November 6, 2007Reader success story: A timely manner
I have an excellent record of quick turnaround with my assignments, so it irritated me when one of my managers emailed me a reminder that her assignments were important and needed to be completed in a timely manner.
I responded by explaining that I have always been punctual and never had an issue with late assignments. I reiterated that her project would be completed the following day as I had promised. I CC’ d my other managers. One of the managers mentioned that she would sometimes go home angry because she didn’t know how to say the right thing.
The email subject line was, “Good communication is all about clarity.” I was clear.
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Could we just all take the high road at work and let things like this go unacknowledged? People know who gets their assignments done or not; managers especially know.
I used to have a boss who would look at things like this and encourage his staff “Could you look at it anther way”? Consider it was probably more about her than you. Sometime in the past something did not get done and her boss reminded her to be more proactive and that’s what she thought she was doing. CC’ing the other managers’ was a great way to publically embarrass her and now “take something to the streets” that did not need to be publicized or formalized and that the other manager didn’t even want to get involved in.
Comment by John Smith — November 6, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
While I think it’s great that you responded to your coworker with assertiveness and clarity, I would encourage you to look at why you became defensive. Your manager was just doing her job by sending out a reminder (she might have been feeling anxious about the project for reasons beyond you). By saying that you are “always punctual” and “never late with assignments” might set you up for trouble down the road when a project does run over, and honestly, I think those “absolute” phrases come across as quite defensive. This manager might feel that she can’t approach you with other issues because of the tone of your response. Perhaps if your response clarified your stage in the project, and opened up a conversation with the manager about her concerns, you can foster a positive relationship with her.
Comment by Rachel — November 7, 2007 @ 9:40 am
Two FYI’s / points:
1. I edit back stories for brevity. This person wrote details that made it clear her manager made an inappropriate remark. I wasn’t able to edit it in a way to make that clear.
2. If the writer experiences a conversation as successful, I do too. I don’t expect perfection, and I hope you don’t either. In this story, the writer had her comment affirmed by a colleague who felt the same way. So even though I agree with the comments about how the communication could have been improved, and I also agree that is is often the best choice to let these things go, I still applaud her for taking a stand.
In other words, I agree with everyone!
Should I run for office?
Comment by merylrunion — November 12, 2007 @ 11:00 am