Submitted by ilkhan on
in
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My bottom line question is whether to step in and provide unsolicited guidance to a direct and if so, when. As I ask for input, I do so with Mark's voice in the back of my head warning me of the hazard of "fixing" direct's problems.
The gist of the problem is this: our firm has standard billing programs we use for all clients except for the federal government. When we bill the feds we have to use their forms. The process is extremely time consuming and involves initial entry of time and expenses into our billing system, then filling out of billing spreadsheets, then I have my direct print off the spreadsheets of time and expenses. I review to make sure everything is correct. I hand back the corrections. She corrects the spreadsheets. We bill. I would estimate I spend at least 2 hours of time for my part of the review process and my direct averages about 6 hours of time.
The problem is that the Excel spreadsheets we are given are sometimes corrupted and for some unimaginable and unexplainable reason, do not want to take the corrections. (the initial input of information is always ok, it is the corrections that seem to throw things off.) My direct has gotten progressively more and more frustrated arm-wrestling with the federal forms and the most billing handed to me was riddled with errors.
I suggested three things to her two weeks ago. #1. Have someone in the office create a new spreadsheet with all the formulas, identical to the form the feds use, #2. Create a form that looks identical to the fed form, but without any formulas, and do all the math by hand, page after page. #3. Print out any form or chart she chooses for me to make corrections on so that she can enter the information on the fed form once at the end of the project. I also said to do whatever she thinks is best and most time efficient.
She has now been working on this last billing for over two weeks and I cannot imagine how much time she has spent. She has not asked me about it again but is dragging other employees into this blossoming black hole of a time suck by asking them questions, talking about various spreadsheets, programs, etc.
At this point I don't care if she chisels the bills into granite tablets and hires a mercenary band to parachute those tablets to the GAO in Washington D.C., get the bill out the door! I'm planning on giving feedback at our weekly one on one but I am not in the proper frame of mind to do it now. I love this direct, she is a wonderful and valued and valuable employee and I can't figure out what the major malfunction is here.
I would love to hear any thoughts.
tv
A couple troubleshooting
A couple troubleshooting ideas for the worksheet problem:
1. have you tried version control using "Save As"? every time someone makes changes they should Save As with a different file name (like March billing ver 1.xls, march billing ver 2.xls) to try to minimize the effects of file corruption. You can trace back to the last known good copy that way.
2. once the file is corrupted, have you tried cutting and pasting the entire template sheet into a new excel doc? It should carry all the formulas with it and might be a quick way out of a corrupt file.
3. is everyone using the same version of Excel and are you up to date on your Service Packs? It could be a technical issue that a patch can prevent.
And about the employee: it sounds like it's simply a training issue. For the love of Pete help her develop by sending her to Excel training. It's a valuable skillset that will serve her well for years to come, and will pay off for you in terms of efficiency. Given that she's a wonderful employee, invest in her rather than giving adjusting feedback.
Reporting Frequency
You didn't inclued a time component. She's trying something new, so should have been reporting more frequently. Next time try having her pick an option (or come up with an alternative) with a schedule for executing it and send it to you by X tomorrow. Ask that each task be kept short (two days tops) and that she report progress as she completes things. Follow her progress and get more involved in the event that her progress deviates from the plan. Once things become more routine the frequency with which she should be updating you should go down. Since this sounds like this time it's already become a problem, I wouldn't wait to involve myself. There will be other opportunities to help her to develop as long as you're looking for them. Good luck - Sam
Two good suggestions above
Both the Excel training and the time component are good suggestions.
If I'm reading your original post right, the problem is a little more immediate - in that the current bill is not going out the door.
While I'm all for direct development, I think that what you've asked was too big, too unstructured so she is trying desperately to make it work. I'd suspect she may be in "try anything" mode - focusing on the process rather the end output.
If you still have not billed - then you need to sit her down and get an update on progress. There comes a point that you have to call it a day and revert to Business As Usual. Certainly I would want to sit down with her and understand what has been tried - what worked/ what failed - a complete de-brief of the exercise. You should get plenty of content to praise for hardwork/ effort - and hopefully some ideas for "next time". Wrap it up, and then get back to doing the billing the old way.
Once the billing is out of the way, then go back to the "process improvement plan". This time certainly make sure that even if the work is unstructured that there is regular feedback to you on progress. Let her drive that plan - obviously provide help when requested, but let her drive the initiative.
Mark