Sunday, May 04, 2008
An End Run Around
Taking the football term “end-run” and applying it to the corporate arena it means “to bypass, often by deceit or trickery.”
I was talking with a Customer Service Manager yesterday who was telling me about her two team leads - let’s call them “Betty” and “Sue”. Betty is a long-term employee and the trust level is high. However, Sue is a new hire who is doing everything in her power to supplant the decisions of her boss (the Customer Service Manager).
Sue recently did an end run around her Manager and went directly to the department VP about getting more staff. Betty’s team is equally in need of additional staffing and you, as the Customer Service Manager, need to decide which lead gets the new hire. Wouldn’t you be surprised to discover your boss and Sue had this discussion without your knowledge? And, even more surprised to be told that Sue gets the new employee? What do you tell Betty? How do you handle Sue’s behavior?
What to Do After an End-Run Around
1. Quickly get yourself to a private place and work through your emotions. Breathe deeply to get calm.
2. Think through your options keeping in mind the risk to your business. Do you terminate the employee? Confront them? Talk with your boss?
3. Once you decide on a course of action, talk directly with the person(s) involved.
4. Use assertiveness skills to discuss the situation and outline your expectations of them. Describe specific behavior around decision-making.
5. Get agreement from the person on how they will conduct themselves from this point forward.
It’s best to address the situation immediately - both with your team member and with your boss. Plus, it’s now up to your team member to rebuild your trust and faith in them.
Until next time...live like you mean it!
Marjorie
I would speak to my boss. Inform him/her of what happened how this employee went “over my head” and spoke directly to the boss. I would speak with my boss about how this is not acceptable to overide my authority as their direct supervisor and request that in the future my boss speaks with me or call me in on the conversation while my employee is attempting to overide me.
Again I feel the responsibility lies of the leadership team to show a unified force. What this employee did is play the mommy daddy game. I know mommy will say no so I will go to daddy split them and them I win. Because mommy and daddy are busy trying to not look foolish in front of each other.