What if I don’t get what I need from an employee/contractor/company?

January 25, 2023 2:43 PM

I am looking for practical resources to teach me how to handle situations where I am not getting what I need from an employee, a contractor, an outside company, etc.

Apparently, I have a short coming where I am marginally too passive in the face of poor performance or low responsiveness. I guess I expect people will come through or deliver, but I don’t have to tools to address times when they do not.

Examples:
- not getting a deliverable from an architect on time
- work from an employee leaves much for me to finish
- a bank is slow to get back to me about paperwork I need to provide
- someone says they will send something on the 18th, but then doesn’t, and then when I follow up they say, end of the week, but then miss that as well.

I can read books. I can read articles. I can take advice.

Thanks!

posted by Arbitrage1 to Human Relations (6 answers total)

Ask A Manager will have some good content for these situations, or you could even write in with a specific situation.

Maybe start with the "Being the Boss" category? Even if you aren't formally the boss, these circumstances all sound like being the person generally in charge of a situation.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:52 PM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have never been in a managerial role so I am probably not the best one to ask for advice on dealing with the situation, but as a person who's been on the receiving end once, I value transparency and directness. I preferred it when my boss emailed me or came up to me and plainly told me what was going on. I didn't appreciate it when other managers would send a email with the subject line "we need to talk" and other beating around the bush tactics.

Also, make clear the consequences if they fail to improve their behavior. If they repeatedly fail to take your advice, make it clear the actions you will take. Otherwise they may not know the stakes and continue in their ways knowing nothing would happen.
posted by buffy12 at 3:36 PM on January 25, 2023

Following up on buffy12, the advice I've heard is usually that you follow up with some written communication to put verbal commitments in writing.

"Thanks for your time [on the phone|in person|at Central Perk] today. I heard you say you could have the [something] by the 18th." Then you know that they know that you know they said the 18th, and if they realize that the 18th isn't going to work, you've started that conversation and the ball's in their court. On the 19th, you're well within your rights to forward that email back to them (or call, if you're a calling person) and say "Thanks again for your help with this. Do you have the [thing you meant to get me by yesterday]? The rest of the [team|department|Congress] is waiting for your piece of the pie to get their piece done." (Lots of people would CC: their boss at this stage of the game.)

If you don't get a good answer then, (like your "end-of-week, honest" missed deadline), you have to forward the whole thread to their boss. They either say "Oh, shoot, somebody should have told you, they [fell in a pit|won the lottery] and can't help" or they say "yeah, this isn't the first time, I'll talk to them." And either way, your part of the conversation is to ask their boss how they (a professional) are going to cover your (professional) requirements.

If my employee was giving me work that left me with more work to do, I'd walk through it with them and ask them to try again. (Think "grading an essay"---circle the misspelling, highlight the crappy formatting, but don't stop and fix it). If there's no time for that before the deadline, they'd have to do that work with me. It'd be half training exercise, half penalty. Part of the suckiness of delegating tasks is that nobody does it the way you would have done. The benefit is you don't have to do it, because you've got other things to do. And a job that 80% right but took you no time is often better than a job that's 99.44% right, but you stayed up all night and worked all weekend on.

I don't know about architects specifically, sorry :/ Maybe some of the above is appropriate in that context as well.
posted by adekllny at 4:53 PM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yeah that's about right for architects but I wouldn't jump to their boss as fast (my job is basically hiring architects and then hounding them to do things well and on time).

Sadly I also think people are just less responsive to individuals then bigger clients, and some are just immune to all forms of pressure.
posted by sepviva at 5:17 PM on January 25, 2023

The trick is to check in before the task or deliverable is due. Repeatedly. Especially if they've let you down before.

It's annoying. But that's what it takes, sometimes.
posted by davidwitteveen at 9:54 PM on January 25, 2023

Apparently, I have a short coming where I am marginally too passive in the face of poor performance or low responsiveness.

There are specific things to say in those specific situations. If you want to address the broad issue you name here (being too passive when your needs are not met), that skill/trait usually gets named as assertiveness. Here's an ask.mefi thread about it. I teach communication skills for a living, and I think for a lot of people, getting a bit better at assertiveness can be a great help (for them, and also for the people around them)
posted by ManInSuit at 1:46 PM on January 26, 2023