Help - conflicting opinions at work

[Phillipsson]

I have started a management role:

My predecessor left due to a person on the team who saw themselves as 2nd in command, and completely was insubordinate to the extent they would go straight to the CEO (who is 5 management steps above her manager). None of the changes my predecessor made were able to go ahead as this member of staff was very vocal and kicked back and took it upon themselves to “fight back”.

This vocal member of staff has complaints against her by others in the team, and also stakeholders however. They have a tendency to get upset and make 30 minute calls turn into hours whilst they rebut everything. As a result work wasn’t being completed on time. They find it hard to say no to the people in the team and can’t align with company decisions.

my problem is that although my manager is aware of the dynamic, they have not put in place anything to actually support me though they support my plans. I intend to make reasonable changes to the team as new staff have started and work needs to be balanced, but the vocal team member is pushing back on everything. How would you navigate?

Document absolutely everything along with suggested steps to support their transition to the new ways of working (training, shadowing etc) and very, very explicit, measurable targets. Then, if they fail to meet them, a performance improvement plan again with support and targets. May be a long process but it'll give you a pathway to manage them out if they don't comply. Any insubordination is failure to meet targets so could go as evidence in the plan and/or disciplinary action. Get HR onside early.

Also give them one shot, and I mean one, to air any objections or concerns and after that shut it down 'we've already discussed that's and follow up on everything in writing

Are you brand new there? Be the new broom and sweep well, don't get bogged doen in yesterday's dynamic?

Yes. I am trying that approach but honestly some of the things the vocal person is pushing back on are unreasonable. EG if I have to give another person reasonable adjustments agreed with HR, they are pushing back and saying it’s unfair and special treatment? They are supposed to be a junior management grade themselves.

this sounds straightforward to navigate on paper but ultimately my aim isn’t to piss people off, but to start a fresh slate and include everyone. But this person is highly confrontational and aggressive with thinly veiled threats of going to the CEO.

To add, I think they are confident the CEO will back them up, but the CEO shares the same concerns as me/my manager/my predecessor. But no one wants to formally document anything???

So you manage this person now?

If so then you need to pull up the following things from your handbook/company resources

• job description for their role
• company behaviours/values
• disciplinary process

You should be able to map the negative behaviours they are displaying to the company values/behaviours.

So for example is one of the company values is 'collaboration - finding consensus and working collaboratively with Colleagues towards a shared objective' and they have received negative feedback or you have observed them shutting down other people's opinions and taking over the project. That is a direct example of them not meeting the expectations.

You start with an 'informal' discussion.
You then follow your disciplinary process. Generally that would be a formal meeting resulting in a verbal warning, then escalating to written warning, final written warning, dismissal. At each stage there needs to be a genuine and supported opportunity for the employee to demonstrate improvement.

Everything including the informal meeting should be clearly documented, with SMART objectives and you need to ensure you explore whether any support is needed and deliver on that.

Looking at the positive side of this, you seem to have someone who wants to progress, who wants to develop into a more senior role, but is going about it in the wrong way. If you can address the behaviours and support them to take a more tactful approach you may actually have someone who could be a real benefit to you and the team.

I do manage this person now, and thank you. I suppose they are well meaning but are far away from promotion.

they have been in the department for 20 years at a junior grade, so are assuming that anyone who gets the job as their manager is inexperienced by comparison but they don’t have the soft skills like negotiation or stakeholder management. They find it difficult to be concise. They log into their work device outside of working hours and send emails at all hours etc. If you gently say log off and enjoy your day, they will take offence

I've seen logging on out of hours dealt with as a performance issue by classing it as poor time management. If your working hours are 9-5, you are expected to complete your work within those hours.

You need to get the CEO on board
You are going to piss the employee off and they will run to the CEO
If HR have not come up with a plan then get the CEO to agree to pay for external specialist HR who can supervise you implementing @FatAgainItsLettuceTime 's and any other suggestions
This gives the CEO an out of external recommedation
Eg The CEO has to keep refusing to deal with the complaint untill it comes up through all the levels in the reporting line

You can bring in data protection and dignity at work for comments about other peoples work conditions.

If the after hours emails are causing a problem policy see if IT can put a hold delay on all your team
Etc
Etc

But you need to be careful that you dont end up being the one blamed for bullying the employee

@AnSolas might be a silly question - if HR have not come up with a plan for what, sorry? HR shouldn’t need to be consulted for some of the things being proposed like a change of line manager in my company, it’s a large public sector employer. I could ask for HR support if I go down any disciplinary routes in the future though.

If you line manage them then have a conversation about professionalism and discrimination about reasonable adjustments. Make sure the ceo etc know you are doing this. If they then go to the ceo this is unprofessional behaviour and as a junior manager I'm sure they would tell off their own chains if they bypassed them. If needed start formal disciplinary but first set expectations. Like you would with a child, def use jd and company values to back up your points.

What happened when the last 20 years of managers had to deal with the employee?

The last manager left, was there employee management / PIP / etc. ?
The employee takes offence easily how did the manager make sure the employee could not claim they were being bullied.
or Was it that the other manager did not try to implement change?
or that HR is poor and no help?
or that HR is great but take their lead of no action from the CEO?

From a career point of view You need to start off on the basis of this ending up in Court with your name attached and work backwards.
Your going to be spending a big chunk of time not doing the rest of your job.
This is you learning on the job when the CEO is not willing to act.
There is "no could ask for future help" for you this is the start of the disciplinary process.
Hopefull it all works out but plan to fail.

Thank you. This person is used to working remotely with no manager on site and has largely been left to their own devices. My predecessor did attempt performance management but apparently the emails have been lost/deleted so nothing for me to pick up. The member of staff accused my predecessor of “not being supportive”. I’m not sure to what extent HR were involved in their relationship. I know the CEO felt their involvement was unnecessary and didn’t want a repeat.

brilliant advice, thanks. My dilemma is whether to try and performance manage this person or leave it, because no one else has seemed to bother. I don’t need to be scapegoat.

to clarify, my predecessor said they started to document her behaviour and formally emailed her a summary of their discussion after several meetings. They then forwarded the emails to my manager and deleted their own copies. My manager said they can’t find the emails. Didn’t seem to have progressed to PIP at that stage. Predecessor took the easier route out and left herself.

I don't believe in job hopping at the first sign of challenge but the work conditions you're having to subject yourself to, with no support from your management would make me run for the hills.

Ask yourself if they're paying you to go through this stress, complexity and hassle on a daily basis at the expense of your MH.

predecessor
document
formally emailed
several meetings
emails to my manager
deleted their own copies.
manager can’t find the emails.

So you have a serious problem as the employee has evidence not held by HR.
your manager and predecesaor had no meeting and HR were not copied in on anything
If you go down the performance route you need to see if the CEO will authorise a search for the missing data ( looking at the employees and your managers email etc)

You need to look at the role can it be ring fenced while you reorganise others. If the ee can work independently what are the long term benefits for you
if not can you make the task changes be about the change in process and manage change in a team meeting setting. If the ee has an objection then she writes a report with a summary conclusion and present her findings in a 15 min slot at the next meeting

Now you can use @FatAgainItsLettuceTime 's suggested method
So for example is one of the company values is 'collaboration - finding consensus and working collaboratively with Colleagues towards a shared objective' and they have received negative feedback or you have observed them shutting down other people's opinions and taking over the project. That is a direct example of them not meeting the expectations.