How to Coach a Disorganized Staff Member

Last updated: 6/21/21
Estimated reading time: 5 min

A reader sent us this question:“I manage a department head who’s fantastic at the core responsibilities of her work—she’s really talented at what she does and has helped us get great results in her area. She’s also pretty disorganized—doesn’t always answer emails, even when it’s important to get back to someone, and will sometimes let non-urgent tasks fall through the cracks. This is the one issue in an otherwise great performance. Help!”

Some roles require strong organization and attention to detail. For other roles, it’s not a dealbreaker on its own even though it causes problems and frustration. As a manager, your first step is to distinguish the must-have skills and habits from the nice-to-have ones.

  • 在这种情况下，有组织和注重细节是你的员工角色的核心部分，你会想要把这种情况作为绩效问题来处理——诚实和清楚地表明你需要看到显著和持续的改进。你会以同样的方式开始(检查、反馈和指导)，但你会希望从一开始就清楚你的期望和绩效改进过程的弧线。2022年世界杯名额This arc could proceed to aperformance improvement planand letting go if they don’t meet core functions of the job.
  • 在这种情况下，您的员工在必须具备的(核心职责)方面做得很好，所以您需要的是一个指导团队规范的计划，并通过对话确定一些策略，以建立这种技能或减轻其影响。2022年世界杯名额2022年世界杯名额指导——支持和授权某人实现目标或发展一项技能的能力——是成为一名管理者的关键部分。

For this disorganized department head, you’ll want to give feedback, seek perspective, and make a plan that leads to the best results. Here’s what we recommend.

1. Start by naming the issue and the impact it’s having.

It might sound obvious, but simply articulating what you’re seeing and why it concerns you can be powerful—and that’s especially true with strong performers, as they’re typically highly conscientious. In this case, you might say, “I’d like to talk about your organizational systems. I’ve heard from several activists and a fellow team head that they haven’t received responses when they emailed you. They didn’t raise this as a huge concern and when I probed more, they shared that they generally feel good about your work and communication with them. But, I’m concerned that if this persists, it may make us look unresponsive and could lead to some downstream communication issues for our team. I want to be clear that, right now, I don’t consider this a performance problem. You’re doing a great job meeting job expectations. I consider this a valuable growth opportunity and I want to keep an eye on it. How are you feeling about your organization systems and the impacts I just described?”

Acknowledge any context that might be posing a special challenge, as well. For example: “I know that you’re juggling a high workload, which is all the more reason I want to make sure you have systems in place that will support you in tracking everything coming your way.”

2. Ask questions.

Don’t assume that you already know what’s at the root of the problem. Instead ask, and listen with an open mind. For example, you might ask, “What’s your sense of what’s getting in the way?” or “Why do you think emails keep slipping through the cracks?” At a minimum, this will help you get a better understanding of your staff member’s perspective. Use ourfeedback worksheet以及我们的“CSAW”模型(连接、分享、询问、总结)来帮助构建对话。

Seeking perspective is always important. You might learn things that surprise you—for example, that your staff member incorrectly thought another department member was owning a particular task or that the two of you aren’t aligned on how quickly activists should be getting responses and what rises to the level of “important.” Seize these moments to clarify team norms and add specificity to each level of yourMOCHA.

3. Develop a plan.

You can invest in your staff member’s success by rolling up your sleeves and building their skills, or you can make adaptations to mitigate the impact of their work style.

  • Roll up your sleeves and build their skills.一个出色的员工通常可以把你花在指导上的短期投资转化为真正的改变。2022年世界杯名额让你的员工带领你了解他们现有的组织系统(如果有的话!)，并深入研究当电子邮件或任务没有得到处理时，是什么导致了系统崩溃。有些杂乱无章的人很难发现他们的系统中的低效之处，或者设想他们可能会如何建立一个更强大的系统，所以要花一些时间在培训和解决问题上，就像你想培养别人的其他技能一样。2022年世界杯名额通过花时间挖掘他们的工作习惯，你可能会发现相对简单的方法来建立更好的系统和习惯。例如，如果你知道他们一直把邮件放在收件箱里，不管邮件是否已经处理，你可以建议他们开始使用文件夹来组织邮件，并使用标签来突出显示需要回复的邮件。你也可以建议在周二和周四的日历上增加一个小时的工作时间来回复电子邮件或查看那些正在消失的费用报告。我们的目标是帮助他们养成新的习惯和新的系统。
  • Look for ways to mitigate the impact.Because your staff member is outstanding at the core work of their job, consider whether there are creative ways to mitigate the impact of the disorganization. This means adding new team norms and looking for win-wins. For example, your team might benefit from a regular 15-minute check-in to flag things that need immediate attention—and verbally reinforce certain emails before they get lost in the inbox ocean. You could also leverage the strengths of your admin team to find a tech solution to automate reminders, help create a folder structure, or provide other support. You may even find this is something other staff would appreciate.

鉴于你对下游影响的担忧，我们建议你和这位工作人员撸起袖子。安排一些时间来检查他们的系统，让那些拥有优秀系统的员工分享一些例子，让那些杂乱无章的员工看到他们想要的实际操作，并为他们提供所需的培训、工具或养成习惯的时间。

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