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What is with my employees this week?

MommyAttyMommyAtty member
in Working Moms
So glad it's Friday. This has been a week of hard conversations. I have a paralegal who finished law school about 5 years ago in another state. Flunked the bar exam in that state. Told me this week she plans on taking the Texas bar so we can convert her to an attorney. Ain't gonna happen. And I told her that before I hired her. So I had to recalibrate her expectations, find an informal mentor for her, and spend hours talking about alternative career paths. Another employee was leaving for vacation without doing a bunch of stuff my boss ordered him to do while I was on mat leave. Then he got whiny bc I told him to stay late to get it done before he left. Ugh. On the positive side, on my end, part of my self-imposed development plan is to get better at hard conversations. So I've gotten good experience this week!
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Re: What is with my employees this week?

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    shannmshannm member
    MommyAtty said:

    So glad it's Friday. This has been a week of hard conversations. I have a paralegal who finished law school about 5 years ago in another state. Flunked the bar exam in that state. Told me this week she plans on taking the Texas bar so we can convert her to an attorney. Ain't gonna happen. And I told her that before I hired her. So I had to recalibrate her expectations, find an informal mentor for her, and spend hours talking about alternative career paths. Another employee was leaving for vacation without doing a bunch of stuff my boss ordered him to do while I was on mat leave. Then he got whiny bc I told him to stay late to get it done before he left. Ugh. On the positive side, on my end, part of my self-imposed development plan is to get better at hard conversations. So I've gotten good experience this week!

    You sound like a good boss. I do not look forward to those conversations and it is why I am seriously questioning whether I will ever agree to be a people manager.
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    Mustardseed2007Mustardseed2007 member
    That is a really good goal. I used to have a direct report that I really didn't like that much - I mean I was fine with her on a professional level but on a personal level we didn't really click or have that much in common - so I got really good at distancing myself and having those "hard conversations" whenever necessary. Now that report has been replaced by someone I personally like a lot, and those "hard conversations" have gotten so much harder.


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    Slb22Slb22 member
    Sounds like a rough week! It's good to look at the positive.
    I got a promotion right before I left on maternity leave (literally took effect 5 days before I gave birth). I now manage 2 people and am not looking forward to some of these tough conversations.
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    cecilyandgautamcecilyandgautam member
    I'm impressed that you're forcing the guy who was supposed to cover for you on ML to take care of things before heading out. There's a lot of supposed backstopping each other in my office but no real consequences for those who just leave things half baked until you get back. 
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    MommyAttyMommyAtty member
    cecilyandgautam said:
    I'm impressed that you're forcing the guy who was supposed to cover for you on ML to take care of things before heading out. There's a lot of supposed backstopping each other in my office but no real consequences for those who just leave things half baked until you get back. 

    Oh, this wasn't backstopping work. It's part of his job! I wanted to smack him. Yes, my VP has some goofy ideas. But he's our VP. You do what he instructs you to do! Another of my subordinates back stopped my legal work. She rocked! Administrative stuff, I did while I was on leave bc I knew the people who were supposed to backstop wouldn't. And, like your situation, there would be no consequences.
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    Virgo17Virgo17 member
    edited June 2014
    A couple of weeks ago one of my employees made a string of bad decisions.  He is in his mid-twenties and needs some serious life coaching.  His work is good and he is smart enough, but he has complete lapses in judgment about lame stuff.

    For example, I needed him to attend a training that went from 2-5pm.  His normal hours are 7:30-4:00, so I assumed he might shift his hours a little later that day.  What does he do?  Tells the trainers his "shift" ends at 4:00pm and leaves!  So I had to call him in and do the "I expect you to stay for the entirety of any trainings" speech.  On those days it truly feels like babysitting.
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