A work dilemma (OMG long)

I have an admin assistant that I work very closely with in my job, she is a lovely gir, but young and very defensive.

She has a day off today but before she left she told me several times she was going to do a piece of deadlined work that she does on a daily basis. The rest of our team has backed me up to say that she had promised me this. So today, she is off for the day and guess what...the client chased me for this piece of info that she was supposed to do.

In the end, it wasn't a big deal that it wasn't done. It did no damage and I was able to give the client what they wanted quite quickly.

So my question is this...I know how to approach the subject, I am happy to give her the bollocking that this deserves, but she is very defensive, and she will not be in any way remorseful or apologetic that she didn't do this work. This is the part that I don't know how to deal with.

Anyone have any advice on how to deal with a person like this???

Re: A work dilemma (OMG long)

I was in a position like that in my old job, when I had to manage a college kid for the summer. He would drop the ball all the time, and he also talked crap about the other summer college students, which eventually cost him an offer for a full-time position. The dude was VERY defensive as well.

So, I sat him down halfway through the summer, and told him that I wanted to talk to him fairly and honestly, to help him through the experience. I told him flat out that he dropped the ball on several assignments, and that he was hurting his reputation by bad-talking co-workers.

He got defensive. I told him that it would serve him very well in the corporate world to take responsibility for his actions, rather than take a defensive stance.

Didn't help - he still behaved the same way, but heck, it's worth a shot, right?

Re: A work dilemma (OMG long)

geez - that is hard. If she doesn't care then there is very little that can be done to make her care...except to bring it up on her review (not saying that you need to go that far but had to throw that in)

I would just flat out tell her that she made a promise, didn't follow through and really disappointed you. That's it. How she chooses to react says a lot about her as a person. Apologies...forgiven...defensive...remember not to forget.

Re: A work dilemma (OMG long)

i just wanted to offer you some hugs because I really don't have an answer.

I was in a similar situation where I had a talented assistant who did good work but was also very defensive and couldn't take any kind of criticism or reprimanding. In the end she never grew professionally and I had to let her go because of the stress it put me through, when she was supposed to be the one helping me out. Attitude is one of those things that is so hard to change.

Good luck!

Re: A work dilemma (OMG long)

Posted by dgirl

i just wanted to offer you some hugs because I really don't have an answer.

I was in a similar situation where I had a talented assistant who did good work but was also very defensive and couldn't take any kind of criticism or reprimanding. In the end she never grew professionally and I had to let her go because of the stress it put me through, when she was supposed to be the one helping me out. Attitude is one of those things that is so hard to change.

Good luck!

Re: A work dilemma (OMG long)

Posted by racheeeee

Posted by dgirl

i just wanted to offer you some hugs because I really don't have an answer.

I was in a similar situation where I had a talented assistant who did good work but was also very defensive and couldn't take any kind of criticism or reprimanding. In the end she never grew professionally and I had to let her go because of the stress it put me through, when she was supposed to be the one helping me out. Attitude is one of those things that is so hard to change.

Good luck!

You know what...you have just summed up this girl in a nutshell...she is a shiiit hot administrator when she gets going, she does a good job but she just doesn't see the bigger picture...how her actions look to other people, how her jive talking effects the numerous temps in our office and in general, how much keeping your mouth shut gets you farther in the business world!!! She wants to know why she is overlooked for promotions and I tell her...its your attitude. She knows it, but she can't control her mouth or her emotions.

Thanks!

Re: A work dilemma (OMG long)

I always rephrase it back to them as a question.

"If this wasn't your fault, than whose fault was it?"

"What do you think you can do in the future to make sure this doesn't happen again?"

"What do you think you can do differently so that you can better control your emotions and outbbursts?"

Put it back on her. If she has no answers, you can make suggestions and ask "Do you think that will work?"

And then set follow-up meetings about it.

Re: A work dilemma (OMG long)

Rach - FM me your email address. I have a good article for you.

Re: A work dilemma (OMG long)

Instead of telling her that she did not do what she promised, I would asked her if something happened that prevented her to do it. That way you are taking an indirect approach and she won't feel as she is being attacked.

If they tells you something came up, blah blah blah, then again tell her calmy that she should have left you a note/email explaining that it was not done.

Re: A work dilemma (OMG long)

always start a negative with a postive, IMO.

"you did a great job on ______, thanks again. I wanted to bring this to your attention.........."

Re: A work dilemma (OMG long)

sounds like one of my friends .. I want to ring her neck half the time.. all I can say is that writing your thoughts in an email or memo and having them digest is better than talking to them in person... these types of people need extra time to absorb information and react. For example every time my friend forgets to pay a bill and starts complaining even though its all her fault .. I simply write her an email like this " hey girl how is your day mine was real rough ,I heard that you missed the payment I know those things can be so annoying I also missed a payment once and now have a Microsoft outlook reminder come up every 15th " I know it sounds like a lot of effort but it works for me and she is my friend so I want to put the effort in bc i love her

Message edited 10/25/2007 1:08:27 PM.