Re: New Manager Needs Help!

[John Kohl <sasjqk -at- SABLE -dot- UNX -dot- SAS -dot- COM>]

In article <90729A283A1FD11181DD00A0C95FE855329BC0 -at- made2manage -dot- com>, JGREY
<JGREY -at- MADE2MANAGE -dot- COM> writes:
|> Pandora, you have a power struggle brewing.  Sounds like this woman
|> resents you.  As Barney Fife would say, it's time for some serious
|> bud-nippin'.
[...]
|>
|> This will get uglier unless you immediately set behavioral expectations
|> for her, communicate them clearly, and begin enforcing them.
[...]
|> Peace,
|> jim

This sounds like something out of a Dilbert cartoon:  First, immediately
assume that your employees are just rotten people who are out to do you
in.  Then, come down hard on the jerks and show them who's boss!
Thank God this management style is not used by all documentation
managers!

I've been on both sides of the situation that Pandora describes.  Rarely
if ever do people deliberately set out to make each other miserable or
to make themselves hated by their co-workers.  (I used to remind myself
that a particularly hated supervisor had a wife and children who
probably adored him--i.e., he must have had SOME redeeming features.)

The woman whom Pandora supervises probably can't help herself: she is
not used to taking direction from someone regarding responsibilities
that she feels perfectly capable of assuming herself.  (I found
myself behaving passive-aggressively toward a supervisor once.  I didn't
WANT to give the poor guy a hard time;  I just couldn't help myself!)

Pandora obviously has a lot of respect for her employee, and I think
that will go a long way toward helping her communicate with the employee
in a positive, non-threatening way.  It will still be a difficult
situation to resolve, but if they can treat each other with respect
instead of turning the situation into a war, I think they might be able
to work things out.


John Kohl
(speaking for myself only, not my employer)