Work Demeanor

[SNAPE/SMOTT PE]

Ok, so I just got schooled from my boss. I am being too demanding and not asking for things from the team in a nice way.

I'll admit, I was frustrated and being a bit bitchy.

Those who are in a management role, how do you manage to request things from your team members without coming across too abrasive?

 

[Supe]

My go-to is usually to ask the individuals for details, hold a team meeting, and establish a written list of priorities and deliverables with deadlines.

Hold them to that.

If they aren't able to meet them, make them explain why. If the deadline has no float, look for other options or change up the resource loading.

ALWAYS end those types of meetings with a thank you, and acknowledge that you appreciate their efforts. If you acknowledge that you were over the top in being "bitchy", a brief apology can go a long way, too.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

Supe's nailed it on the head. I always establish deadlines when managing a team. It amazes me when I receive emails asking for reports/analyses and there aren't any deadlines attached to them.

I have not yet run into the problem of team members not meeting deadlines. I try to follow up periodically to make sure that the engineer is not running into any major obstacles. If he's spread thin (working on other projects) then you're forced to look at the schedule or resource loading. If he's running into technical problems then maybe a sit down with senior engineers can provide some insight. A quick call to follow up on progress goes a long way towards keeping projects on schedule.

Again, as Supe said, it's a good policy to thank the team members for their work at the end of each meeting. It is also, in my experience, good practice to follow up every meeting by distributing the minutes with a summary of tasks, to whom they were assigned, hours allocated for task, and deadline.

This all sounds like PM basics but sometimes that's all you need. Thankfully I haven't run into any co-workers who are aggressive or have an axe to grind (yet).

 

[knight1fox3]

Echo what Supe and Ram said. Most of my meetings start with an agenda so the meeting can be as short and to the point as possible. Topics of discussion, action items complete with responsible persons and also a DUE DATE. I learned this early on about being able to hold not only myself, but others accountable. When something doesn't get done or a date slips, I generally start out with a nice email reminder with reference to the original agenda asking for a status update. Which seems to keep a constructive spin on things.

 

[Road Guy]

they teach you in the military to delegate and then follow up!

I have noticed a lot of new grads tend to want to be coddled and talked gently to, that doesn't fly when you have shit to get done. I have gotten gruff as well, but sometimes you have to light a fire under someone's ass..

The same people that are always first in line when its "bagel day" or cake and ice cream event, are usually the first ones out the door at 4:30 also, fuck em I say!!!

 

[engineergurl]

I'm thoroughly hated at work, you don't want to act like I act.

 

[SNAPE/SMOTT PE]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, meetings are always run the way you all have said.

This was in an email, where I was taken as being too demanding. Not that I shouldn't have made the request, just that I should have said it in a nicer way (according to my manager).

 

[Lumber Jim]

 

[envirotex]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, meetings are always run the way you all have said.

This was in an email, where I was taken as being too demanding. Not that I shouldn't have made the request, just that I should have said it in a nicer way (according to my manager).

Did you say "please" and "thank you"? If so, tell them to stop being babies.

 

[SNAPE/SMOTT PE]

No please, no thank you. Just stated that x needed to be done.

 

[SNAPE/SMOTT PE]

I was frustrated because it was the second time I made the exact same request, yet that person had time to chit chat with other people, and this needed to be done soon.

 

[knight1fox3]

Only second time? :huh:

You should try consulting some time.

 

[Road Guy]

Once a cad guy asked if he could leave early (this was a Friday) I said sure as long as you print a full set of plans to review before you leave. Which he did, but he didn’t look through them and before I could catch him and look through the plans he left. When I got around to looking through the set (this was a 1000+ sheets set of plans for an interstate project) I discovered he had printed them without all the major referenced turned on. Basically 1000 sheets of crap.

It was around 6 PM on a Friday and I was super pissed so I crumpled up each of the 1000 sheets individually and filled up his entire cube with them. I even put tape across the opening so it would hold all of the sheets..

Well guess who got an ass chewing Monday morning for that one?

 

[Ken PE 3.1]

Once a cad guy asked if he could leave early (this was a Friday) I said sure as long as you print a full set of plans to review before you leave. Which he did, but he didn’t look through them and before I could catch him and look through the plans he left. When I got around to looking through the set (this was a 1000+ sheets set of plans for an interstate project) I discovered he had printed them without all the major referenced turned on. Basically 1000 sheets of crap.

It was around 6 PM on a Friday and I was super pissed so I crumpled up each of the 1000 sheets individually and filled up his entire cube with them. I even put tape across the opening so it would hold all of the sheets..

Well guess who got an ass chewing Monday morning for that one?

I'm guessing not him.

 

[SNAPE/SMOTT PE]

Only second time? :huh:

You should try consulting some time.

Yeah, well I'm in consulting/engineering services as a project engineer. It was a department manager or his right hand man who got offended. My boss (MoP) didn't tell me who it was, but it's obvious to me. When I have a deadline, my butt is on the line, and I needed him to do something and he blew me off....yeah I get pissed.
I'm the one who will get the a$$ chewing.

 

[SNAPE/SMOTT PE]

Once a cad guy asked if he could leave early (this was a Friday) I said sure as long as you print a full set of plans to review before you leave. Which he did, but he didnt look through them and before I could catch him and look through the plans he left. When I got around to looking through the set (this was a 1000+ sheets set of plans for an interstate project) I discovered he had printed them without all the major referenced turned on. Basically 1000 sheets of crap.

It was around 6 PM on a Friday and I was super pissed so I crumpled up each of the 1000 sheets individually and filled up his entire cube with them. I even put tape across the opening so it would hold all of the sheets..

Well guess who got an ass chewing Monday morning for that one?

I would have laughed my ass off, if I worked there.

 

[knight1fox3]

Only second time? :huh:

You should try consulting some time.

Yeah, well I'm in consulting/engineering services as a project engineer. It was a department manager or his right hand man who got offended. My boss (MoP) didn't tell me who it was, but it's obvious to me. When I have a deadline, my butt is on the line, and I needed him to do something and he blew me off....yeah I get pissed.
I'm the one who will get the a$$ chewing.

I think you did right. As RG said, some people need a square kick in the @ss to get motivated.

 

[kevo_55]

 

[Road Guy]

The cad guy who got the cubicle full of paper actually took it pretty well. He was a young guy at the time it actually became one of our better cadd staff.

It was some of the other old lady CAD folks who got pissed off about it

 

[SNAPE/SMOTT PE]

The cad guy who got the cubicle full of paper actually took it pretty well. He was a young guy at the time it actually became one of our better cadd staff.

It was some of the other old lady CAD folks who got pissed off about it

I don't mean to sound like I'm stereotyping here, but typical from my experience.