Should I raise process errors directly with colleagues or their manager?

[Maskbailey]

At work someone in another team was not correctly following a process which their manager had recently shown and trained them on. I mentioned it to the manager and asked if they could show them only because the system had missing information which affects a follow on task I have to do.

Their manager has spoke to them and asked in future if I can go direct to the colleague and show them. I don’t have a problem doing that because it’s fair to give people a chance and show them but this person in question in the past has not followed training guidance properly multiple times even with detailed user guides I have provided and they don’t listen to my guidance and not follow processes correctly. I know at the time they were going for days out when they were supposed to be working as this manager even told me this a while back so it explains why corners were being cut.

I told the manager I will do this in future to raise with the colleague first which is fair enough as I know I would want to know I wasn’t doing something correctly.

I know this manager is annoyed as they did the same thing when they first did the role before the new person and I advised their manager at time only because they were training them. Whilst I understand people don’t want issues escalating to mangers I don’t know why they expect me to train people when it’s not my role to do so.

In the past, not often but if people have had issues with my work they have gone straight to my manager which this manager did when she was not a manager and not spoke with me first.
I just seems one rule for one and one rule for another. It’s seems a taboo subject and people have different ways of highlighting issues.

Have you raised it with your own manager?

Do you have a habit of going straight to managers instead of helping people out?

I didn’t as I had already raised another issue a few days before about this same colleague to my own manager.

I do on the whole speak to the person about the issue first. It’s just with these people when I have done this in the past they ignore what I have told them and it’s not for me to amend their mistakes on the system. I suppose in future go to the person so they can sort out the issue and if they don’t let my manager know.

Of course raise it with them first, unless your aim is to get them in trouble.

I wouldn't be holding their hand or doing it for them OP, it's not fair for the manager to ask that of you.

I think it's reasonable to ask you to send them an email saying 'row 47 is missing the reference number, can you add it please' or whatever. And if you do it in writing like that and it's still a constant problem, then you can go back to your/their manager and say, it's been a month, I email about errors x times a week, and the same mistake is still happening.

If the process makes it not fixable by them once it's sent to you, can you reject it so it has to be done again?

Definitely not trying to get them into trouble at all. I only ask their manager to show them as they have recently trained them as people tend to listen to authority more. I think the sad thing is even though I have found a mistake it feels like I get the blame even though I am not intentionally trying to cause trouble for people.

I suppose the manager could be on the defence and it looks like their training isn’t working if their colleague isn’t doing it properly. I just don’t think it’s right I am expected to train someone in another team. In our team we wouldn’t expect external teams to train our team when we all know the process. I certainly won’t be sorting out the errors.

Is your process THE only process or the one that works best for you? Sometimes there can misinterpretation between the two.

If you are not getting information that is absolutely essential for you to do your job without issues. You do need to raise it with your own manager.

This sort of thing often happens when the incompetent colleague is on the same level as you. They don't see why they should do what you tell them to do, and ignore it.

My advice would be to raise all issues by email with the colleague, and ask them to email you back when the task is done. Then follow it up a couple of days later in the same email chain asking whether they have done whatever it is that needed correcting. That second email you can copy in to your own manager. When the useless colleague then realises you have asked them twice for the same thing and you are now involving management, then chances are they will then get their finger out.

Asking the manager to show them is implying you believe the manager has given them insufficient training and that you think they should spend more time with this individual.

That's not your place to say. If presumably this manager is senior to you?

If you behave this way at work you're going to annoy your colleagues for going above them and the managers for trying to tell them how to spend their time. Surely you can see this isn't the right way to go about things?

I didn’t realise it had come across this way. I was only trying to help.

I only said this because their manager has been showing them processes recently and their manager said they had showed them the process and had noticed they weren’t following it and only told the colleague after I had mentioned it. I don’t know why they would not have told the colleague sooner as they are allowing them to continue making mistakes.

I had told this manager I am happy to show the person in future.

Thank you, this seems an effective way of resolving any issues without involving management straight away. This person has a habit of cutting corners so hopefully they won’t do it again. I still can’t believe I am expected to show them how to do their job when I am in a different department.

They do tend to have an attitude of "Your're not my boss, you can't tell me what to do" about them.

The other idea would be to wait until your boss needs something, and then email them saying you are waiting for X from this colleague and as soon as you have what you need, you will be able to finish your work and send the report to management. Make sure to cc the useless colleague into this email.