating what I like to see as a, Strategically Wise Synergistic Process of Creation. Got A Meeting Planned? Ask This Question Meetings - they are a fact of our business lives. And while the number of meetings and the amount of time you spend in them may vary based on your job title, it is hard to argue that they are a significant part of business life today. Proven Secrets to Keeping Your People and Increasing Your Profits Why are people changing jobs so quickly these days?Here are a few reasons why:They have a boring job therefore they feel they are not achieving anything.They have no leader to follow. People Skills: Eight Essential People Skills Being able to communicate effectively with others requires people skills, and here's eight essential ones:1. Understanding people People not only come in all shapes and sizes, but they come with different personality types as well. Business Innovation - Organizational Structure Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Five Defining Characteristics of Great CEOs 1. Personal insight. Transparency: A Key To Your Effectiveness Last month I talked about the Skilled Facilitator principle of being curious. This month I want to talk about the complementary principle transparency. Human Resource Employee Risk Profile - Management Risks Explained Human Resource Employee Risk ProfileIs your business at risk? Do you want peace of mind?Please answer the following question honestly by drawing a circle around or shading in the column. If you can only answer part of the question in the affirmative, then you should select 'No' eg in Q1 if you have employment contracts for your employees and not for your management team then select 'No'. Creativity and Innovation Management - Personality Testing Whilst tests measuring the creative or innovative personality exist, there are a number of inherent flaws. Some are noted below:a) Whether a creative or innovative type exists at all is highly contentious.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
