Having to issue my first 'dressing down'

[YellowHighHeels]

Hi everyone, hoping for some line management advice please! I know this is going to sound like a pathetic thing to ask but I want to get it right.

I am a middle manager in the public sector (very new to this dept) and have been lucky in that I have never really had to pull anyone up firmly before. But now I do.

This isn't a disciplinary or anything, I just need this person to improve substantially and to be aware of the issues in good time to do so before their appraisal. She is on a short term contract which may not be renewed if my LM does not see an improvement so her carrying on regardless is not really an option.

I manage this one lady (my job is more policy than running a team) who does my team's admin and helps with the business side. She is a lovely person and I want to help her develop.

However, there are several issues relating to her completion of tasks, communication and quality of work.

I recognise that I need to take action, such as checking and mapping progress more regularly but hers is a junior management grade so some autonomy and proactivity is expected.

She has been on the team about a year. I have been there 5 weeks but my LM highlighted the issues to me when I started.

I have tried to help her to improve day to day, with training, putting processes and tools in place and assuring her she is more than welcome to ask if unsure what to do. But it hasn't really worked. Even when I have raised issues in the context of mistakes she has made, she just blithely agrees to everything I say and does not improve so i need to do this a bit more firmly and formally.

I will discuss this with my manager before we talk but wanted to see whether the conversation should go as follows (shit sandwich approach) or whether anyone has better ideas:

Ask generally how she is doing.
Say I would like to raise some areas for improvement
Acknowledge her work in one or 2 areas.
Ask what, if any, issues or difficulties she feels she is finding with the job
Outline the 4 main points I want her to improve on, with examples of this affecting her work
Discuss ways to improve
Thank her for the good points she is bringing to the team
assure her that her mistakes so far are not the end of the world but could cause issues (operationally) if improvements are not made.
Check if she understands everything
Follow up with an email briefly spelling out the points raised.

Also, one of the problems is that her correspondence is fairly sloppy and unprofessional. She has been working in admin for many, many years now and I am a bit unsure how to get her to improve this!

It isn't really formatting or using unprofessional language, more that she writes in a stream of consciousness that is quite hard to understand but makes perfect sense to her. Therefore I'm not sure if a training course would help (if there is one). Any ideas on how to approach this, please?!

Many thanks in advance for any advice!

Make the improvement points SMART so that you both know what is expected, by when, and how it will be measured. That way if you need to escalate matters to a full review of performance, there can be no 'grey areas'

I think what youre suggesting sounds good. Set some smart targets for improvement.

Re: course. We have the option to go on them. Good idea. You may have to take a couple of examples of her work and really lay it out for her how confusing it is. Give an example of how the example should be composed.

Stop thinking about it as a "dressing down". You are aiming to deliver constructive feedback to support her performance. Position it like that to yourself - you're both adults, not parent/child.

I think you need to be more direct. In a nice way - but fannying about with "shit sandwiches" might leave her thinking she's doing fine and you're just making some general suggestions. Positive feedback yes, but there needs to be an unambiguous message that she needs to improve. I would position in the way you've described it before your outline - supporting her development i.e. you could be great, let's work together to get there.

Asking her what she thinks the issues are is great, but "what if any issues she is finding" means she might think nothing's wrong. "How do you think you're doing" would be a better opener, because you may need to correct her view - she thinks all is fine, you know it isn't...

You need to give specific examples of when there have been problems, and I'd switch it round - not "you never proof read, last week you sent this with an error in", instead "let's talk about what happened last week when you sent this with an error on. Why was there an error? Did you proof read? Do you ever? Why not? What if you started proof reading, do you think that would help?"

There needs to be a solution/action plan - your outline says, just basically do it better yeah? So there needs to be either, how are you going to fix this and what do you need from me to do that; or, I am going to do x y z and I need you to do a b c. Otherwise it's not clear how she is going to improve.

And you need to be clear about what you will do to help her; otherwise it sounds like you're dropping this on her and walking away... How are you going to manage her going forwards, how often are you going to give her feedback on her improvement or otherwise, what does she need to do to demonstrate improvement...

Thank you very much PPs for mentioning making improvements SMART. I will need to have a think about how we could do so, more so for some of the points than others.

Thanks LordEmsworth I do agree, re reading my post that it seems a bit fluffy and includes a lot of praise.

I'm glad you pointed this out. The individual is quite hard to guide as she takes everything as very casual, friendly suggestions rather than instructions no matter how clear I am so I need to make clear her performance needs to improve.

She also has a maddening manner of when I provide an explanation or request, echoing what I say as though she was telling me it, if that makes sense. This sounds as though she understands things when afterwards it becomes evident that she did not.

I need to tighten things up but my much more experienced LM says the same, that she is very nice but a lot goes over her head!

Your suggestions will be a good place to start. I think the crux is getting her to listen and to think critically. Asking her why issues keep happening and to suggest solutions should encourage the latter.

Don't start by asking generally how she is doing - it risks derailing the discussion and hands ball to her right at the outside. Start straight in with the second point - "I wanted to meet with you today to discuss some areas for improvement" .

