An employee recently transferred to your Department from another area within the

Question

An employee recently transferred to your Department from another area within the organization. While you strongly encourage your staff to reach out to you with any questions at any time, this particular employee never contacts you. As a matter of fact, if you did not take affirmative steps to check in on the employee, you are not sure you would ever see him. The employee is a strong performer but it has become apparent that he routinely makes mistakes and only seeks help after a small problem becomes a significant issue. Many of these mistakes could have arguably been avoided by taking the time to have a quick conversation with you for help or guidance. You are familiar with this employee’s former supervisor and cannot help but wonder if the employee has been programmed with some bad habits. Most specifically, the former supervisor would berate people for seeking help or asking questions. The former supervisor expected everyone to know and do their jobs without any support from her. This manager did not believe her job was to support and mentor subordinates (she used to refer to that as “coddling” the workers). You never agreed with this management style and you suspect the employee is not coming to you with questions out of fear of reprimand.

What do you believe is the underlying problem in this scenario?

How would you propose to address this problem?

What type of follow-up will you need to do to ensure the employee’s behaviors are modified to meet your expectations?

If your coaching does not appear to have an impact on the employee’s behavior, what would be your next steps?

Explanation / Answer

The underlying problem is the humiliation faced by the employee by his previous employer who expected everyone to know his and work and never provide any support or guidance to the employees. This has made the employee accustomed to not asking for help since he fears he would be humiliated,even for asking something small.A manager's words can slay, belittle, diminish and demoralize. Some superiors take advantage of their power and authority by going into full combat and assault mode and thats exactly what has happened in this employee's behaviour. As the current boss,to help the employee overcome this fear of not being able to approach the boss,communication is very important.As a boss,I need to be accessible and have an one on one interaction with him to help him explain his problem and work together to find the solution. I need to set an example,by holding team meetings including the employee in question and showcasing him the support that I as a boss can provide when some other employee asks me a question during the meeting or a doubt.This observation would slowly help him understand that reprimanding is not something that I follow for even small things. I have to consistently review his performance and behaviour to see the changes. I would have to give him work that would require my help so that he has no option but to approach the boss and maybe I would have to use little negative reinforcement wherein ,not approaching the boss for any job could lead to his demotion or not giving him important assignments,but not to an extreme level since that could de-motivate him. Its also important to have regular sessions with the employee to keep a check on his behaviour and discuss his problems.Having an open door policy will help him reach out to the boss and if all this doesnt work then maybe he would have to be suggested to a professional counselor to help him overcome his anxiety of being reprimanded.

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