Junior staff member with Know-it-all-itis — is there any cure?

[TerrorAustralis]

I have a direct report who knows it all. She’s a grad and this is her first role in the industry she claims to want to work in. She reports to me and I will brief her, allocate tasks, check her work and give feedback as and when, plus we have a weekly one-on-one meeting.

Every time I point out something she has missed, that needs to be done or needs to be done differently, her response is along the lines of, ‘Yeah, I know,’ or ‘I’ve already done that.’ This includes times when she clearly didn’t know or clearly hasn’t done the thing I’m talking about.

I don’t think I’m a bad manager and I don’t give feedback in an accusatory or blaming way. I understand she’s new and has a lot to learn. It’s in my best interests for her to do a good job. I want her too succeed, but the know-it-all attitude is wearing me down. It also indicates that she’s not open to feedback if her first response is defensiveness and brushing off what I’m saying.

Any tips for dealing with this kind of attitude? Is it incurable?

Fortunately she’s not permanent, but she will be with us for a few more months.

I had a couple of students from a famous university doing work experience, (eventually) they told me that they had been told never to say they don't know or don't understand anything just blag through it and look it up afterwards! Unfortunately the work we were doing was original so there really was nowhere to look it up. It really made life difficult, you went from thinking how clever these people were understanding everything so quickly, to thinking they were absolute idiots when you found out they had no idea what you had been talking about.

I had similar advice from my ex-naval Dad - "Never quote your old ship"
Watch and learn how things are done in a place and try to blend in. There's probably a reason why things are done the way they are, so keep your mouth shut and don't try to change things at least until you know them and they know you.
That advice stood me in good stead through my career.
I think the "cure" for over confidence is usually time. I remember going through changes during my working life from knowing that I knew nothing, to thinking I knew everything when I actually had a huge amount to learn, to gradually starting to realise there was a whole lot I still didn't know, eventually ending up with a reasonably realistic view of my own abilities and limitations. I've seen numerous colleagues go through the same process. You can offer guidance and of course step in when needed to prevent mistakes but I am not sure you can really change someone - that has to come from them.

No, not law and nor a related field.

What terrible advice that was for them! When I don’t know something, my policy has always been to say ‘I don’t know, but I’ll find out and get back to you.’

Maybe she is bored? Can you give her work that will take longer to complete, or a different type of work to do?

This

And smiling kindly but with tired eyes 😊

I do sometimes get the sense she might be bored. The thing is, there are a variety of tasks, but it’s all related. And we are a small-ish business. So there’s a limit to what I can give her to do.

I wonder if she just needs something more to do. Could she go to other depts on secondment for a few weeks or even to help out one day a week? That would have the added benefit of giving you a breather.

I’m all for straightforward advice. I’d tell her that you’ve noticed her doing this and how it comes across. Ask her if it’s intentional? She either says yes or no? No need to be mean or rude but it’s not helpful to be shy about it. It’s in her interests to know how she comes across

@TerrorAustralis many years ago I worked with a person who knew it all.
We were equals but she always knew best. She would make mistakes but didn't own them.
I left and moved on.
10 years ago my fil died and we went back to the town where we had lived to arrange fil's funeral.
Lo and behold the woman in the funeral directors was my former colleague.
On the day of the funeral we were given a memorial card each. Fil's date of death was wrong and of course I knew who had done the admin so I wasn't surprised.

It's not confined to youth. A few years ago we had a new starter who was a good 10 years older than me who knew it all, and unfortunately I was meant to line manage her.
At first I thought she did just know it all, having done it before, but soon I began to realise that she didn't - she just didn't like instruction.

It was things like, there was something she did weekly, which I'd done before she'd arrived and I'd realised after a few weeks of doing it that by doing it not the obvious way it made life much easier later for my line manager - and was no harder for me. Nothing big, not worth making a fuss about, but just easier.

I kept noticing it after she'd left for the day, and meaning to mention it. Then after about 3 months, I saw her part way through, so went over and the conversation went like something this:
Me: Hi, when I was doing it, I realised that if I do it this way, it makes life easier when M comes to change it. Would it be okay if you do it like that?
Her: I've always done it your way, you didn't need to tell me <standing next to it half done the other way>
Me: Thank you. You see it's quite awkward to change after it's set up
Her: I know that. I always change it, so of course I know...

Leaving me somewhat flummoxed that she both claimed, while standing next to it half done, that she'd always done it a different way when it was obvious she hadn't, and that she changed it because I can say with confidence that she'd never changed it ever.
Thankfully on that occasion she did decide afterwards to do it the other way, probably because my line manager would have noticed. Other things subsequently she said she knew and continued doing her way, which in some cases was far more problematic.
Thankfully she decided to move on pretty quickly to grace another organisation with her never-ending knowledge of things she knew nothing about. I was just glad the new organisation didn't ask me if I'd employ her again when they asked for a reference, because I couldn't honestly say I would.

Have you tried giving her a slap?

She might be worried she’ll get into trouble / look bad if she doesn’t know things, so is trying to cover up. She might be feeling under pressure to impress.

Maybe have a talk and say that you don’t expect her to know everything and everyone always has more to learn etc and there’s no shame in saying you don’t know something etc.

Or she might just be insufferable.. it’s hard to know.

I’ve managed graduates in the past and I would suggest her “I know” is a defence, maybe through lack of confidence - she doesn’t want to be seen to fail.
My suggestion would be to address it with her calmly, something like - I notice that when I give you feedback your first repose is “I know” or “I’ve done it” I’d like to work with you to get to the right detail without defensiveness.

When you’re asking her what she’s find, rather than asking “Did you do x”. I’d try - Talk me through your approach. If she says that she’s done ir say “Great, please show it to me”.

I get it’s frustrating, but she can get past this!

She has plenty to do and a variety of tasks. We’re a small business and the other teams don’t have meaningful work that they could just hand over to her. If anything, they’d be finding her lower-level admin work.

Some of the work she’s been given is at a level above what she would be doing if she were in a larger organisation, so it’s not that she isn’t being challenged. When I say I think she might be bored, I think it’s because she might not be suited to the job or the industry, not because the work is inherently boring. (Obviously boring is subjective.)

The work requires close careful and close attention, which she does not seem to be applying. It’s not for everyone, and I think perhaps it’s not for her, hence the apparent boredom.