I'm in a very, very similar position OP. Manager in public sector and not long started - issues with one of my team were flagged when I started and I quickly found out it was much, much worse than everyone had first though. Catastrophically bad to the point we may have to discontinue one of our service provisions.

When I addressed it I asked my manager to join in the conversation so it was the three of us. I did this so that they couldn't try and wriggle out of it by saying I didn't know about the past.

I started by discussing with my manager what the issues were, the effect of them and what the approach would be.

When we spoke to this person I laid out clearly and succinctly what the issues are and the effect it has had on service provision. And said we can't continue like this, so things need to change. I had examples written down to refer to so I wasn't just saying "you haven't done this..." but could give specifics as to when this had happened recently and my manager added in examples from before I joined.

I was also clear about the possible outcomes. You don't want her to get to her review and it all be a surprise. I put together a formal plan for mine, not a disciplinary but a support plan to be reviewed weekly with the aim of supporting them to get to where they need to be.

Then you just have to accept what she does - either she will make an effort and get to where she needs to, or she will not and she won't have her contract renewed. That's up to her.

You've already given her a fair opportunity to improve on specific aspects of her work. If she just nods along and effectively goes "yeah yeah whatever" by passive aggressively parroting what you suggested, then she's being purposefully disrespectful which is very frustrating.

Had she genuinely acknowledged some short fall in her performance and offered a reasonable explanation (family issues have impacted concentration, workload has gone through the roof etc) one might have a degree of sympathy and want to give her ongoing support.

Sounds like a written PIP would be helpful because it brings a sense of reality to the situation, and also provides specific achievable areas for improvement, with timescales to see a difference. Hopefully she'll take the matter more seriously.

Thanks DaisyChain and HedgeFund

I'm not sure the echoing thing is deliberately being disrespectful, it's more as though she is trying to sound certain of what she is doing and reassure me so as not to get into trouble... when actually I have said, and mean, I would rather she asked me 100 times for clarity. She doesn't even paraphrase which would show some understanding, she just repeats back my words.

My temptation is to ask her 'do you understand? What do I need you to do and why?' to check at the time but this would be very patronising I think!!

For instance, made up example, if she had got a finance process wrong, I might explain 'we need to complete the monthly spending forecast by xx so it is approved by xx and submitted to xx in time for month end' she would be going 'yes, that's right' nodding enthusiastically and echo 'by month end'. Giving me the impression she has got it. But then the same mistake will be made.

I think because we manage so many different processes and she does this with more or less anything I explain, I am not sure how to make this measurable or specific. I have made a calendar of regular tasks I could check for quality and completion but it is ad hoc jobs too and understanding of how the dept and team works.

I would like to give her a chance before it gets to PIP as (long story) she was without proper management for a period before I got here and did her best to get on with the job. It is more her unusual behaviours, poor comms, lack of joined up thinking, and not seeing tasks through which feel out of keeping with her years of experience in similar jobs rather than getting specific tasks wrong. I hope this makes sense, trying not to be too specific here!

I mean, I am hoping addressing the sloppy behaviour and me doing extra checks and balances will improve her work, not that she does not make mistakes.

OP, could target dates be out in the calendar so it's clear what needs to be delivered by her and by what date? It sounds like she's not been given clear instruction or doesn't understand the expectations. As already mentioned, use SMART and document everything - initially it may need weekly check in meetings to review workload and delivery. As for the lack of professionalism in letters etc, there's quite a few courses out there in the public sector on report/letter writing and some of these start with the basics. Best if luck!

It's not about "issuing a dressing down". You need to be following an agreed procedure for addressing performance issues. Otherwise you could end up in hot water yourself!!

It is more her unusual behaviours, poor comms, lack of joined up thinking, and not seeing tasks through

Some people have difficulty following 3 step instructions and seem to understand a request as they agree and parrot it back, but it literally goes over their head.

Would/could she improve if you gave her a checklist of every step in a particular task or several tasks to check if that's the issue?

Also, with the stream of consciousness style of correspondence, it's possible she can't select the pertinent points she needs to convey.

You may think your instructions are adequate, she may be neurodiverse and need much more literal step by step instructions. Any instruction needs to be as clear and concise as possible, no metaphors, no insinuations, no hints.

Agreed HopeisHere it's not a dressing down, that was a poor turn of phrase. Sorry about that! I just meant to express that it is the first time I have had to really sit somebody down and go through serious issues in their work and find solutions.

I definitely see it as trying to constructively improve her performance (and work out what I need to do to help), not a bollocking or disciplinary meeting.

It might be good to send her a point by point follow up email after your meeting. Ask her to read through the points carefully and flag any queries. Is it possible that she is overwhelmed with her workload? My experience, as a career administrator, is that admins can become overwhelmed when they don’t feel they can say no and they’re not supported as a valued professional.

I definitely see it as trying to constructively improve her performance (and work out what I need to do to help), not a bollocking or disciplinary meeting.

It sounds like you're being supportive to your direct report. Some of her behaviour sounds quite irritating if I'm honest, but it's difficult to 'translate' someone's individual mannerisms on here.

