Managing in Person

A boss has a hard job.  There are times when we have to tell an employee they are doing something wrong or worse, we have to fire them.  But the way you do this is what makes you a boss or a better boss.

Day 3 – Managing in person

You need to think about all the emotions involved in what you are telling the employee.  If what you have to say is going to evoke any form of ‘bad’ emotion, such as anger, then you need to consider saying what you need to say, in person.

People tend to read emotions into emails.  You might not mean for it to be ‘tough managing’ but in an email it might sound like that.  Or it might sound like you are picking on them.

If you have to talk to someone about something they did wrong, you need to do that in person.  This way you can judge how you might continue with your conversation.  If you notice the person is getting upset, you can step back a little until they have calmed down.  If you send an email, you don’t have this option and this can make the situation a lot worse.

Remember, you always want to help your staff improve, if possible, so they and you can be a better working team.  The best way to do this is to talk things out – Face-to-Face.

Email is great for letting people know your schedule, for asking quick questions and/or for sending mass mailings of new policies, etc.  Just remember, email is NOT the place to try and explain those new policies.  That needs to be done in person.

Email is also not the place to fire someone or to scold someone.  Don’t be a lazy manager.  You need to manage your staff and they need to feel like they are being managed in a fair way.