A reader asks:
I’m a supervisor of two workers, each of whom are salaried, not hourly. One among them — who’s youthful, much less skilled, extra keen — not often asks to regulate her work hours or earn a living from home, and is usually completely satisfied to do something I ask her to do.
The opposite is a little bit older, has much less of a teamwork perspective (“is that this technically one in every of my job tasks?”) and ceaselessly asks to earn a living from home or depart early to take her daughter to appointments, and many others. In different phrases, she enjoys a whole lot of flexibility and independence whereas usually defending her personal job boundaries. She does appear to know she at all times must ask, and typically will even ask, “Am I asking an excessive amount of?”
I’m looking for steadiness with regards to my managing type. I’ve no downside with both of them taking time to stay their lives, so long as they get their work executed, I don’t need to continually hold observe of whether or not or not they’re up to the mark, they take initiative, and, most significantly, I really feel like they really present up and care.
However I can’t assist feeling like at all times saying sure is a nasty concept. I spent years beneath unreasonable managers and understand how irritating it may be to really feel chained to your desk or unable to prioritize sure issues exterior of labor, and as a supervisor, I don’t wish to say no simply to say no. That mentioned, I really feel like there are affordable boundaries I ought to set to allow them to each know that whereas I’m usually accommodating, they need to not reap the benefits of me and there are limitations to what they’ll and will ask for, no matter whether or not or not their work has been executed for the day. What’s your recommendation?
I reply this query over at Inc. at this time, the place I’m revisiting letters which were buried within the archives right here from years in the past (and typically updating/increasing my solutions to them). You can learn it right here.