Need some advice

HCCADC

A supervisor has been in my office complaining about an employee and most of the complaints are due to personality. (this has been continous for the last couple of weeks) The employee is in my office complaining about the supervisor and her attitude. I would appreciate if anyone could give me some steps that you have used in the past in regards to attitude problems, conflict with supervisor, supervisee due to personalities. I'm feeling like there isn't an answer and it is hard to believe who is telling the truth. How frustrating!! Thanks for your help.

Cotterwood

Good Morning,

This is very common. I'm assuming the employee reports to this supervisor.
First, regardless of whose right - there is most definitely a personality conflict going on. Are there any other possible openings that this employee could transfer into?
A) The Employee
1. Forgetting the personality problems - is the employee a good employee? Review the employee's file. If possible try to be around where you can observe without being noticed BY EITHER ONE (SUP. OR EE).
2. Are there other job opportunities that this employee could transfer into?
3. Have you gotten any negative reports from other employees regarding this employee?
4. Is the employee well liked by most everyone else?
The Supervisor
1. Is the supervisor a good supervisor, well thought of, good reviews, etc.
2. Talk to the supervisor - be a little sneaky - just talk about 'general topics'. Walk around stop in unannounced 'just to say hi'. See if you can pick up any other 'reasons' for the hostilities.

I had a very similar situation going on a couple of years back. It was one of my employees and one of the professional staff. My ee was very efficient, and liked to find different ways to accomplish the same result. With MY work, I didn't care how she accomplished the job as long as her 'technique' didn't TAKE MORE TIME/MATERIALS. The 'professional' wanted the particular 'task' done HER WAY no matter if it took longer - it turned out to be a power/confidence issue.
Believe me it took me a few weeks to really look at what was going on. The Prof. was in my office at least 2xweek - and my employee was in my office at least 3xweek. I was really to shoot both of them.
Once I 'broke the code', I sat my employee down and told her that I personally liked her ingenuity, BUT that some people are not comfortable with it. I also told her that was also a part of the job & her responsibility (in the job description) to be able to get along with others she came in contact with, AS IT WAS WITH THE prof. SO, if she is requested to do a job in a particular fashion - do it that way. Then when the rough edges start to smooth over with this individual, you can ASK 'if you have some time, I'd like to show you how I can do the same job using a different technique - saving some time for your project turnaround'. Basically, she had to learn to 'bend like a willow'.
I also spoke to the Prof. ee and reminder her that getting along with co-workers was also a part of her job description & responsibility.

But it really takes a lot of detective work and patience to get past the "she's just a B____! 'She's a rude individual', etc. to find out what the REAL PROBLEM was. In fairness to both ees, you'll need to do some detective work, and see if you can catch some visuals.

Bottom line - you have to bring down the hammer and tell them both of their equal responsibilities to get along with co-workers. The immediate supervisor has the power to hire/fire - the employee needs to remember that piece of information. There is more burden on the employee to learn to get along. If she can't manage to 'bend', then maybe a transfer would work for her.

Hope this helps you a little. I know what you are going through. It was not fun for me - wasted a lot of my time.
[email]cwood@tcpud.org[/email]

HCCADC

Thank you all for the advice. This is the first chance I have gotten to respond. It isn't going any better. I now have both employees in my office or on the phone telling me EVERY little thing. I plan on sitting down with both on Wed and trying to work it out. The problem is that the supervisor doesn't want to work it out. She wants to fire the employee. Her words--I don't want to look at her and I don't want to deal with her any more. The employee is at the doctor's office right now due to emotional problems caused by all of this. I am losing ground fast on this one! I have two stubborn individuals that do not want to give not even a little. I don't want to fire the employee b/c I don't feel that there is enough to fire her for and I am getting 2 different stories of the same account each time a new account is brought up. I have a pain in my neck (literally). Any more advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. I hope the sit down will help, but I am not optimistic.

POPEYE

As my daddy did when my brothers and I had differences and could
not seem to work them out, we had to sit down with him and decide who
did what, who thought what, what are we going to do.....
So sometimes we have to deal with EE/Supervisor situations similiarly.
Nothing better than having both in a meeting to air out differences
and come up with a game plan so that everyone may live happily ever after.

mwild31

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 10-23-03 AT 05:45PM (CST)[/font][p]I agree with Popeye. The scenario you describe gets no where fast without a sit down and all parties are involved. When I'm faced with the situation you describe, I usually set a meeting for all parties to attend. I then ask the employee to state their case, then the supervisor is allowed to respond/state their case. Next I let the employee respond to the supervisor's comments. When things start getting too emotional - I ask everyone to calm down/pass the tissue or simply tell them that they have to follow my rules. During the meeting I'm taking notes & trying to see where there are disagreements & where there might be compromises - always blending in company policy where appropriate. I then try to sum up what I'm hearing & try to suggest some solutions that would work - after I receive their input, then we put together a working agreement - outlining the points. I swear by working agreements - they document the issues & then become the 'bar' for performance/communication standards. This may be too simple approach, but it works best for me. I hope it helps a little.