And Other Times, It’s Like This

Brett Effective fanned his papers like a poker hand one more time, being careful to angle his knee so that a passerby couldn’t sneak a peek. The documentation of a month’s worth of screw ups by one of his team members was arranged chronologically in front of him. It was a devastating list, enough to make him simply want to fire the woman…except for the fact that she was six months pregnant. He had loaned her out to a variety of projects on other teams in order to give her some opportunities to move around, but they had all turned into disasters. The managers on those teams and projects had been all over him, demanding that something be done.

Two of the projects were still ongoing, and had big consequences for the company. Brett sighed. He had to get her on track in a way that wouldn’t make his life or hers miserable. He’d been on the receiving end of micromanagement before, and didn’t want to inflict that on anybody. But any more mistakes and it would be his ass in the fire, not hers. He scooped up his arsenal and headed for the conference room. It was time to tell the expectant mother, five years older than him, that she was teetering on the verge of employability.

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Who does Brett turn to in your organization? Who’s the safe person in HR to go to for advice, who’s the VP that makes it a personal goal to mentor managers, the person whose door is always open for folks? If you don’t know, find out. If there isn’t one, be that person (to the extent that you can) or pave the way for such people to feel empowered to help.