Warren was puzzled. “I talked to Tyler three times today. He has been having difficulty ever since I promoted him to manager.”
“So, at one point, he was effective?” I asked.
“Yes, he has been with the company for several years. He was a supervisor with six people on his team. Now, he is a manager of two supervisors with a total of eighteen people on his team.”
“What do you notice about him?” I pressed.
“It seems like he is too removed from the work. I ask him what is going on and he doesn’t have an answer. Says he has to go check. I mean, he gets the daily output reports, so he should know precisely what it happening, but it’s like he is disconnected.”
“Drugs? Alcohol?” I wanted to know.
“Don’t think so, Tyler is too conscientious for that,” Warren replied.
“What do you think the problem is?”
“It’s like the job is just too big for him.”
“So, how do you measure how big the job is?”
Is the job to big or the expectations unrealistic?
Understanding job performance and expectations is all too often the cause of situations like this. I’d ask, have you and the employee written a job role and responsibility outline and reviewed it? Im not talking about a job description. I mean the kind of detail that states:
* what the main role of the employee is?
*what they are responsible for?
*who they are responsible for
*who they report to.
What are their input and output measurements for their job? input: tasks and quantitative measures for how often they should complete them for example output: what are the bottom line measurable expectations?
Finally, who do they report to and how often will the above things be discussed, measured and reviewed in a one-to-one, face to face meeting?
All too often top line managers have expectations of their reports that are not clearly defined nor are they documented, measured and discussed on a regularly planned basis.
You can only determine if an individual is capable of performing in a job and/or hold them accountable if you conduct the necessary planning and strategy construct I am speaking about here! Otherwise, the disconnect in expectations is owned by the Upper Level Manager.