By Ken Keller

Dear Ken Keller,

Since I promoted someone into a management role, they have gone from being early to work and staying late to always arriving later than my other employees and leaving when the hourly workers go home. When I asked him about it he said that as a manager, he no longer had to punch a clock and could arrive late and leave when he wanted to.

Ron T.

Dear Ron,

I think you need to speak to an employment attorney about whether or not you really promoted someone into management or did you give them a title and they are really a manager in name only.

Assuming that the individual in question meets all of the legal requirements for being in management, you have a troubling situation developing.

Individuals in management are supposed to set an example to those they lead, and instead of that happening, this individual has developed a “rank has its privileges” attitude which appears to be something new to your company. This is a virus you do not want spreading into your company.

This is a troubling attitude because as the owner you want as much “we” as possible and to limit the “me” factor to the point where it non-existent. The “me” attitude is appropriate for a two year old but witnessing it in an adult in a management role is both disappointing and scary.

You need to quickly decide if this individual is coachable or not because part of your responsibilities is to help every individual become better.

Don’t delay having this necessary discussion, bring your attorney in to the meeting if necessary. And, if your newly appointed manager doesn’t change how they think and operate very quickly, you need to find someone more malleable and understanding to take the position.

Dear Ken Keller,

Like most owners I am overwhelmed with things to do, so much so that I have started to procrastinate on things I know I need to get done. In the past I never had this issue, I would always just get into things and work until I was satisfied with the results.

Dear Dave.

Perhaps there have been some changes in the external environment your business is operating in, some issues inside your company, or some personal matters that have caused you to change how you approach your work and the projects in front of you.

Procrastination often sets in when people are overwhelmed with one assignment and so they delay acting on all the things they need to do. This frequently happens when a project requires making difficult decisions.

To get out of the rut you are in, I recommend you take the time to layout all the projects you have and get each one organized so that you are clear about the deliverables for each and the decisions that need to be made (as far as you know).

Start on the easiest project you have and work until you hit a wall or grow tired of that project and then move to the next easiest. This process will help you to get started, stay moving, make progress and will provide you with a sense of accomplishment.

You may not ever be ready to make some of the decisions you need to complete every project but in the meantime your backlog should start to decrease and you will feel better about what you are trying to do.

By Ken Keller

Dear Ken Keller,

I have a manager that is getting on my nerves. She is what I call “a big talker” but it’s nothing but hot air. It’s frustrating for me, her peers and the other employees.

When I call her out on missed deadlines or poor results, she is quick to point the finger and blame others. I need tools to deal with this.

Mitch L.

Dear Mitch:

Having an ATANAM (All Talk and No Action Manager) is common.

Change places for a moment and consider the plight of your manager who is likely dying to learn from you how to be a success at her job.

Two thoughts came to me reading your email. The first is that the individual does not have the experience, skills or temperament to be a manager. The second is that the person doesn’t understand the role they play, the responsibilities they have, and may be unclear about the authority level they have.

All too often, people are given a manager title but lack management responsibilities and authority. Did anyone sit down to explain what results this individual was expected to achieve and what the resources were available to achieve the results?

I survived my first management job because I had the opportunity to work for others for over a decade. Once promoted, I did my best to avoid the bad habits and behaviors I observed from some of my previous managers and emulated the actions and styles of the better managers I had worked for. Along the way, I sought out coaching to help me improve.

You have a decision to make and it could go one of two ways. The first is for you to stand on the sidelines and let this manager continue to flounder, which does not help you. This choice will lead to a termination or demotion and your frustration level will only grow.

The second is for you to step up and invest the time required to help your manager do the job you want them to do in the manner you want them to do it. If you do this, the chances of her success improve dramatically.

Dear Ken Keller,

I’m interviewing someone who was recently downsized from a large company. This is something I have never done before and I don’t know what I don’t know.

Tom W.

Dear Tom,

I would proceed with caution. Companies that have grown to a certain size, have been in business for years and are financially stable don’t hire pioneers; they hire professionals mostly to manage the status quo.

In your business, every employee wears many hats. No one hides behind a job description. Titles don’t matter, everyone works hard or they don’t work there for very long.

In a larger company most employees don’t know who the clients are and often, sadly, the employees see clients as someone else’s problem to deal with. In your company, everyone knows and “owns” every client.

The number of important meetings you have each week can be counted on one hand. In a larger company, they have that many meetings a day and many are a complete waste of time.

Salaries and benefits are more generous in large firms; this can quickly grow into an entitlement attitude. And, because the revenue is someone else’s money, spending it comes very easy. I’ll bet you watch the pennies and check the profitability on every order.

I hope I have given you some information you can use when you interview candidates.

Dear Ken Keller,

It appears I have become a referee in a never-ending boxing match between my employees, figuratively speaking.

