Ah, the joys of management (see icon!)
Feb. 2nd, 2010 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
graculusWell, apparently I have successfully completed my probation period (even though I thought it was 3 months and I have a couple of weeks left) and despite some minor teething troubles, I'm still in a job.
Speaking of troubles, I'm looking for suggestions on how to handle this particular scenario: we have a worker, let's call her K. She works about 12 hours a week on a casual basis and has helped us out when things have been busy; however in recent weeks, K's behaviour with the rest of the team has caused them to start tearing their hair out.
She's not dumb enough to do this kind of thing in front of me, but I understand from others that K's incredibly bossy, to the point of rudeness, particularly to poor J who is half her age. She's also been making passive aggressive comments about staff to other staff when they're not around, again not in front of me. Everyone is working really hard, but apparently nobody works as hard as K does, and everyone needs to know that.
Having already tackled K once about her not letting me know when she wasn't coming in when expected, I know that I am going to be exposed to a massive pity party, but it's getting to the point where the assistance offered by her to our workload is exceeded by the sheer annoyance she causes to everyone. In the interests of full disclosure, I'm also a bit hacked off with her myself, since she went straight to my boss and got her to overrule me when I wouldn't agree with a decision she thought we should make.
So, any ideas? Short of hiring a hitman through an anonymous Cayman Islands account, which is a bit beyond my budget... ;)
Speaking of troubles, I'm looking for suggestions on how to handle this particular scenario: we have a worker, let's call her K. She works about 12 hours a week on a casual basis and has helped us out when things have been busy; however in recent weeks, K's behaviour with the rest of the team has caused them to start tearing their hair out.
She's not dumb enough to do this kind of thing in front of me, but I understand from others that K's incredibly bossy, to the point of rudeness, particularly to poor J who is half her age. She's also been making passive aggressive comments about staff to other staff when they're not around, again not in front of me. Everyone is working really hard, but apparently nobody works as hard as K does, and everyone needs to know that.
Having already tackled K once about her not letting me know when she wasn't coming in when expected, I know that I am going to be exposed to a massive pity party, but it's getting to the point where the assistance offered by her to our workload is exceeded by the sheer annoyance she causes to everyone. In the interests of full disclosure, I'm also a bit hacked off with her myself, since she went straight to my boss and got her to overrule me when I wouldn't agree with a decision she thought we should make.
So, any ideas? Short of hiring a hitman through an anonymous Cayman Islands account, which is a bit beyond my budget... ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 01:50 am (UTC)Would involving the rest of the team in finding a strategy to deal with her be workable? If everyone adopts the same approach and response to her less endearing traits, perhaps that peer pressure might help change her behaviour a lot more effectively than a one-on-one possible confrontation with you ever could.
Maybe?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 08:08 am (UTC)The problem is, K has been put in a position where the team (prior to my arriving) were made to feel grateful towards her as she had helped things at a busy time. However, her personality and past life experiences (the latter of which I have heard about at great length to explain why she whined about me to my boss and whined last time I spoke to her about something) mean she's very difficult to approach and address anything with. This is what happens when you inherit situations, I guess!