Generational Issues and the Difficult Employee
| I’ve made several posts now related to generational issues and others related to “difficult employees.” It’s time to connect the two streams.
When you have an employee who is causing problems, one of the first things to do is determine what the cause is. This is not necessarily the same as the immediate complaint made by the worker.
Here’s an example. An older worker (“late career” worker) begins to resist participation in meetings, and perform poorly. This is awkward and you don’t know how to handle it because the worker has been an excellent resource. To get to the root cause of the problem, you talk to the complaining worker. It turns out she is concerned that new technology-based efficiency changes have replaced time-honored ways of doing business. She is also concerned that she will not be able to perform well as she has been performing – at the top of her game.
This result is fixable. The point is, though, that you have to avoid making assumptions at the beginning. You must get to the cause of the problem. Keep asking “Why?”. What has seemed to be awkward and unusual can become easier to fix than you think. |
Posted on: May 04, 2007 12:04 PM
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Employers: Different Abilities of Older & Younger Workers Matter
| Employers believe there are differences between the characteristics of early career employees and late career employees. According to the National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development, the differences they see have important implications to the future of workforce management – and your projects.
Here’s a slice: Employers value low turnover rates. It is important to build an organizational base of expertise, after all. They see late career employees as low turnover, but employers see early career workers as being high turnover. Score one for late careerists. Employers want employees to take initiative. They see early career workers about equal to late career workers as having that characteristic. Finally, employers want employees that are creative. They see early career workers as more creative than late career workers. Score one for early careerists. Looks like we have a draw.
So what? To survive the future, companies will have to adapt quickly to any number of new competitive challenges. Organizational leaders will require a mix of age groups to bring in the necessary characteristics. But each career group must be receptive to the strengths of the other group! Late career workers must adopt new technologies and creative solutions that disrupt the status quo. Early career workers must be able to respect and use the expertise of the late career workers.
It’s a delicate balance. If your employer does manage this balance adequately, then you may find it difficult to succeed in your projects. Too much mistrust and conflict. You may have to attempt to maintain the balance within your project. But, good grief, that’s a difficult gap to fill for a project manager who is already pulled from many directions and the odds are not great for success. |
Posted on: May 02, 2007 03:25 PM
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Document Behavioral Issues From the Git Go
| I was just reading about recent HR litigation and something struck me. What you have to do on a weekly basis to properly manage employees is surprising.
Case in point: Project managers are often frustrated by difficult workers, and allow the problem behavior (or performance) to continue until a breaking point. When they finally act on this festering wound, they are unprepared.
It is so important that you make behavioral notes in problem employee records daily or weekly. Every project. Every week. Think about it: You are going to have to confront the worker eventually, assuming you do not find a way to transfer the employee to a competitor. Who knows what will happen during or after the confrontation? There may be worse behavior, or a lawsuit. The worker may say that it is not a problem and refuse to discuss it any further, blaming you. Any of these things and more.
You need documentation of the facts so that you are not helpless in your proper resolution of this problem. This also gives you confidence when you do take the confrontation step. If you search on progressive discipline at this site, you can get help for this, but you still have to make the time for the documentation and remember to do it.
Maybe I can find time to develop a strategy to transfer problem employees to competitors. |
Posted on: April 26, 2007 08:46 AM
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Get Your Workers Engaged
| With today’s employee’s market and the need for high-performing workers in your project, it is crucial to ensure your workers are engaged. Not to each other, but to your organization, and more importantly, to your project.
This term “engagement” is hot today in HR, yet still very useful for project managers to consider. It combines job satisfaction and commitment. If your workers are either not satisfied (because, for example, their talents are not being appreciated) or not committed to the project (because, for example, it appears to have low impact in the company), then you will enjoy the additional problem of higher turnover and lower performance.
To get workers engaged - in your project at least - use some kind of employee recognition. What we’ve found out through several studies in the last couple of years is that you have to reward workers with what they will remember. Some only desire written praise. One study found that only 40% of these people actually get it. What is so hard about providing written praise? Other workers want merchandise, gift cards or trips. Not difficult either. The same study found only 27% of those workers received what they wanted. One company, Maritz, improved its incentive system to fix problems like these and received three times more revenue and hours. Now that’s engagement!
Your organization may not have the best incentive program. If not, lobby for a better one. While you wait for the improvements, try to improve what you do in your project. It turns out that it doesn’t cost much to give people what they want. |
Posted on: April 25, 2007 09:01 AM
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Have You Got A Bad Rep?
| It appears that Nigeria has done for elections what it has done for business by e-mail. Nigeria is developing a reputation that is the polar opposite of what it would like to have. But this is not only a news item; there is a lesson for us about the importance of managing our own reputation.
What do people think about you as a project manager? Sure you are an upstanding, agreeable person, with no vices at all, but what do they think of you as a project manager? Do they know you as someone who prepares workers to do their best and supports them during the project? Or do they know you as “the one wears workers down to the bone then discards them”? Do they feel that you can lead the project to a successful conclusion? Or are you believed to be a manager who fails and then blames the workers?
Your reputation matters. The best people will not work in your projects if they hear that you are detrimental to their career. Those who do work in your project will not be motivated to do their best. Even those outside the project who are supposed to support your project will avoid having anything to do with you if you are seen as trouble in some way. Then what happens? Without the best workers or organizational support, you do even worse next time.
Ask around and find out what others think of you as a project manager. It’s not too late to make a change. Build social skills and improve your basic project management skills so that your weaknesses do not keep you down. |
Posted on: April 24, 2007 08:09 AM
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