Gen Z accommodations

[Mick]

A Gen Z worker has an accommodation that prevents her from working with another co-worker.

I kinda get it. My first boss would have made Don Draper’s jaw drop, a completely toxic man (although to this day, the best salesman I’ve ever met). I arranged it so we spent five minutes on the phone the same day, every day. Not six. Five.

Thirty years later, I would have a boss who would call at 5:30 every day presumably to check and see if I was in the office. That stopped when I started calling him every day at 6:30 “Hey Les, I stopped by your office at 6:30 to check…no problem, we’ll connect tomorrow.” That stopped the 5:30 calls.

 

• This topic was modified 8 hours, 12 minutes ago by Mick.

[Legend]

I don’t have a problem keeping two high performers apart from one another if there is conflict. They would have to be on different teams.

I love the anecdote about your boss checking in on you. I have been lucky to have never really had an overbearing boss.

I hired a young woman a few years back (still with me) who was coming from a large company to a small one, and in the interview process she bluntly asked if I was a micromanager. I said “only when you force me to be.” She got it and has done really well since joining. Very little micromanagement necessary.

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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

[Mick]

That’s a great rule of thumb. My practice has always been to hire great people or people of great potential, lightly manage them and get out of their way. Eleven CXOs in my business trained under me, my coaching tree so to speak.

I always had their back if they brought me a problem, issue, or concern. On the other hand, if I hear about it from an attorney, then my ability to help you is limited.

One Friday, I got a call from our COO (my boss) stating that I needed to have a call that afternoon with our CEO and our CHRO. That tightened up my O ring, let me tell you. Turns out, my head of marketing technology had inadvertently forwarded an extremely sensitive information package to a competitor. And she tried to hide it. And talented though she was, we had to let her go. I still think she’s the most talented person in that role in the industry. Couldn’t save her, wouldn’t try.

[Beeg_Dawg]

I made it clear to employees I would not second guess decisions they made within their responsibility, but I reserved the right to question how they arrived at their decision.  Basic question was “How did arrive at your decision to….”.

Worked well for me and my employees.  I found areas where training was needed, employees got better at their jobs and I was able to offload day to day work in pursuit of projects and building customer relationships.

Over time, there was a handful of employees that did not do well.  Those are the ones who could not offer an explanation or just wanted to duck any accountability for their decisions.

[Author]

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