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One of my directs works weekend overnights. I am torn between holding his O3s during the last hour of his week (7am Tuesday morning) or by phone on the weekend.

At the risk of re-iterating my previous posts: I manage a team of supervisors who work shifts. I've been using 03s scheduled every week, which has unfortunately meant that they are inconsistent and often occur bi-weekly rather than every week.

I'm moving to a consistent, recurring O3 schedule and have set times with 5 out of 6 directs, but the Friday-Monday night supervisor is a challenge to me. He has recently been promoted and his new shifts run from 10pm until 8am. He had previously been front-line employee with the capability of picking up supervisor's shifts. Before the promotion, I had been running O3s with this direct bi-weekly, usually during his supervisor shifts.

The only time I could meet with this direct in person is at 6 or 7am Tuesday morning. The obvious problem there is that he will likely be thinking more about his upcoming weekend than our meeting, and some of the short-term benefits may be forgotten over the three day weekend.

The alternative, which was recommended by MT poster THAGUMA in another thread (thanks!), is to conduct the O3s by phone.

My concern is that his particular direct has not been forthcoming, and only after a series of face to face O3s has begun to open up. I've also noticed that he does not communicate with me well on the phone under normal circumstances.

I feel that I'm starting to make some real progress with live 03s, but that may be lost if I switch to phone meetings.

Has anyone else had a similar experience, or care to share opinions on the negative of end-week meetings versus phone meetings?

mauzenne's picture
Admin Role Badge

I think you answered your own question. Continue to do what is effective — which appears to be conducting one on ones face-to-face.

He's started to open up face-to-face and doesn't communicate well with you over the phone. In my experience, the advantages of more effective communications with him significantly outweigh the disadvantages of conducting one on ones late in his week.

Best Regards,
Mike

akinsgre's picture

I'd go with face to face as well.

I apologize if I missed this in a previous post. Why does it have to be his last day of work, before the weekend?

Have you considered making a special trip into work to do this? Maybe you could adjust your schedule so that it overlaps his a bit.

If phone is the only alternative, you might consider using Skype video. It's still not as good as face to face, but it's better than just voice.

Good luck.

galway's picture

Thanks very much for the replies.

In response to the below question, in order to hold face to face one on ones I must be at work on Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday morning between the hours of 10pm and 8am. I have been making special trips into work for the meetings so far, but I'm switching to a set O3 schedule and I'm not willing to commit to attending work at a set time every weekend or late at night.

It's not reasonable for me to commit to Monday mornings since few of the other department managers check in at all on the weekends, which means that nearly every week I'll have an issue that requires immediate attention at that time. I work in the casino industry in which most of the major operational issues come up on the weekend.

Given that, the only face to face time that I can make a priority is early Tuesday morning, which is the very end of this direct's work week.

Thanks again,
Galway