Q & A Table of Contents
Uncooperative Subordinates
From: John in Boston, MA
Question: I am the project manager of a small group. Person A is younger
than me, she takes direction well, has great work ethic, and good skills.
We get along fine. Person B does not take direction well, is a
disorganized worker, and some bad habits/skills. Person B is older than I,
was a supervisor in a former job, and we have continual run-ins. Person B
is very passive-aggressive, preferring to vent hostilities and discrediting
remarks about me to others in the group. I have the job of trying to
manage Person B, and it's driving me insane!! Please help!
Response: I do not envy you in the situation you describe. We could ignore
Person A, the one with whom your business relationship appears to be just
fine. However, it could be worth taking a look at the characteristics that
differentiate Person A from Person B. You indicate a difference in age and
experience between them. Are there other differences that may be relevant
in the two very different relationships: Family issues or pressures,
gender, hometown, etc.
You need to pay attention to Person B quite conspicuously. When a person
feels victimized, which sounds like Person B's situation, one of the things
that drives that perception home is a feeling of not being appreciated,
paid attention to, being of interest to people who influence one's life.
Just today I read a review of the revival of Arthur Miller's play, 'Death
of a Salesman'. In the review, there's a quotation from the play that
deserves repeating, particularly in the situation you face: 'Attention must
be paid.'
People who feel marginalized need to have attention paid to them. While I
can imagine that you may not be highly motivated on a personal level to
develop a relationship with Person B, from a business standpoint it could
be an excellent use of your time. You need to pay attention to Person B,
listen to their life story, both the past and the present. What issues in
their life could be ameliorated or improved by a) a better relationship
with you and/or other colleagues and b) having someone to talk to about
things outside of work.
You say Person B is in a subordinate position where they have previous
experience in a supervisory capacity. There are many reasons this can
happen: downsizing, moving to a different city, changing employers, time
out of a job or out of the workforce, a specific problem they had in their
previous position, etc. While you may not gain from asking Person B, 'Why
did they boot you out?' you may score points by letting them know you value
their experience and would appreciate learning from it. Turn your
subordinate into a mentor: Person B is older, has experience, may indeed
have insights that could contribute to the success of your group.
It could make sense to have private conversations with others in your group
-- or perhaps, more cleanly, give all your subordinates the opportunity to
respond anonymously to questions about issues that need resolution.
What you need most of all is information about Person B's 'hot buttons',
the issues that make her or him most likely to ba a) defensive or b)
favorably inclined. To learn about this you need to ask open-ended
questions and then listen with full attention. Are there rewards you can
offer Person B: raise, promotion, change of responsibilities, office with a
window, parking space, better choice of vacation time, etc.?
Can you separate Person B in terms of task or working conditions if s/he is
undercutting the group's productivity? A separate project that involves
interaction with different people -- or can best be performed in isolation
may be another possibility.
Are you in a position to say to Person B, 'I get the feeling that you are
not convinced that I am doing my job in ways of which you would approve.
It would be a great help to me, and I would appreciate it, if you could
give me 20 minutes a week of conversation or a written evaluation that I
could use as a benchmark for measuring my progress.' Clearly this is
risky; you can't turn a subordinate into a supervisor. But if you want to
turn this subordinate into a dependable resource, you've got to figure out
how s/he can be a resource and encourage them to become a resource in those
ways or those areas.
John, I've thrown a bunch of ideas at you. Some may work, others may be
irrelevant to your situation. Let me know if any need to be explored
further -- and if any are helpful. You describe a tough situation. I wish
you good luck.
Steve.
| 
