Managing Sticky Situations at Work

Sticky Situations with Subordinates 85going off on long lunch hours and returning with the plans late in theafternoon. He does not mind her talking on the telephone or textingher friends if she has completed her job tasks. If she does not complywith these requirements, he will report her abuses to her father andrequest that he reassign her.Ivan considers the power sources. From Ivan’s point of view,Emily has all the power. She knows that her father owns the company,and she knows that her father forced Ivan to hire her. She thinks shecan do whatever she wants while Ivan’s hands are tied. In fact, Ivanfeels so trapped over this Emily problem, he has begun talking to otherarchitectural firms. Unfortunately, at his level jobs are scarce. He’dhave to take a significant cut in salary if he changed firms. Mr. Whippetrespects his work, however. He’s been with the firm for seven yearsand has won a number of prestigious competitions. Replacing Ivanwould not be easy for Mr. Whippet.PERSONALITY OVERLAYIvan knows he is a Technical personality type. He likes things donein a logical and orderly manner. Lois and Mac are less technical, buthave learned to work with Ivan’s obsessive desire to meet deadlinesand to keep to a timeline. Emily, on the other hand, is oblivious todeadlines. She marches to her own drum. Her Expressive personalityputs her in contact with many people, usually her personal friends.She has a winning personality, but she also has trouble listening toother’s needs. She tends to respond well when praised. Ivan cannotpraise her, however, when her work suffers. Emily ignores his suggestionsfor improvement and seems hurt when he criticizes her. Shetakes everything he says personally.Respecting Emily’s desire to be appreciated and liked, Ivan can nowmore logically apply the SIJR Model and conduct a disciplinary conversationto which she might listen.SAY IT JUST RIGHT CONVERSATIONIvan catches Emily in the break room drinking a diet soda.‘‘Emily, I’m disappointed that you didn’t get the designs back to usyesterday until nearly 4:00. This has happened three times, and it is reallyfrustrating the team. We must get the designs back before noonon the day they are promised. I know you can do it because you’vedone it before.’’ (Specifies the problem behavior.)