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Been in both positions. It's frustrating when people don't even try to figure it out themselves. Teachers would say the same thing and would tell us to only come to them after you've thought of everything and are truly stumped.
This is one of the reasons that I am no longer in management and have no desire to go back. IME in every job I had, there were resources at our disposal that we were to exhaust before seeking the help of management. Too many people, for whatever reason, do not want to avail themselves of those resources and would rather ask their manager, who has meeting and other administrative duties which you are not privy to. There is no crime in asking her subordinates to do the job for which they were paid.
The manager doesn't know the answer either which is why she sent the email. People who are lower than her the management level know a lot of more. She on the otherhand only wants to talk about sick leave, vacation request or paycheck issues.
Fact: If an employee has worked for the company for a year or more, they should have already been able to take on the duties of the job, without a manager having to hold their hands and tell them they are doing a good job and they are right. If they are still not able to do the job, they should be replaced by someone that knows what they are doing.
Best answer to the OP.
Quote:
Nlambert.........You don't know anything about this manager, so calling her lazy and idiotic is a stretch. As most of us (who try to solve problems ourselves) have pointed out the manager is doing the right thing. Holding people accountable to their roles is what should happen. You cannot expect a company to hire an employee and then have managers do the work. Why would they keep you at that point? You move from an asset to a burden and no company will carry an unwanted burden.
A copy of that email, should be put in each persons company file. It should be considered a notice, to shape up, or ship out. Or to put it in little bitty words so everyone understands that principal: Either start doing the job you are paid to do, without having the manager hold your hand through all the things you are paid to know and to do, or it is time to find your replacement.
OP, you say it is things that only happen once or twice a month, and you keep asking month after month. If you are doing your job, when shown the correct way to do that action, you should have made a note as to what the solution is, put them into a binder and looked up the answer on the question you have on the same subject. Instead you think it is O.K. to ask the manager the same question once or twice a month.
Too many young workers today, are like the OP in their attitude. They take no initiative. They think a manager is only there to answer questions and be their assistant in doing their job. They complain that the managers are terrible, and only got their job by getting on the good side of the top management and really don't know how to do their jobs.
Of course they are only planning on being there, until they can find a better and higher paid job, and are only doing the minimum of work till they can find a better job with better benefits and higher pay. It is easier to just ask the manager over and over again how to do something, than to really go to the trouble to learn their job. They complain the pay is too little, to really learn the job, do the job, and remain working there in the future. They think they should be paid the median income for the job with 5 years experience, from day one with no experience.
Fact: If an employee has worked for the company for a year or more, they should have already been able to take on the duties of the job, without a manager having to hold their hands and tell them they are doing a good job and they are right. If they are still not able to do the job, they should be replaced by someone that knows what they are doing.
Best answer to the OP.
A copy of that email, should be put in each persons company file. It should be considered a notice, to shape up, or ship out. Or to put it in little bitty words so everyone understands that principal: Either start doing the job you are paid to do, without having the manager hold your hand through all the things you are paid to know and to do, or it is time to find your replacement.
OP, you say it is things that only happen once or twice a month, and you keep asking month after month. If you are doing your job, when shown the correct way to do that action, you should have made a note as to what the solution is, put them into a binder and looked up the answer on the question you have on the same subject. Instead you think it is O.K. to ask the manager the same question once or twice a month.
Too many young workers today, are like the OP in their attitude. They take no initiative. They think a manager is only there to answer questions and be their assistant in doing their job. They complain that the managers are terrible, and only got their job by getting on the good side of the top management and really don't know how to do their jobs.
Of course they are only planning on being there, until they can find a better and higher paid job, and are only doing the minimum of work till they can find a better job with better benefits and higher pay. It is easier to just ask the manager over and over again how to do something, than to really go to the trouble to learn their job. They complain the pay is too little, to really learn the job, do the job, and remain working there in the future. They think they should be paid the median income for the job with 5 years experience, from day one with no experience.
It's not the same question it's something brand new. Anything I receive the answer to I put it in my notes so I will not ask that question again.
She sent this email today to everyone explaining that too many staff members are just asking for assistance and not trying to resolve the problem first. So basically she wants to get paid to do nothing and not help her staff.
So now what is going to happen is people will be afraid to ask for help and will screw things up. Now if the same person asked for help 3 times in one day then I could see how that would be annoying but just once a day if you are a new employee?
First thing that comes to my mind is why wasn't the expectation that everyone try to figure it out on their own made clear to everyone at the time of hire? If the culture of this company is one of growing their employees to be able to be better problem solvers,that should be known already and the staff members acting accordingly.
Hey, if you want to tell your employer you are not qualified to try and solve problems on your own then go ahead.
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Manager is absolutely right. Think about it like this--She could just fire everyone and hire the problem-solvers that she's needing & wanting. Instead, she's giving everyone on that team a chance to get it together. I applaud her.
Can it be the manager is inept at tending to constant training? In my former job, the number one flaw was ambiguous communication in tasks and aides. Cohesive job training is ongoing.
My job was learned by them tying two cinder blocks to my ankles...tossing me in a shark infested cess pool and saying: sink or swim ..ohh and if you come up for air, we will shove you under again. Rinse and repeat. Finally I stopped thinking management was of any positive asset. So I became the go to person for others. It created a team mentality and we each became valued. And not some " chum" meat for management to point fingers .
Luckily I had a boss who carried an open door policy. He did not tolerate the managers treating employees with indifference or apathy. He expected them to be accountable to the team and accessible.
Sure he welcomed the thinkers or alternate ideas in doing a task. Applying it though was trial and error.
This managers policy is close minded for the good of progress. Sounds like they are lacking skills to encourage open brain storming.
It's not the same question it's something brand new. Anything I receive the answer to I put it in my notes so I will not ask that question again.
Being a manager myself, my biggest goal is to get people to be able to connect the dots on their own.
This reminds me of my physics class back in college. A couple days before the final exam, we had a review session. One guy asked the professor which homework problems we should study for? The professor gave an answer that I will never forget. He said homework problems will not help you on the exam.
Sure enough, on the exam, I did not recognize a single thing from the homework problems. However, if you understood the concepts behind the homework problems, then the exam was very doable. If you just memorized the homework problems, then there was no way in hell you could have gotten a good grade on the exam.
In a very similar way, in any line of work there are simply too many things to remember. You are doomed to fail if you think you can take notes your way up. Instead of trying to take notes and memorize them, you should be trying to understand why things are done certain ways and the effects they have on other processes.
When I train my young engineers, if I see them try to take notes I tell them to stop. I'd rather they listen and understand what I'm explaining.
First thing that comes to my mind is why wasn't the expectation that everyone try to figure it out on their own made clear to everyone at the time of hire? If the culture of this company is one of growing their employees to be able to be better problem solvers,that should be known already and the staff members acting accordingly.
Because this should be common sense. Any business that ties up the manager to solving everyone's problem is doomed to fail.
Why would I hire you at all if you think I will solve problems for you every time there is a problem?
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