I'm not a manager, but I play one

Anonymous

August 10,2020 at 6:26PM UTC

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There is an employee in my department who, in spite of having been with the company nearly 15 years, cannot remember day to day and week to week how to perform her job. There are a number of responsibilities that are rotated between us. I've been here 6 years and find myself constantly having to ask her to correct her work, recall emails, etc. because thing are just plain wrong with the work and it reflects badly on the department. Because we rotate the responsibilities, and use an organizational signature block when we send them out, these mistakes reflect badly on everyone equally. Our supervisor and upper management are aware of the problem but seem unable or unwilling to do anything about it. Other coworkers have been to HR about it with no success. I don't have any disciplinary authority, so I do what I can to try to keep the department's reputation intact. I'm checking the quality of her work, requesting corrections be made, and trying maintain the FAQ for her to reference to prevent future mistakes. I've been performing these 'additional duties' for the last 5 years. I'm fed up and looking for a new gig. Is it unreasonable for me to consider this supervisory experience?

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Jenn UbaldoAugust 10,2020 at 9:14PM UTC
This is obviously a frustrating experience! You’re so proactive and you did your best in dealing with her.
Maybe to help solve this:
a) find out what the real problem is. Each person has different learning curves and there may be times she can be slow. Maybe you can ask her what her system is and help her tweak hers little by little.
b) Learn to say no or redirect her to your supervisor if she asks questions. Let your supervisor do his/her job. You’ve given your coworker the materials she can look.
c) Talk to your supervisor and suggest to give her tasks that she can take on without problems. Most likely, leverage her strengths so she doesn’t affect others who are better at tasks she’s weak at.
Hope these help!
AnonymousAugust 11,2020 at 11:50AM UTC
Thanks for the feedback Jenn. I've done (a) which is how the FAQ and other job aids came about. I've tried (b) with minimal success since our supervisor is often unavailable and our work is time sensitive. Since our department downsized there literally isn't another employee available to take on the work so (c) isn't likely. All the resources I had successfully trained on these tasks were either reallocated to other departments or offered early retirement. I'm just done and ready to find another position. The thing is I've always managed processes not people and it's limited me in going after supervisory positions in the past. If I find a supervisory position I'd like to go after, how can I leverage the last 5 years to be in the running?
Deanna HillAugust 13,2020 at 8:09PM UTC
Hi! I agree with what several others have said- you cannot list this as official supervisory experience. However, all is not lost. The experience you have is being an influencer, which is much more difficult than simply giving directives. You will want to list your experience as mentoring and influencing peers towards excellence. When you are in interviews and asked about leadership bring your audience to this conversation about influence and affecting change without the backup of a leadership title.
Keila AlvaradoAugust 12,2020 at 5:32PM UTC
Gee, sorry for you...I can relate through past experiences as you appear to be filling the gaps and doing extra work without the compensation as well as title for doing all that. Since it was clever to try to see if higher ups and H/R would address the issues but that was unsuccessful or to no avail: Definitely keep looking elsewhere for a better opportunity and add onto your resume or portfolio the extra work you do. Hopefully you could get a more satisfying job where you are appreciated and they have promotional opportunities to grow. I had extra work in more than one past job where I was being taken advantage of without the bump in title and pay so I went up the ladder by moving on to other companies. Search companies to apply for with high ratings great treatment of employees and great perks/benefits.
Brooke MorrisonAugust 13,2020 at 2:09PM UTC
For your resume, I wouldn't list say "supervised", even though you've taken on some of that role. If you use someone from your company as a reference, they could be asked about your role or you may be asked supervisory-related questions in an interview and the answers might not match up to a full-blown "supervisor" role. I would list the specific additional duties that pertain to the position you are applying for. For example, you could you something like "led, mentored, and trained team members" or "edited and fact-checked documents", if that was part of your additional duties. I think it would be even better if you could work in some results or statistics related to these responsibilities.
AnonymousAugust 13,2020 at 9:01PM UTC
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've spoken with my immediate supervisor and was advised to document specific instances of where my co-worker's performance is problematic and present these to our manager along with a plan for improvement. The request makes me very uncomfortable. Is that just me being silly or naive? I've been tapped previously to do resource scheduling and budget planning but the improvement plan for a coworker at the same grade as me (and in the job longer) seems like a line being crossed.
AnonymousAugust 18,2020 at 12:14PM UTC
Coming later into this tread and wanted to provide insights as I am going through this currently myself.
The right thing to do is document what is completed vs not completed, and having facts to highlight the challenges you’re facing. This will help your manager look at facts, and use them to take action. If you have tools such as Confluence, Sharepoint, etc., — anything cloud-based and with a time stamp - I would recommend this format. Additionally, you can use your process background and use a RACI Matrix (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix) to define who is the owner for each rotation. This will provide accountability and another way to track what is happening vs not happening.
From your first comment, it seems managers “ are aware of the problem but seem unable or unwilling to do anything about it.” Similar to the feedback on this thread, I recommend you look for new opportunities where you’re valued for taking initiative, being a team lead and with management who take accountability and ownership of their teams and team culture.