Submitted by jay2k on
in
Forums
I am currently a Manager on our IT Operations team, which is broken down into two departments (Service Desk and Server Support). Many times a day the two teams need to interact as we escalate requests over to Server Support and they provide the Service Desk with guidance on various issues.
I currently have a high-performer on my team that is not well liked by one individual on our Server Support team. Typically they now only interact when dealing with a support request, and responses from the Server Support person are typically terse and at times unhelpful. The Server Support person has a reputation for acting in this manner, not only to his own team members, but to others he does not like around the company.
My employee told me this morning that he was fed up and was ready to walk. My employee and I have had this discussion before about the same person, and the action I took at that time was to provide feedback to my peer about his directs actions and how they are cutting down the relationship between our teams. For a time, things improved, but with time things have digressed back to "normal".
I see the person on the Server Support team as a person that regularly initiates ill will and feelings towards my team. In public forum he will talk negatively about my team instead of coming to see me or his Manager with complaints. On the positive side, he is a very bright individual and produces results.
I'm now trying to figure out a better way to improve this situation, and so far I've come up with the following:
- Discuss the situation with my peer again and see if we can come up with a solution.
- Talk directly to the Server Support person and ask why he does not like the person on my team. Find out the root of the anomosity and attempt to address.
- Sit my direct and the Server Support person down in a room and talk it out. (My least favorable idea).
Before I take action, I wanted to get the Communities input and see if anyone else has successfully dealt with this and what path did they take. Thanks in advance for your responses!
Jay2k
A little update
This afternoon my employee e-mailed me and my peer asking to sitdown with HR to discuss. There have been a few e-mail interactions between him and my peer, as my peer continues to question what the issue is. I'm going to schedule time to sitdown with my peer and my direct to discuss.
Retention risk is always an escalation point
I'd say you, your peer, and your boss need to resolve this, immediately. One of your best directs is ready to quit, despite his and your repeated attempts to resolve with this other (your peer's direct) and the other's boss (your peer). The organization needs to respond at a level above both you and your peer.
If you have first-hand experience of the other's behaviors, and come across it during interactions with this peer's direct, you might consider the "peer feedback" to this other of how his behavior affects others' willingness to work with him. I'm not sure it's wise to give him feedback as if he were your own direct (honor thy chain of command), but your peer certainly needs some peer feedback on how you're about to lose someone because he's not resolving an ongoing issue he's been escalated to on.
-- Joseph
Evidence
You need evidence. Record the calls. Right now, the situation is still "He said. She said." I see nothing to prove your direct is not the actual problem or merely a whiner.
I did not say your direct is a problem or whiner. I said there is no evidence to support that the problem is your peer's direct and not your direct's misinterpretation of the situation. Since the interaction is on the telephone, recording the calls should make the cause of the problem clear to any objective listener if the problem is as severe as your direct is maintaining.
Evidence Is Key
Joseph and DonM,
Thank you for taking the time yesterday to provide some great insight on this issue. I talked with my peer about the issue to try and work it out at our level. I'm glad I did.
While my direct is a top-performer, I've seen him respond to his peers with short and terse e-mails when he does not believe they are doing their job. Yesterday I had blinders on to this fact, until I talked with my peer and he gave some examples. I entered a danger area, where I overlooked a negative behavior due to all of the other positives coming from my direct.
I then met with my direct and talked with him about this behavior and illustrated that it was not so different than the behavior he was upset about with the person on the other team. I coached him towards coming to me before responding to someone when he was upset, to come talk with me and we could put reality on the situation and/or come up with a game plan to properly respond.
Do you think this was handled correctly? Would you have handled it differently? Thanks again for your feedback, I greatly appreciate it!