Joyce was thinking about her team. Things were not a disaster, but not running too smoothly. There was a perceptible friction that was beginning to take a life of its own.

“I have been watching Phillip,” she started. “It seems he is struggling with his job as a supervisor, but it’s hard to tell. He has his good days, but not too often.”

“How would you rate his performance?” I asked.

“Well, that’s pretty easy to see. He is always late with stuff and it’s never completely done the way it should be. And then, when I go to talk to him about it, I can’t find him.”

“Is he in the building?”

“Oh, yeah, he will turn up, but it’s like, he was two hours down in receiving, he said he was organizing the place. Now, I know the place needs to be organized, but he was doing it all alone, and not out here on the floor where he really needed to be. The receiving guy could have taken care of organizing.”

“What do you think the problem is?”

“Well, even though he is a supervisor, it seems he would rather be doing lower level stuff. Some of his team members even accuse him of micro-managing.”

“So, what do you think the problem is?” I repeated.

“It’s like he is in a role that he doesn’t even like, and probably in over his head,” Joyce concluded.

“And who put him in that spot?”

Joyce turned her head and looked back at me, sideways. A bit of a grimace.

___
Our next Leadership program in Fort Lauderdale begins July 16. For more information and registration, go to www.workingleadership.com.