t’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. Is there ever a bad morale “point of no return”?
I have a question about morale in small businesses. It seems as though it can be a tricky thing to maintain at times. Is there ever a “point of no return” where somewhere is just a tough place to work and it’s not going to change?
I generally like the company I work for and I want to see it continue to succeed, but a lot of the business practices and employee management styles that have developed in the past year and a half-ish are really at odds with what I think generates a positive and successful working environment. I’ve read some truly awful things in the letters on this website, so I know that the general slump of people feeling consistently undervalued and management nickel and dime-ing people is far from the worst place to be … but I feel like my workplace has really fallen into a routine that keeps morale pretty low (and consequently we’ve been seeing more employees quit, which is a route I’m currently considering).
It’s been brought to the attention of upper management in the past and there have been attempts to address the issues, but our CEO is, for lack of a better word, cheap and a “bums in seats = productivity” kind of person so there’s a lot of hurdles. Can small businesses come back from falling into habits that are bad for morale?
Sure, if the leadership at the top changes — either by changing how they think and operate, or by getting new people into those positions. But otherwise this kind of thing is very hard, if not impossible, to change from below.
Sometimes losing a string of really good employees can be a wake-up call that jostles an organization’s leadership into reexamining how they do things. Other times (and more often, frankly), it reinforces some of their worst tendencies (like “why should we be flexible and generous with people if they’re all just going to jump ship anyway?”) … and as good people leave and less-good ones remain, that too can reinforce bad practices (since if the staff quality goes down, it can feel like there’s more need for, say, micromanagement or distrust).
Without a commitment to change from the top and a real understanding of what that change needs to be and why, this stuff can get very entrenched. Hell, even with a real commitment from the top, strong management takes so much will and skill — especially when there are cultural problems to overcome — that the organization still may not be able to pull it off.
2. Telling a low-performer we’re not giving her a new project she wants
I have an employee who was clearly promoted beyond her capabilities (long before I became her supervisor), which everyone at the agency is aware of now. She is not as aware of her limitations. Although she acknowledges some of them and I’ve attempted to help her develop those areas, we’ve had very limited success. In other areas, she really does not recognize the problem at all.
We’re in the process of rolling out a new initiative that will require staff from our office to be trained and then provide that training to others. Every time we discuss any part of this project, my employee is very intentional to remind me that she really wants to get the training and become a trainer. I’ve largely put it off by telling her those decisions aren’t made yet, we’re still working on the curriculum and the management staff will make those decisions closer to the date. All of that is true. But what I’m not saying is that I would never put her in the position of representing our agency publicly and that my bosses have already told me that they would also never allow it. So, eventually I’m going to have to tell her no. Any advice on how I can best do that?
You have to be honest with her! It’s actually not fair if you, as her manager, aren’t sharing your assessment of her work with her. She’s entitled to believe that if you had serious concerns about her, you would have shared them with her — and certainly that if she’s asking to take on work you don’t think she’s capable of, you’d level with her. I can’t tell if perhaps you have had that conversation about her work more broadly and it’s just not registering with her, but if you haven’t done that yet, you definitely have to. (And are you sure you should be keeping her on, at least in her current role? If she’s not suited to it, that’s something that you as her manager need to address, even if it means ultimately transitioning her out.)
To explain why you’re not going to make her a trainer, you could say, “Doing this work well requires a track record of excelling at XYZ. I haven’t seen what I’d need to see from you in those areas, so we’re not going to make you a trainer for this initiative.” It might also make sense to add, “Right now what I need you focusing on is raising your performance in your current role, specifically on ABC.”
Have this conversation soon, because this isn’t about “those decisions haven’t been made yet”; it’s about “you aren’t qualified for this program,” and she deserves transparency from you on that. But it sounds like there’s also a bigger discussion to have here!
3. My office book club always starts really late
About 20 or so employees in various departments at the company I work at belong to a book club. All employees regardless of position can join and they only need to commit to attending a week in advance. We read a book a month and get together on the final Sunday morning of each month at a diner for brunch where we talk about the books. I think it is a good way to build camaraderie in the workplace and partake in an enlightening hobby together.
