My surprise at seeing the thread of emails between my supervisor and one of my direct reports bordered on shock. I sat in the airport in Chicago on my way home from meetings with several of our strategic partners with time to check my emails. I opened my email to see a stern prose from my boss chastising one of my direct reports. I winced as I read through the original email. Why my direct report had chosen to email her concerns to the entire group was beyond me. Wisdom dictated that the candor of her observations required much more discretion than a group-wide broadside.
Now instead of helping my employee process a valid observation and manage their emotion I had to manage up with the entire executive team and manage down to all my team who were now convinced that their feedback was unwanted and a potential liability to their career survival.
What would you do?
Things are frequently not handled with optimum consideration for the people involved. Neither the amount of work you would have to do, nor the tact for the person concerned was considered here. My first question is were they intentionally inconsiderate? If they were then they are trying to send a message. Either that they don’t care how hard they make you work, or maybe they thought the employee was too soft and thought maybe they could toughen him up. Maybe they wanted to group to see how mistakes would be handled. Maybe they thought it was the best way to motivate the employee. Maybe wanted to see how you would handle it.
If it wasn’t intentional and it may not have been then as always be an example of tactfulness. Deal with the up and down lines and put in the extra work. Be understanding of the employee that was corrected and make sure not to diminish the weaker parts of what he did because obviously there was a need for some correction. I would be the best example of good correction to them that I could.
Either way I would have a conversation with the person who did the public correcting and at least get their mind on why they acted this way. If you don’t know, you can’t act.
I want to post quick hello and want to say appreciate this good article.
This book deals with all the difficulties I have had with my relationships. Little things would upset me and I would take it out on the people around me, just because I I was in a bad mood. Now, I think twice and try to put the upset into perspective in the grand scheme of things. I also use the technique of thinking will this matter in a few days,,,,,,a few weeks,,,,,, a few months,,,,,, and of course, it won’t.
I work with some people I don’t like also. In the corporate world, some people are strictly focused on getting ahead, looking good, career advancement, doing as little as possible etc. Not values I share. When I must interact with them, after reading this book, although it is still my first reaction to get annoyed when I am confronted with their self serving agenda, on Dr.Stein’s advice, I take a step back, I actively work on being pleasant instead of annoyed and I keep my interactions short.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to improve their own life by working on their interpersonal relationships.