When Sarah comes late
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Sarah is a charming person and she does good work. There's just one thing. Sarah is late a lot.
When Sarah is late, especially first thing in the morning, everyone has to wait for her. The morning team stand-up gets put on hold. At first it was almost funny and people made little jokes about it.
The jokes have turned to almost-angry comments. "What is it this time?" a team member asked last week. Sarah always has a "good reason" and she always apologizes when she's late. That almost makes it worse.
Sarah's boss, Jim, has mentioned the issue to Sarah, in an off-hand way. He knows it's irritating, but he thinks that he should cut Sarah some slack because, after all, she does good work. Besides, he thinks, it's a pretty small matter to confront someone about. What Jim is missing is how this all affects the team and his reputation.
Team members are angry at Sarah, but they're angrier at Jim for letting her get away with behavior that makes everyone's life harder. They're losing respect for Jim because he's putting his comfort ahead of the work of accomplishing the mission and caring for the team members.
Boss's Bottom Line
Your job is to look after the whole team and confront team members about
performance or behavior when it affects morale or mission accomplishment.
Remember: what you allow, you condone.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Excellent point, Wally. As I see it, most people will make a good-faith effort to meet managers' reasonable expectations; some won't. Managers, you do a disservice to those who will by tolerating those who won't. So don't!
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Thanks, Jim. From Sarah's perspective, too, how serious can this be if my boss never says anything about it? My experience is that a simple mention of what's wrong and why is enough to get most people to change behavior. The paradox is that the longer a boss lets it go, the more likely a serious confrontation becomes.
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I couldn't agree more, Wally. In addition, being chronically late is rude and inconsiderate. Another thing Jim's allowance is showing is that consideration and respect for others are not high on his priority list of values in his team members.
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Thanks, Jen. My coaching experience leads me to believe that what's going on in Jim's head is that he thinks he's showing concern for others by not confronting Sarah. That may be a rationalization of his own unwillingness to confront. Whether or not it is, Jim's probably focused on consideration for Sarah and not concern for the other team members.
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Great words of advice. Most people do not like conflict and try to keep the peace like myself. I have had to learn when it is appropriate and when it is not. I think the other part that Jim is missing is he is setting a bad example to the other workers and has given some of his authority for the other employee away by not confronting the issue. Also, it can be a disservice to the individual if you do not confront this issue right away. By helping your employees strengthen themselves, you are helping them in the long run. Lastly, you must act as a leader and not friend. Sarah may have conflicts elsewhere and just needs to adjust her work schedule so she can be on time.
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Thanks, Adam. Those are good points, especially the one about doing a disservice to Sarah.
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Hi Wally,
Your post addresses what a lot of teams experience...managers that accept poor performance in one area for excellent performance in another. Managers have got to recognize the opportunity to address these issues so it doesn't distract the team or cause the feelings described. It's not fair to the team or Sarah.
The key for managers is to look for patterns. If Sarah was only late once, I wouldn't coach her in the same the manner as I would when her pattern is coming in late all the time.
Managers must remind themselves that they can have a well rounded employee that can do the same work as Sarah AND get to work on time. There is no need to sacrifice one thing for another.
Best wishes,
Kelly
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You make good points, Kelly. Everybody makes mistakes. They come late or miss a deadline. But when you see a pattern it's time for a specific chat. Very often, all the boss has to do is let a team member know that he or she has noticed the pattern, will be watching to see if it continues, and that there will be negative consequences if it does. Most people want to do the right thing, but sometimes you have to remind them what it is.
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Wally, some years ago, I was part of a staff that had a Sarah - always late to our Monday morning staff meeting. After all else failed, on one Monday morning when everyone was on time except Sarah, our leader locked the door and started the meeting. Sure enough, a few minutes later Sarah showed up, tried to get in, but couldn't - we had the meeting without her. She got the message and soon left the company. It was a great way for our leader to show that he respected our time even if Sarah didn't.
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You brought back a memory with that one, Dick. Early in my career I was part of a Monday morning staff meeting with our CEO that began at 8 AM, when the CEO himself locked the door to the conference room. Normally that was no problem for me, early is my middle name, I like getting to the airport while they're building the plane. But one morning I was late. It wasn't by much, maybe a minute, but the door was locked. I stood there for a while then went back to my office. Later I got a one-line memo from the CEO, it said: "People who expect to remain employed here come to meetings on time."
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Excellent commentary on the importance of being respectful of a team's time from both a management and employee perspective.
My question is how do you confront habitual tardiness when it is ingrained in the culture of an organization? The entire organization, from the leadership to the newest employee, displays complete disregard for the use of someone else's time. Meetings rarely start on time therefore attendees are frequently late because the "meetings always start late" and know that someone will "catch me up."
As a manager fairly new to the organization, this drives me crazy as I find the practice to be counter-productive. I have counseled employees about the importance of being on time. I have also made a concentrated effort to start all my meetings on time and do not schedule a meeting after the meeting to ensure the latecomers are up to speed. Any suggestions on how to permanently change the behavior that is currently ingrained in the organization?
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It's not likely that you will change the culture of an entire organization. What you can do is work on the culture of your team. You've got influence there and your specific and consistent actions can make a difference in behavior that should result in a difference in performance.Thanks for adding to the conversation, Leslie.
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Wally, I completely agree with this. Being persistently late and this not being confronted by the boss escalates this issue every time it happens. On Sarah's part, it not only shows lack of respect for the company and for Jim, but also for her colleagues who make the effort and come to work on time. And by ignoring the situation, Jim only serves to compound the other colleagues' feelings of inadequacy - like Sarah is receiving special treatment and is above rules; it seems like she doesn't have to abide by them. There's a lack of respect by both parties.
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Thanks, Mary. That was superbly put.
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Speaking as an employee, and member of a critical care team in an ICU, I can vouch for the effect one person's consistent tardiness has on the team morale. Failure to report on time inconveniences other team members, is disrespectful, and calls into question the ability of the manager to handle a very simple employee problem. Bottom line: showing up to work on time is a requirement of the job, and being "a very good employee" is not a good enough reason for the manager to allow the behavior to continue, while risking the morale of the team. The manager's failure to act creates a lack of respect from the rest of the group and undermines management's authority.
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Thanks for adding that example, Donna.
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I agree the boss needs to man up but it sounds like Sarah's in the wrong job. There are plenty of jobs that don't require a big mob of people to wait around for you every morning.
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True enough, Laura. Of course, unless the boss does his job there probably won't be a discussion of that option. Thanks for coming by.
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