CRITICISM PART TWO: STANDING YOUR GROUND

A Note to Minions:

Some days, it’s not you.  Your supervisor may be irritated about the coffee their toddler spilled all over their sweater this morning.  Multiple clients’ complaints may be ringing in their ears. 

So, naturally, when you step into their office for any reason… anything that is less than perfect is not going to be taken lightly. 

Stand your ground.

 As stated in Criticism Part One, acknowledge the errors actually made.  However, do not take the blame for errors that were not yours (i.e., a client not getting back to you after multiple attempts).  Explain clearly and succinctly why a task was incomplete.  Referring to policies and procedures may be helpful.  Some example prompts include, “The email thread you were referring to did not have me cc’d until this morning – it was impossible for me to know what was going on” and, “So the standard office procedure is… what would you prefer I do differently in this case?”. 

Demand respect.  If a supervisor is rattling off all the issues they have with you, refuse to argue.  It often behooves a minion to stare pointedly until the boss is finished with their list of grievances  and say something to the effect of, “as I stated before, it was impossible to follow-up on a matter that I was not cc’d on.  How would you like me to move forward?”

A Note to Supervisors:

Staff are great people to vent to.  They tend to respect you, they know the nature of your job, your clients, and your workload. 

It is easy to blur the line between venting to your staff and blaming them for the current situation at hand.

Step back and consider: is this something you could have prevented?  Do you rely on your staff to know office procedures better than you do? 

Paying attention to the nature of how you present overall frustrations of your job with your staff, i.e., casually venting versus placing constant blame, will not only create a more functional working relationship, it will ensure that when there IS a serious error, staff will be less on the defensive and more eager to rectify it.