When is the small stuff really the big stuff…and when should you sweat it?

My assistant, Sarah, is a bit of a perfectionist.  I’ve talked in previous posts about how she is frustrated by the rate of change in the admin team in Legal, which she manages.  She would like to see attitudes change quickly, but I’ve tried to help her understand that real, lasting change takes a long time.

Now that The Manipulator has resigned, the No 1 problem child in the admin team is Amanda.  Amanda has been around for a few years, and used to work for a person who was universally hated by her team – the Dispute Resolution Team.  Amanda was used by her old manager as a “spy” on the lawyers in that team - she would regularly be asked who was saying what to who, and who was doing lunch with who.  This always put Amanda into a difficult position, as she didn’t want to spy on her work colleagues, and felt like the meat in the sandwich.

I fired her old manager in my 7th week (I would have done it in week 1, but it seemed a little quick).

So, Amanda was freed from her old boss, but her reporting line changed to Sarah.  Amanda says that she really likes Sarah, that she’s glad she got the job, and has no issues with her…except that Amanda treats Sarah with contempt.

Amanda gives a very good first, second, and third impression.  Where you run into problems is when you ask her to do work or look after a task.  Then, you find out that she’s great as promising but can’t really consistently deliver.  Plus, it seems like everything outside of work is more important to Amanda than her actual job.  This includes her boyfriend, her family, her car, her study to become a paralegal…the list is actually pretty long.

The lawyers who Amanda is meant to work for know that they can’t follow her up too much with overdue work, since she gets stroppy and takes on a defensive attitude, making life hard for all around her.  Sometimes, she even has a melt down, claiming all the lawyers are rude and demanding and she’s not paid enough to put up with it.  Then, once she’s slept on it, she’ll slink back in and apologise as if all should be forgiven.

Amanda gives Sarah a hard time.  Amanda leaves early – but doesn’t tell Sarah or get her OK.  Amanda’s boyfriend gets kicked out of his apartment – and Amanda has to take a 2-hour lunch break on a Friday to go and sign a lease for him.  Amanda is late to work most days – there’s always an excuse, though.  Plus, she gives the type of attitude that is hard to put your finger on: in her one on one meetings with Sarah, Amanda keeps looking at her watch; she blames other people for not giving her things that are crucial for her delivery on promises…

This is driving Sarah nuts.  As it should be.  But Sarah is trying to deal with every little issue, and she isn’t getting enough support from the (acting) legal manager (Anthony) who Amanda reports to.  Sarah is at the point where she is self-conscious raising anything with Amanda, for fear of having her head bitten off.  Anthony has told Sarah to “not sweat the small stuff”.

But when does the small stuff become part of a bigger picture of non-performance?

We have have 4 weeks until the new manager arrives.  This new person will be tougher, and will support Sarah 100%.  I think that Amanda won’t make it with us past around February or March next year.  If any of her issues were one-offs, you would turn a blind eye.  They would be small stuff.  However, as a total picture, it’s not great, and really the discussion needs to be around attitude and consistency of delivery.

But Sarah is now at the point where she is getting annoyed at every small thing that happens…and probably IS sweating the small stuff to some extent.  I’m trying to help Sarah through this, and helping her understand what to take issue with, and what to let slide.  However, I think I just need to tell her to back right off the girls until the new manager arrives, and they can come up with a plan to manage the underperformance together.

In the meantime, I am worried about Sarah.  She is right about Amanda, but Sarah is taking all of it so personally.  I’ve asked HR to help come up with some solutions to help me support her.  I’ll let you know how we go…this saga ain’t over yet!