Raising a colleagues work performance
Discussion
Im not a manager, but have more experience than this specific colleague. However this colleague has enough experience to do the job yet she is constantly asking me the most basic questions that she should know, constantly slowing the day down by taking twice as long to do things and im really fed up.
How do i raise this professionally with my manager. This girls lovely but has a dreadful memory and always has stuff going on at home
How do i raise this professionally with my manager. This girls lovely but has a dreadful memory and always has stuff going on at home
You describe the girl as lovely, so presumably have no personal beef with her. She obviously is picking things up at a slow rate or is forgetful. Instead of potentially landing her in it, or at least on managements radar/ being watched, is there anyway you can have an informal chat to her about it? Something along the lines of that you recognise she's struggling to grasp some processes (etc) and is there any way you can help her to improve this. It may just be that she's disorganised, and needs to make some notes or similar.
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hstewie said:
hstewie said:dieseluser07 said:
Its very hard to book meetings due to location, i was thinking via email?
Pick up the phone, or use Skype or something similar. Email totally loses tone.If you work closely with her there's no guarantee she won't find it in your email and then the relationship will be awful.
I'd bide your time and wait until you can get properly in front of the boss, and chat about it directly. It'll give you a chance to read him a lot more clearly.
In terms of what to do with the colleague, you need to let her fail a bit. People always remember the sting of shame.
davepoth said:
bhstewie said:
hstewie said:dieseluser07 said:
Its very hard to book meetings due to location, i was thinking via email?
Pick up the phone, or use Skype or something similar. Email totally loses tone.If you work closely with her there's no guarantee she won't find it in your email and then the relationship will be awful.
I'd bide your time and wait until you can get properly in front of the boss, and chat about it directly. It'll give you a chance to read him a lot more clearly.
In terms of what to do with the colleague, you need to let her fail a bit. People always remember the sting of shame.
I teach her and she asks the same question 5 minutes later, its like her brain doesent work.
dieseluser07 said:
This is the thing, i have a trainee to teach but i cant leave this person alone for 2 minutes to do anything as i come back and she hasent even started it as theres another problem she cant deal with.
I teach her and she asks the same question 5 minutes later, its like her brain doesent work.
Presumably it's your failure to teach her anything is the issue.I teach her and she asks the same question 5 minutes later, its like her brain doesent work.
Suggest she writes the answer to the question down. Or you write the answers to the questions down and tell her to read it.
for example the use of apostrophes in what you've written.
has not = hasn't
does not = doesn't
there is = there's
can not = can't
You aren't her manager - are you responsible for her in any way? If not, I'd ask why is it your problem. It's a very fine line between raising a genuine concern and bad mouthing someone. Even if your intentions are the best possible, it still can be taken the wrong way and you become the problem not her.
If you aren't being asked to comment on her performance and you aren't responsible for her then I'd keep quiet and get on with your job. If you are getting constant queries, refer her to the supervisor - who might then come to you for feedback.
If you aren't being asked to comment on her performance and you aren't responsible for her then I'd keep quiet and get on with your job. If you are getting constant queries, refer her to the supervisor - who might then come to you for feedback.
ozzuk said:
You aren't her manager - are you responsible for her in any way? If not, I'd ask why is it your problem. It's a very fine line between raising a genuine concern and bad mouthing someone. Even if your intentions are the best possible, it still can be taken the wrong way and you become the problem not her.
If you aren't being asked to comment on her performance and you aren't responsible for her then I'd keep quiet and get on with your job. If you are getting constant queries, refer her to the supervisor - who might then come to you for feedback.
I don't want this to come across as hyperbole but it becomes your problem if it impacts your ability to do your own job.If you aren't being asked to comment on her performance and you aren't responsible for her then I'd keep quiet and get on with your job. If you are getting constant queries, refer her to the supervisor - who might then come to you for feedback.
If part of your remit is to teach that person then that may be fair enough as hopefully the fact you're teaching/training is seen and is factored in.
If she's meant to be self-sufficient you can end up in the situation where you're spending too much time showing them stuff they should know and before you know it you have 20 minutes left to do that thing that you know will take you an hour etc.
Of course the OP doesn't make it clear if this is the case or if he's just pissed off at a colleague who he considers isn't pulling their weight, in which case I tend to agree with you.
Hoofy said:
If they're standard processes, write a manual and nail it to her forehead.
ThisI mentor as part of my job. When I need to tell someone how to do something i write it as a "Knowledge-base Article", i.e. a simple documented instruction. I email it to them, and put it on the company SharePoint site.
When they next ask I simply point them to the document KBA section of the SharePoint site. When they ask again I just say its in SharePoint.
They soon learn that everything they have been told is in SharePoint.
davepoth said:
"What's the QMS?"
"What's an SOP?"
Quality Management System"What's an SOP?"
Standard Operating Procedures
dieseluser
If the woman is struggling with routine tasks maybe you could help her by creating a flow chart of the process, it should be a one off thing and might stop her continually asking the same question.
If its routine stuff just tell them to RTFM.
In all honesty I would just let them fail, I would teach them once and ask them to write notes, then next time they ask I would just tell them you are busy, but since you wrote notes they should be able to follow them.
If they cant I would out of courtesy teach once more and tell them that if their notes are not good enough this time they can forget asking me a third time to teach them.
In all honesty I would just let them fail, I would teach them once and ask them to write notes, then next time they ask I would just tell them you are busy, but since you wrote notes they should be able to follow them.
If they cant I would out of courtesy teach once more and tell them that if their notes are not good enough this time they can forget asking me a third time to teach them.
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