Crucial Learning
Crucial Skills | A Blog by Crucial Learning

JULY 6, 2022 • VOL. 20 ISSUE 27

Hi John,

Starting today and through July, we will feature "best of" content from the Crucial Skills archive. Enjoy.

MANAGING WITHOUT AUTHORITY

by David Maxfield

I work for a Fortune 500 company that sets the bar high for management performance standards, and results are based on numbers and production. Because hourly employees are covered under a local union contract that mediates the actions that are punishable, many feel that their lack of following processes and methods is acceptable.

As a manager, I feel that my hands are tied because I cannot discipline their poor behavior, yet I am subject to discipline and performance reviews as a direct result of my employees’ failure to perform the job as directed. How can I get my employees to care about doing the job right when the union forbids formal discipline or accountability for failing to do so?

Thank you,
Confused and Bewildered

I appreciate the frustration you are experiencing. You are held accountable for results, but you can’t hold your people accountable. When they don’t meet expectations, you are the one who gets in trouble.

I’ve worked in organizations where this kind of frustration got so bad that managers resorted to fistfights. You could say they used Crucial Altercations instead of Crucial Conversations in their desperation to get performance back on track.
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