My problem is that about 40% of the people who agree to come on any given week show up at least 30 minutes late (sometimes over 45). Last time, I was stuck sitting in the parking lot for over an hour, first because one person showed up 40 minutes late, then because we had to wait 20 minutes for the diner to set a large table.
I am upset about this. I posted on the group’s Facebook page that it was not respectful of my time to show up so late after having agreed to come at 10 a.m. The facilitators of the group privately agreed with me but they refuse to go ahead and eat until without waiting for the late coworkers. My best friend, who has less patience than I do, said she would have left after waiting 10 minutes. I am afraid that doing so would create a lot of tension at work, but it would stop my time from being wasted. What do you think?
I think you are in a book club with people who don’t arrive on time, at least not on Sunday mornings, and that if the facilitators aren’t willing to do anything about that, there’s not much you can do yourself. You could try raising it with the group (do it in person at the next meeting, not over Facebook) and ask if people have ideas to address it — for example, is 10 a.m. too early for people, would it be better to do it over lunch during a workday, etc.?
But if that doesn’t solve it, then … well, this is a group of people who want to to get together but aren’t going to commit to a rigid start time. Some people prefer a more relaxed gathering, and that might be this group. If that’s the case, then you’ve got to decide if you still want to participate, knowing that people take the start time very loosely. If you do, then you might decide to start coming late yourself, or just expect it’ll start late and bring a book to occupy yourself while you wait, or even see if the on-time people want to branch off into a separate wing of the group.
4. Do ethics rules prohibit accepting an engagement ring?
My friend (Jennifer) just got proposed to by her boyfriend (Steve). My friend and I are both contractors working at government facilities, and her boyfriend is a government worker at a different facility.
Jennifer’s government lead is trying to tell her that because Steve works for the government, she cannot accept the engagement ring he gave her because its worth is over a certain amount. He’s telling her that if she doesn’t give it back, he will have her removed from the contract for misconduct. Can he do that? I have no idea how to advise Jennifer, and naturally I thought of you.
I don’t know what’s in Jennifer’s company’s ethics rules, but I would be awfully surprised if this were actually prohibited. It’s an engagement ring. It’s highly unlikely that this would fall under anyone’s ethics rules. But she should talk with her contract lead — not her government lead — for guidance, both on any applicable rules and also how to handle this guy (since I’m concerned about how it’s going to go when she has to tell him he’s wrong on the rules, given that he’s already raising the specter of “misconduct”).
5. Surviving a six-hour car trip with coworkers
I am lucky enough to have been selected to attend a conference in a city a six-hour drive away. I’ll be going with three other colleagues, none of whom work from the same office as me. One of these colleagues is the current boss of the entire organization and has a reputation of being a total hard-ass. I haven’t had a lot to do with her, but her reputation is that she is a bully and difficult. The two other colleagues are also a lot more senior than me, and I don’t know them well.
I’m worried about the awkwardness of being in a car with them for such a long time. I don’t know if I have the energy to maintain conversation for six hours in a car with people I don’t know well, particularly with the boss. The conference is only three days, and then we drive back again for another six hours. I’m guessing everyone in the group will feel similarly in that they’d rather not chit-chat for six hours but I’m not sure what the etiquette is here, especially as I’m the most junior in the organization. My partner thinks it would be okay to chuck in some ear buds and listen to podcasts after a bit, but I’m not sure about that.
I’m tempted to pay for my own ticket to fly, but I think that would look odd and people would raise their eyebrows. How should I approach this car trip?
Yep, it’s very likely that everyone else in the car will want to zone out and do their own thing too. Ear buds are almost definitely going to be fine, although I wouldn’t put them in the second you enter the car. Have some chit chat for half an hour, and then feel free to use them. If you feel awkward about it, you can always say, “I get carsick unless I zone out, so I’m going to put in some ear buds and close my eyes.”
Definitely don’t announce that you’re buying yourself a ticket to fly; it will indeed look odd and like you’re taking extreme measure to avoid the time with coworkers.
bad morale “points of no return,” my office book club is always late, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.
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