by I don’t need (nor want) another boss
One of my coworkers, who is a team leader but not a supervisor, has asked me to inform him of my absences. He repeatedly asked me to tell him specifically if he was going to be absent. I told him I would report my absences to my supervisor and then, if he wanted or I felt comfortable doing so, I would inform the entire team. He kept asking why he didn’t tell her; he wouldn’t move forward in the conversation. Finally, he compromised and said that he should inform the entire team if he planned to leave me. I usually do this when I decide in advance to miss work, but it’s a courtesy, not an obligation.
I think it may come up again and I don’t know how to explain myself in a way that my supervisor or this coworker will hear me. My work environment is very informal and I am the same age as this man, which is why people don’t understand my reluctance. They see it as something easy and conversational. But I don’t want to give anyone an unofficial supervisory relationship over me.
If you can help me, I would greatly appreciate it. I think in a number of cases, I need a polite way to reject this coworker without offending him further.
– Anonymous
Why is your coworker in your business like this? Is there a professional reason why you need personal notifications about your absences? If your absence materially affects your colleagues and knowing your absences would help them plan their work around yours, then yes, sharing this information would be the most thoughtful thing to do. But if your absence will not affect the work of others, you should report your absences only to your supervisor, as dictated by company protocol. There is no adequate explanation for someone who doesn’t want to take no for an answer. This colleague understands you perfectly. He just doesn’t hear what he wants to hear. Stop giving him explanations. You have already said what you will do, why and when.
The low performers
I am a manager of managers. One of my managers is very vocal about her commitment to diversity, and her team is noticeably more diverse than others, including many employees of BIPOC and underrepresented genders. However, almost all of our poor performers, as documented by both quantitative performance metrics and 360-degree feedback from their peers, are on her team. Her team struggles to meet deadlines and deliver quality work, and she has taken few steps to address the challenges.
I am concerned that this manager is potentially lowering her standards in hiring and ignoring the quality of her team’s work to maintain her commitment to diversity. Obviously this is a delicate issue that must be addressed. I don’t want to make it seem like we’re targeting these employees, but performance issues are well documented and become very visible to the rest of the organization. What are your suggestions on how to approach this situation?
– Anonymous
Before addressing this situation, it is necessary to look within. Why aren’t all managers in your organization committed to diversity? Why do you assume that the demographic makeup of this manager’s team is correlated with his performance metrics? The way he has phrased this question reflects an inherent, pernicious, and unfortunately prevalent bias: that accepting and encouraging diversity means compromising excellence. Of course, this is demonstrably false. People from underrepresented groups are just as capable as anyone else. They have as many flaws as anyone else.
So… if your manager’s team is performing poorly, without any improvement, the team is being mismanaged. If your manager doesn’t take steps to address his team’s quality issues, he’s a bad manager and you need to address his shortcomings. If she, too, harbors prejudices and assumes that she cannot offer her team members critical feedback for fear of appearing intolerant, she needs to be disabused of this notion. If employees can’t improve, they perform poorly, but that poor performance has nothing to do with their identities.
