[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”45px|||||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”100%”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/13.jpg” _builder_version=”4.9.0″ _module_preset=”default” title_text=”13″ hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ width=”32%”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]<\/p>\n
Recently I coached a manager who was struggling. [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently I coached a manager who was struggling.They really like many parts of their job. They enjoy their crew, the customers, selecting products, merchandising; they really like being a manager.What they struggled with is addressing and dealing with performance and behavior issues. They’ve avoided getting with a couple of staff members who were underperforming and misbehaving.Sound familiar?In a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"\n Recently I coached a manager who was struggling.
They really like many parts of their job. They enjoy their crew, the customers, selecting products, merchandising; they really like being a manager.
What they struggled with is addressing and dealing with performance and behavior issues.
They’ve avoided getting with a couple of staff members who were underperforming and misbehaving.
Sound familiar?
In a nutshell, “I love being a manager, but I hate to manage people”.<\/em>This manager didn’t want to get into a feisty and possibly combative conversation. They didn’t want to get provoked, so their method of dealing with these employee situations was avoidance.
(as an aside, let me say that avoidance creates a void that gets filled with the increasing weight of problems and if not checked can lead to eventual managerial collapse….just saying)
So, back to my story. The situation this manager finds themselves in is not uncommon. In fact, I would almost say that we’ve all been there and know this story well.
Here’s what I said to the manager (and I always say this to myself at the same time) that might provide a little needed perspective.
Give to yourself the license to be a learner.
No one is good at things right out of the box. Be humble.
You might have the title of manager after your name, but don’t let that get you all defensive so you have to prove to everyone that you know how to do everything.
It’s very vulnerable to admit that we need to go back and learn some basic things especially when you’ve been given a title.
Be a learner. Get involved in figuring out how to have these types of conversations. Get clarity of expectations and deal with facts. Be able to define impacts of behavior to the co-op and the employee themselves and above all PRACTICE<\/strong>.
Get with a peer and practice \/ role-play these conversations. Can’t stress this enough.
Now then, here’s another perspective to adopt and this is often overlooked.
Be aware that your employees are learners also – not adversaries.
You’re meeting with them as one who is concerned and willing to take the time to help them move along their path of development with their employment.
You’re there to provide instructions, so to speak, on how this employment thing all works.
If they reject your efforts then maybe this job is not a good fit for everyone. This happens, but it doesn’t change the simple, caring fact that we’re always learning and might not be perfect at what we do; however, we have good intentions at heart and are willing to step out and try to do our best.
For the most part your employees will respect this approach.
We managers are on a pathway together with our staff of growth and development.
No one is full grown right from the get-go.
Here’s to the exciting journey.<\/p>\n
They really like many parts of their job. They enjoy their crew, the customers, selecting products, merchandising; they really like being a manager.
What they struggled with is addressing and dealing with performance and behavior issues.
They've avoided getting with a couple of staff members who were underperforming and misbehaving.
Sound familiar?
In a nutshell, \"I love being a manager, but I hate to manage people\".<\/em>This manager didn't want to get into a feisty and possibly combative conversation. They didn't want to get provoked, so their method of dealing with these employee situations was avoidance.
(as an aside, let me say that avoidance creates a void that gets filled with the increasing weight of problems and if not checked can lead to eventual managerial collapse....just saying)
So, back to my story. The situation this manager finds themselves in is not uncommon. In fact, I would almost say that we've all been there and know this story well.
Here's what I said to the manager (and I always say this to myself at the same time) that might provide a little needed perspective.
Give to yourself the license to be a learner.
No one is good at things right out of the box. Be humble.
You might have the title of manager after your name, but don't let that get you all defensive so you have to prove to everyone that you know how to do everything.
It's very vulnerable to admit that we need to go back and learn some basic things especially when you've been given a title.
Be a learner. Get involved in figuring out how to have these types of conversations. Get clarity of expectations and deal with facts. Be able to define impacts of behavior to the co-op and the employee themselves and above all PRACTICE<\/strong>.
Get with a peer and practice \/ role-play these conversations. Can't stress this enough.
Now then, here's another perspective to adopt and this is often overlooked.
Be aware that your employees are learners also - not adversaries.
You're meeting with them as one who is concerned and willing to take the time to help them move along their path of development with their employment.
You're there to provide instructions, so to speak, on how this employment thing all works.
If they reject your efforts then maybe this job is not a good fit for everyone. This happens, but it doesn't change the simple, caring fact that we're always learning and might not be perfect at what we do; however, we have good intentions at heart and are willing to step out and try to do our best.
For the most part your employees will respect this approach.
We managers are on a pathway together with our staff of growth and development.
No one is full grown right from the get-go.
Here's to the exciting journey.<\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[3],"project_tag":[],"class_list":["post-2205","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-m2m"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/2205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2205"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/2205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2208,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/2205\/revisions\/2208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=2205"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=2205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}