Managers with poor organization skills are going to be the death of me. You simply cannot effectively head a department and be a disorganized mess, you just can’t. I had a moment with a manager earlier this morning. The manager was ready to place an employee on suspended leave due to absence issues; oxymoronic right….. I had the corrective action form all prepared and as I started talking, the employee says “I have a signed request for that day, let me go get it”. Sure enough, the manager had signed and approved the time off but not kept a copy or made a note.
Instances like this do not help employee morale. Yeah, this employee might straighten up but its correction out of fear; you don’t want that kind of correction. The HRRingleader posted a great blog today about coaching. I much prefer coaching over correction action. But if managers aren’t organized, if they lose forms and don’t follow policies non-discriminately how can we be effective in upholding the companies policies and not look like a bunch morons?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
That story is priceless!
Coaching=proactive
Corrective action=reactive
It’s time for HR to move into the proactive side of things. I’ve processed 200+ disciplinary actions and only 1 commendation so far in my job. What does that tell you?
You should’ve been there Puf; the look on my face was priceless. Dumbfounded with a splash of pissed off.
Agreed, it saddens me when I call someone and I say “Can you come up here for a minute?” and unless they know me, they get worried. Coming to my office or my conference room is not a always a bad thing, sometimes I have treats.