How do you handle an effective but problematic employee?

Can there be a situation wherein an employee is effective yet problematic at the same time? Yes, there could be! For example, an employee who is intelligent, communicates well and does his assigned job competently. However, the problem is he comes to work late and it’s somewhat a force of habit for him already. Thus, it affects the timely completion of his assigned work.

How would you handle him to correct his behavioral problem? Should you immediately warn him about his tardiness and completely disregard his effectiveness at work? Or mention first his work effectiveness and after that bring out his frequent tardiness and offer help to correct it.

The best choice is the latter: Mention first his work effectiveness and then bring out his force of habit tardiness and how you can help him cure it. This you do in private: you and the concerned employee alone.

By mentioning first his effectiveness at work and then by offering him help to solve his problem of tardiness or any work-related problem for that matter. You are actually telling him that he is doing a good job, hence; you are actually motivating him. And you are deepening that motivation drive by offering him help solve his work-related problem, in this case his tardiness.

When you have a problematic employee don’t immediately single out the problem that bedevils him. Look first to his work performance because you might find out something that is encouraging or positive. After which you address the behavioral problem that disturbs him by offering him help on how to solve it. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

When a leader is a leader in name only

Bill is the Chief Executive Office of a multinational corporation as such he has enormous responsibilities on his shoulders. So, what he would often do to lighten his responsibilities is to delegate to his underlings many of his functions without him carefully assessing the function/s that he delegated. 

After a year of operation, the board of directors noted that the company was not financially healthy. There was low morale among the workers because they were not receiving their salaries on time and working conditions was very poor. Soon after, there was rebellion within his subordinates and they called for the CEO’s firing. To save the organization the CEO was immediately fired of the BOD. 

To get to the bottom of the CEO’s dismal performance the board of directors hired independent auditors to audit the performance of the CEO. They found out that the CEO was fond of delegating his functions without having a first-hand knowledge about the function to be delegated.

For example, in the marketing department he simply told his middle managers to market their products without providing them the needed leadership on how to undertake it. He did the same thing in the production department.

The CEO being the leader must always lead the way for his organization and the people working for it. What does lead the way means? It means that he should not just delegate with reckless abandon. When he delegates he must know the work and function to be delegated.

This doesn’t mean that he would micromanage his organization because this is counterproductive. What this means is he has a clear grasp of the delegated functions and every function under his organization for that matter.   

A leader becomes a true leader when he knows what he is doing and when he leads by example. Otherwise, he becomes a leader in name only, a leader which is incompetent, averse to responsibility and can easily be deposed by his subordinates. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

To apologize or not to apologize?

A story is told about Rudolf who is a manager in an Information Technology Co. Rudolf is a brash and arrogant manager/leader. He does not hesitate to admonish his subordinates whenever he wants to do so.

There was one office meeting wherein he arrogantly told his newly promoted supervisor: I am not recognizing your promotion because you did not pass through the proper selection process. But the newly promoted supervisor told him: I respectfully disagree with you sir for the reason that I went through the process and I also complied all the necessary requirements to enable my promotion.  Eventually, it was proven that the newly promoted supervisor had complied with everything that was required for him to be promoted.

Now, the question that needs to be answered is, should the manager apologize for mistake and arrogance? Many managers/leaders would not apologize because they may think that it could weaken their authority and position of leadership.  Instead, they would simply let that episode pass by and be forgotten.

However, is not to apologize right? Of course not! A good and ethical leader should apologize most especially mistakes brought about by arrogance and power tripping. This is for the reason that when a leader apologizes it enhance not only his position of leadership but also his reputation and credibility as a leader.

To apologize is never a show of weakness it’s actually a show of a leader’s humility, strength of character and wisdom. But, for a myopic leader/manager to apologize is never part of his/her vocabulary. Why? For the simple reason that he/she continuously allow his mind to be enveloped by arrogance. 

Therefore, a good leader/manager must throw away or discard any form of arrogance in his/her exercise of managerial and leadership function. He/she should instead let in humility for it will certainly enhance his/her reputation and value as a good, compassionate and effective leader. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Don’t surround yourself with yes-men and women

Polly is a newly promoted Chief Executive Officer being at the top of his organization he has every power that he could dream of. He therefore surrounded himself with people that earns his trust and confidence. The problem is, these people whom he surrounded himself with were all yes-men and women.

They would always feed him with positive information even if what is going on the ground was negative. For example, there was already rumblings amongst the rank and file because of the poor working condition that they had. Yet the people whom he surrounded himself with did nothing to tell him about this. When he asked them regarding this issue they simply told him that there’s nothing to worry for it’s not true.

A good manager/leader should not surround himself/herself with yes-men and women. The leader/manager must see to it that none of these characters are present in her/his inner circle. She/he should dare surround herself/himself with people who would tell her/him what is really going on the ground and not conceal or sugarcoat it.

A good and wisdom filled manager/leader should surround herself/himself with people who would dare push back and challenge his/her mindset whenever there is a need for it. Otherwise, if a manager/leader would only surround himself with yes-men and women it would certainly severely compromise her/his decision-making ability. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

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The importance of giving immediate feedback

Janet is a manager in a marketing company with ten workers under her care and supervision. Every manager in their organization looks up to her because she is always able to surpass her sales target.

She was asked by her CEO this question during a testimonial given to her and her subordinates:  “How come you are always able to surpass your sales target/s?” Her immediate reply was this: “I immediately give my subordinates’ feedback about their sales performance be it positive or negative feedback.”

Giving immediate feedback to your subordinates is a very important tool for them to achieve, even exceed their targets. For example, if a worker exceeds her/his target or performing exceptionally well in her/his assigned task. An immediate feedback should immediately be given to them.

This could be in a form of praise or any form of recognition to highlight the exceptional performance. Why give an immediate feedback? This is to reinforce the positive work behavior so that could be sustained. 

The same should apply when giving feedback to the laggards, their attention should immediately be called as well. So that they are made aware that they need to immediately do something to improve their work performance.  Otherwise, sanctions allowed under the rules of the organization would be forthcoming to them.

While positive feedback should be given in full view to further inspire and motivate. Negative feedback should be given in private this is to avoid embarrassment, humiliation and further demotivation. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Is your boss overloading you with work?

Alex is a first level manager in a manufacturing organization, every now and then his boss would assign him work that is not in his job description. He simply accepts it and does not give much attention to it until he is through with his work that falls in his job description.

One afternoon, his boss went to him to ask about the additional work that he gave him. Alex told his boss that he has not touched it yet since he is already overloaded with work that is directly assigned to him.

What should you do when your boss is overloading you with work that is not in your job description? Should you immediately refuse it? Or accept it with the thought in mind that you would do it after you are through doing your officially assigned task?

When you are being overloaded with work it doesn’t mean that your being bullied by your boss. It simply means that your boss sees you as somebody who is competent and well rounded. Otherwise, he would not assign you additional workload if you cannot do the job well.

Every additional work that is given to you even if that work is not directly within your job description is a testament of your intelligence and competence. Else, you would not be given additional work if you cannot do the job and if your boss does not believe in you.

However, there are also bosses who are abusive, lazy and incompetent they love to delegate workloads even if they are designated to do it. If this is the scenario you have to gently remind your boss about it otherwise he would continue to dump you with more workloads.

What if after sounding off your boss that you are already overloaded yet he/she continuously dumps you with more work? It’s about time to say goodbye to your boss and transfer to a new department. If this is not possible and you are confident of your competence you can start to look for another Job.

Otherwise your health and your family’s wellbeing would suffer for the reason that you are overloaded with work. – Marino J. Dasmarinas