Question:

We have a new person in our department. As the project manager, I request many work elements from her each day, however, she reports to another manager in the department. I feel there is a lack of accountability and attention to detail in much of her work, which requires me to follow-up and complete many of these work elements. Her manager seems too busy to notice how low the productivity is from our new team member. I think it would have been better to have this person report to me, but that is not the way she was assigned. Any suggestions?

Response:
You are in a classic dilemma, where you are dependent on the production and work of another person yet have no authority to hold this person accountable for performance. There are two things to consider, both of which land you in the same place. We will talk about one angle today and another tomorrow.

Organizations often have reporting alignment mismatched. You depend on this person, yet have no authority to hold this person accountable. Even in this misalignment, you may need to understand the difference between authority and power. Even if you did have the authority to hold this person accountable, this person still has the power to decide whether the work will be completed and to determine its quality.

It is like a parent who has the authority to issue a policy about vegetables that will be served for dinner, however the child has the power to determine whether broccoli will indeed be eaten.

So, even if you did have the authority, this person still has the power. More tomorrow. -TF