📣 Alan Krauss, People Operations Manager @ Nightingale Company:
Opinion Piece – I have so many questions but generally I would say you have either a people or a process problem. I do not know what the onboarding should look like for this job, but if they are unable to meet things they were clearly trained on and you have an outline for, they need to be documented for improvements. They may not be aware of the struggles they have in performance, oftentimes managers think they are being nice/ fair managers by not addressing those things. In reality they just make it harder to draw clear expectations later.
The other detail is the process part – this being a new person may be time to evaluate and update the training process. The new people may have adapted as changes came so a new person struggling could be a sign of outdated information in your onboarding process.
📣 Jill Felska, Founder @ WantToWorkThere.com:
This is definitely a tricky one to answer without first asking a handful of important follow-up questions. Going on what we do know, I'd offer the following:
Coaching the Individual(s):
It sounds like this is coming from some unhappy team members. From an individual support perspective, I would recommend asking coaching questions to help shift the conversation from frustration towards actionable steps, while still acknowledging how tough the situation is currently. Here are a couple to consider:
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What specifically makes you feel like your manager is playing favorites?
- How does this situation impact your work, motivation, or ability to contribute effectively?
- Are there specific moments where you felt overlooked or undervalued? What happened?
- What support, recognition, or opportunities do you feel you need but aren’t receiving?
- Have you communicated these needs directly to your manager? If not, what’s holding you back?
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If your manager offered you more support, what would that look like in practice?
The goal is for them to begin identifying what is within their control versus what isn't within the situation and identify some actionable next steps that they are empowered to take themselves. This should help address the individual's unmet needs in the short-term while you focus on the larger organizational change aspect.
Managerial Expectations:
From a higher-level approach, it sounds like there may be an opportunity to define what great management looks like at your organization. While it sounds like such a simple thing, it's often overlooked and can be incredibly impactful!
In my last head of people role, I would often struggle to parse through feedback regarding manager performance, because we honestly hadn't set any clear expectations around what success in the role truly looked like. Having clarity on this piece makes it SO MUCH EASIER to objectively reflect on situations like this one and then point to specific behaviors that are either (a) missing from the managers interactions or (b) are contradictory to what's already been established.
I went through an immense amount of research on exactly what makes someone a great manager when building my Training for the Modern Manager* curriculum and I kept coming back to Google's Project Oxygen and the ten core competencies* they uncovered. Whether you adopt them completely or use them as a starting point, I highly recommend giving them a glance!
The other aspect I recommend looking at is the actual core responsibilities of managers within your organization. What tasks are they held accountable to in that role? I built a free Manager Expectations Matrix* that outlines the process for defining this in your organization, which can be a helpful place to start.
While these types of solutions aren't a quick fix, I know first hand the impact they can have in the long term. (*see the On Your Radar section for links to these resources!)
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