The disagreements are about stupid things. When an employee arrives three minutes late, six people are in my office complaining the latecomer should be written up or fired.

When someone leaves an empty coffee pot on the burner you’d think a murder has been committed.

People will go 12 rounds about the temperature in the office. It’s never been “just right.”

Office people complain about sales people. Warehouse people despise office people. Sales people argue with everyone.

I understand about fighting the competition but I had no idea I would be in this nightmare with the people that I have on the payroll. These are adults who are supposed to assist me in taking care of our customers.

Donald T.

Dear Donald,

What is missing from your company is leadership. You have failed to provide your employees with the basic tools that they need to do their jobs.

Your role is to help your employees succeed. When they succeed, your company makes money. When they don’t get what they need, they will become disagreeable with each other, because you allow it.

Those lining up to bring these issues to your attention are really asking for the ground rules (policies and procedures) to be created and enforced.

I doubt your competition would tolerate people arriving late to work. This cannot be an isolated incident yet late arriving employees remain on your payroll. Why do you permit it?

Your good employees are seething with anger. You should thank them, not complain that they want to talk to you about what is taking place. They are trying, unsuccessfully so far, to get your attention to the fact that there some serious issues you have failed to address. They want you to do something about the mess you allow so they can get on with helping you make money.

If you don’t do something about it, the only people likely to remain will be the ones your competition won’t hire. What does that say about your company and its future?

I bet your management structure exists in name only. You need to start separating yourself from the daily issues by hiring or promoting someone to create and enforce (or reinforce) company policies and procedures. You need to back what this person says and does, one hundred percent.

The cartoon character Pogo said, “We have met the enemy … and his is us.” Only the enemy here is looking back at you in the mirror.

Dear Ken Keller,

When my female employees return from vacation, I have flowers delivered to them at work as a way of saying “We missed you when you were gone.” They appreciate the gesture.

One of my male employees asked why he didn’t get something when he returned from his vacation. I laughed at him and said “Right.” Now he is angry. How do I make peace with this guy?

Ron F.

Dear Ron,

The antics of the Mad Men era were over decades before the TV show aired.

I’d say you are very lucky not to have been sued for discrimination to this point by a male employee. To avoid it happening in the future, visit every employee when they return from vacation and tell them they were missed and welcome them back to work. You’ll save on the expense of flowers and legal expenses.

Dear Ken Keller,

Attempting to accommodate my employees I decided to allow for casual dress from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Two months in, I have concerns.

Some female employees are wearing outfits displaying considerably more skin than I feel appropriate. I overheard one male employee say, “I wonder what so and so will wear tomorrow!” I also have some male employees dressing like they are at the lake.

I don’t want to be the bad guy but this is spiraling out of control. Not every employee has dressed inappropriately but I need to get the genie back in the bottle.

John H.

Dear John,

You made a mistake by not being crystal clear what appropriate summer dress is your employees. Employees are loving you because you essentially said anything goes! Your silence is being interpreted as total permission. Only it isn’t.

Here are three things you need to do.

First, you need to find some courage; being popular is not your role. When you see someone you believe is inappropriately dressed, you need to call them into your office immediately and have a brief talk that their dress that day is not appropriate for your company. If necessary, send them home to change, or provide them with something that addresses your concern (a white lab coat or company shirt). If you do this just once or twice, people will get the message.

Second, you need to define what appropriate casual dress is for all employees and for each season. Ask some trusted employees to quickly gather pictures to visually display appropriate and inappropriate dress. These pictures will help employees to understand what is acceptable and what is not. Some employees simply do not understand that what they have on is not appropriate in a professional work setting.

Third, bring in a Human Resources advisor to help you create the right policies for inclusion into your employee handbook. Use that same professional to conduct a post- Labor Day meeting with all your employees about how the 2015 summer dress code experiment worked and what needs to change assuming you do it again in the summer of 2016.

Dear Ken Keller,

We have a busy operation and employees here are productive. At any given time, it looks like a tornado has wiped out the office: it is a mess. I’m afraid to bring clients or suppliers to visit I am so embarrassed how it looks. How can I bring this chaos under control?

Clint O.

Dear Clint,

Years ago I went to work for a company and was told on the first day that a clean desk policy existed and was enforced. Not knowing what that meant, I asked for clarification.

The owner of the company insisted that at the end of the day, every desk was free of paper, folders, stacks, magazines and so forth. Any assignments and open projects were to be put into desk drawers or credenzas and retrieved the next business day.

It wasn’t that he hated clutter and he wasn’t a control freak; he knew everyone was working hard and had a lot going on. What he wanted was a presentation ready facility where everyone was proud to work.

I recommend that you establish the same kind of policy. While you may get some initial resistance, it won’t take long for people to understand and accept your goal. Morale will improve too.