it’s your Friday good news July 14, 2023 It’s your Friday good news! 1. “Quite a while ago I read a question on your website from someone who was struggling with a project management role because their brain just didn’t seem to work in such a way that they could be successful at the role. The whole time I was reading that letter, […]
update: I’m sick of having to do my incompetent colleague’s work June 13, 2023 It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager and I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day. Remember the letter-writer who was sick of having to their incompetent coworker’s […]
interview with a household manager for rich people June 7, 2023 I recently talked with a reader who used to work as a household manager for a rich family — a job I have always wanted to hear the logistics of. Here’s our conversation. How did you end up in this job? I was working as a nanny, but I was already in a place where […]
it’s your Friday good news May 12, 2023 It’s your Friday good news! 1. “I wrote to you a while back after a vague but negative performance review at a major health care organization, asking if my boss was trying to get me to quit. I learned that she was just not a good manager or a good person, and that the rest […]
how do I manage a bad employee who I can’t fire? May 9, 2023 A reader writes: For the past 1.5 years, I’ve worked in health care in a very rural area where it is hard to recruit (this is more related to the rurality than to salaries and benefits; salary could be higher but is mid-range, and benefits are good to very good). Due to our service/population, in-person […]
it’s your Friday good news April 21, 2023 It’s your Friday good news! 1. “For the past few years I’d been at a job that, for the most part, was fine. It was easy and low-stress and I had a great relationship with my direct manager, but the pandemic definitely brought out the ugliness in upper management. While all my friends’ organizations jumped […]
can a meh middle manager be a good CEO, stickers in a work notebook, and more April 18, 2023 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Can a meh middle manager be a good CEO? It’s common to hear of “worker bee”-like employees excelling in their duties only to flounder when promoted to management roles. However, is it possible for someone to be a meh middle manager only to shine in […]
my company pays my rent and they keep forgetting, talking to your boss about the Adderall shortage, and more March 10, 2023 It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. Is this a red flag from a new hire? I’ve been the manager of an IT Help Desk for about nine months in my first managerial role. Recently, I hired on a new senior technician (let’s call him Joel) to assist and mentor my three […]
my boss expects me to respond immediately no matter what I’m doing March 9, 2023 A reader writes: I’m having a hard time with my direct supervisor’s expectations around response time, and I’m not sure how I should adjust or if she needs to adjust. In regards to email, she gets frustrated with our coworkers who don’t respond to her in two hours, and will call if they don’t respond […]
I was told to stop knitting in a training class … but I knit so I can focus February 15, 2023 A reader writes: I had a knee-jerk reaction to a situation. Could you please advise me on handling it maturely? I can be fidgety and while I do well overall in classroom environments, I can have a hard time listening while sitting still (I start thinking of other things and/or get drowsy quickly) and have […]