If you can be specific about the priorities she needs to get better at (because they are having an adverse effect on your service users), and balance genuine attempts towards support versus micromanagement which can reduce someone's confidence (tricky getting that balance right, I know), that's all you can do.

She has to put the significant proportion of the effort in, if she takes her role seriously.

Sorry if I've missed it: can you empower her to find a friendly colleague who's willing to mentor her, or maybe more than one person, if for example someone is good at written communications, to help her reduce the 'stream of consciousness' effect, and a different person who has expertise in your business processes?

What does your agency say about performance management? Is this an informal action before formal action? She needs to know, and so do you.

You'll need to use SMART as already mentioned. If she fails to buck up, taking into account the previous poor management and lack of direction, you need to give her a reasonable time frame for behavioural change.
You'll need to arrange reviews, put things in writing, and ensure she understands the consequences of failing to change.

I think having your line manager there too is a good idea, or you'll be seen as the brand new manager who is out to get the team, not just her...

Go in armed with examples and use them to pick out what went wrong and get her suggestions on what would stop it happening next time. If it’s her suggestion she’s more likely to be up for implementing it.

Make sure you do a detailed follow up note, and explicitly mention the future in terms of these issues being potential blockers to contract renewal - that makes a paper trail that could be important.

Keep it future focused - she may be defensive or blame poor / lack of management in the past. You need to re-focus every time on what you’ve observed, and what needs to change in the future. Otherwise you’ll wrangle about the past, which is sterile; though you should (briefly) acknowledge it wasn’t ideal and must have been difficult for her, if it comes up.

Thanks Mummacake yes I have upcoming tasks on the calendar as well as weekly one to ones (about 3 now) These have been quite informal until now, also she has been doing a lot of my on boarding and showing me the ropes of a lot of the areas I am supervising her on so quite a bit of me asking her stuff. The answers in some cases have turned out to be complete nonsense frankly but it has taken a few weeks for this to come to light.

When I have fed back on issues, it has been the 'yes, yes' treatment so I absolutely need to use this time In a more targeted and constructive way.

AnneJeanne thanks, yes I definitely will be doing this and asking her whether I need to clarify anything.

Breakfasttime you make a great point there about it being future focussed. In all fairness she hasn't had the right support- nobody in my position for months, the guy before me had one foot out of the door for ages, senior management extremely busy, I've been trying but am new myself so focussed on learning the ropes and getting unfamiliar stuff delivered. Therefore, I'm not too fussed about what has gone before except as illustrative examples. Nothing terrible has happened. But I do need to see changes and she is capable of more.

PP suggesting a mentor outside the team, I love that idea and will find out who to ask as there is a scheme.

I'd keep in mind that this could be a huge shock to her and you might get quite an emotional reaction. She's been there a year and, if no one has addressed these issues thus far, she will be in for a mighty shock.

Yeah, I'm kind of expecting this KatherineJaneway she seems to think she is doing great and is very efficient (even when I have raised issues), and might either be very upset or defensive.

I don't want her to be upset, I fully acknowledge she should have been told all of this long before my time.

Alternatively, and I think perhaps more likely, she seems to have such a thick skin/ poor listening skills that she might just not get it at all! In which case I will have to say my piece, have the discussion, carry out my follow up actions and ongoing support and simply accept if she does not improve then I've done all I can.

Not looking forward to it.

I would expect complete denial and defensiveness, from what you’ve said. It’s really hard dealing with someone with no insight, and you’re lucky that she’s not a permanent team member if that does turn out to be the case, because my experience is that it’s not something you can change with coaching / management / training etc. And people with no insight tend to be very sensitive to their own feelings, and oblivious other people’s, which is a poor combination at work.

I mean, don't get me wrong, she is genuinely very kind, I feel I have made her sound awful by pointing out the negatives and she isn't. I've found a writing course to send her on which I think will hopefully help. But yes, I do need more insight and thinking from her which seems quite a biggie to ask!

she seems to think she is doing great and is very efficient (even when I have raised issues), and might either be very upset or defensive.

I think you need to prepare for that. In my very first full time job I went into an appraisal and was blindsided by the feedback. They’d waited 6 months to tell me my weaknesses. I was devastated. I thought I was doing a good job as no one had said otherwise, so carried on believing things were all good. I was only a teen but have never forgotten the pain of being so humiliated.

If she has never been made aware of issues, then you need to prepare for anger, tears and her going off on sick leave / handing in her notice very quickly.

Oof. It is horrible, Katherine. In a junior position years ago that happened to me. Got an awful appraisal that constantly referred to 'inconsistencies' but my LM refused to say what these inconsistencies were or give any examples. No indication this would happen and I felt like I must be too useless to bother even taking to one side and pointing out where I was going wrong.

I want to acknowledge to my colleague that this conversation should have happened previously but that she has ample time before the appraisal period and contract end to show some real improvements.

I would also like check with my LM whether in terms of the points I want to raise, we can draw a line under what has happened before this meeting and appraise her based on improvements made. Has anyone ever known this to happen?

Or to some extent do that, say, give the next couple of months more weight than the last year.