SHUTTERSTOCK ILLUSTRATION feel that sometimes these “ different ” decisions are not OK , but they aren ’ t illegal or immoral . If Jane were making illegal or immoral decisions , you ’ d need to go to the owner , say what is going on and let the owner fix it .
With these two assumptions , let ’ s tackle the problem at hand . The employees get yanked back and forth on what they should do because they report to two managers with very different ideas on what should happen .
I suspect this affects the ultimate work product as well . After all , if you say “ prioritize project A ” on Monday , and Jane comes in on Tuesday and says “ prioritize project B ,” the poor employees don ’ t know what to do . The result will be shoddy work on both projects .
How did things function before the business went hybrid ?
A question : How did you handle this when everyone was in the office full time ? Assuming this isn ’ t a new job for either you or Jane , think about how things went then . I suspect that you managed team A and Jane managed team B . You and Jane probably coordinated together , but you left each other ’ s teams alone .
You need to do the same thing here .
Remote management isn ’ t as different as people think .
You ’ re making a classic remote management mistake , not knowing how to manage people you can ’ t directly see . Jane should be managing her employees five days a week , and you should be managing your people five days a week . When Jane ’ s employees have problems , they should call her . Your employees should contact you .
You and Jane can fill in for each other in an emergency . If one of you is on vacation , or there is a screaming customer at the door , then the manager on duty handles it . Otherwise , your employees should escalate to you and Jane ’ s to Jane .
This will take some retraining for the employees . If they are used to approaching whoever is in the office , you ’ ll need to train them to go to their actual boss — whether in the office or working remotely .
You do need some unity , however .
When you return to a stricter division of duties , there will still be times with overlap , and both you and Jane need to be on the same page as each other and the owner . You say you want to fix some of Jane ’ s bad decisions , but I suspect she also wants to fix some of your bad choices .
The issue you two need to resolve is what is best for the business . If you allow your employees to come in late while Jane writes people up for being five minutes late , it will breed resentment among the employees . If Jane prioritizes X and you prioritize Y , you ’ ll run into conflicts . You and your boss need to work those things out and be consistent with them .
There are a lot of management styles , but the company culture must be consistent . How things look in the company depends on the owner ’ s ideals , the industry , and goals . You can ' t have a well-run company and a well-run department with multiple cultures .
Once you , Jane and your boss agree on this , you have to support it even if it ’ s not your first choice . If the boss decides that company culture is that people can come in whenever they want as long as they get their 40 hours in , which drives you insane , then you have to grin and bear it . Or you may decide this company isn ’ t for you . That ’ s OK as well .
Suzanne Lucas spent 10 years in corporate human resources , where she hired , fired and managed the numbers and doublechecked with the lawyers . On Twitter @ RealEvilHRLady . Send questions to evilhrlady @ gmail . com .
What would you do if you had to share managing duties with a colleague ?
TWEET US @ COMSTOCKSMAG
August 2022 | comstocksmag . com 21