What do you do about a manager who performed well during their first year in your company but is now blaming their team for poor performance? Projects are incomplete and overdue, and new policies are not being implemented, and they’re blaming it on their team’s poor work ethic.
This is a common phenomenon: once an organisation finds and develops a manager into a high-performing individual, the director often concludes: “I’ve found a winner. Now I can attend to other, more problematic issues.”
Sometimes this works, and the winner continues to shine. Other times, the winner’s performance begins to wane, and the waning filters down to others, especially to those who need that person’s direct input.
When dissatisfaction with the manager is discovered, you need to immediately gather more data and meet with the manager in order to gain a more complete picture of the situation, as well as to hear the manager’s explanations.
Some of the key discussion topics that you need to look at are the same for any manager within any organisation. When you can realistically investigate and respond to the following questions, you will be on your way to improving the situation.
Management Performance, Expectations And Milestones
- What were the performance goals and expectations that you had for years one and two? The crucial issue here is to determine what changes occurred during year two.
- When the first year’s expectations were met, did you assume your manager was a hero and not in need of further checks and balances?
- What types of milestones and goals for deliverables did both of you agree on?
- What were the first, second and third indications that performance did not meet expectations? What, if anything, was done about it?
- What is the reality behind the manager’s excuse for incomplete and late projects and not implementing new policies? In terms of quality improvement, after correcting this situation, what policies, procedures, attitudes and commitment can be implemented to ensure that this type of situation does not recur?
Team Expectations And Performance
As far as the manager playing the blame game with his team goes, here’s what to do: regardless of what the employees may or may not be doing, the manager ultimately needs to accept responsibility for the outcomes. Instead of finding fault, get to the root cause of the issue and then look for a solution.
You need to interview the team members in order to determine their perspective. Whatever the cause, you need to have an open discussion and create an effective “fix” to regain a positive, productive atmosphere.
Once you’ve finished with your investigations and realigned your job expectations and goals with the manager, it’s the manager’s responsibility to create and implement specific checks and balances to prevent this type of situation from recurring.