Bad Attitude of Subordinates.
I am a team lead for a datawarehousing project.
I have 3 subordinates working for me.
These guys are about 3 years of work experiance in informatica and have only 1 year experiance working for unix/oracle.
Out of the 3 guys, 2 of them have an attitudinal problem.
Guy1 attitude is bad, everyone knows including the project manager. And has create a bad rapport with management.
Guy2 attitude is bad, but the client has appreciated her work. So she is untouchable.
Guy3 attitude is good, but performace is poor.
Among the 3, the guys with poor attitude have made others believe that they
perform well at work and are knowledgable.
Actually they don't even know how to export/import files in oracle or how to find out if a sql is
still executing in the background or has just hung. They don't know anything about awk/sed etc.
They have never really made unix programs themselves. They have just worked on L1 support.
As they work only on oracle/unix, I will rate their knowledge average or below average to a 3 year oracle/unix
developer.
Sometimes, when they talk to me, they get rude. Even to the extent of telling me "If you don't feel foolish, I would
suggest.."
I can't afford to get rude to them or talk back rudely, as firstly, I am new to the project and I need to learn the
work they do from them, secondly, right now I need their co-operation to smoothly run the team, and thirdly,
I feel being rude to each another is no way towards creating a good work environment.
My project manager even warned me that people may not like to have a boss at the first place, since before they were working without any team lead, just a project manager who didn't understand anything of what they were doing.
I guess once they know my worth, they will calm down.
But till then how do i deal with their rude behaviour??
Is there any way to handle them without replying them back in the same coin?
I have 3 subordinates working for me.
These guys are about 3 years of work experiance in informatica and have only 1 year experiance working for unix/oracle.
Out of the 3 guys, 2 of them have an attitudinal problem.
Guy1 attitude is bad, everyone knows including the project manager. And has create a bad rapport with management.
Guy2 attitude is bad, but the client has appreciated her work. So she is untouchable.
Guy3 attitude is good, but performace is poor.
Among the 3, the guys with poor attitude have made others believe that they
perform well at work and are knowledgable.
Actually they don't even know how to export/import files in oracle or how to find out if a sql is
still executing in the background or has just hung. They don't know anything about awk/sed etc.
They have never really made unix programs themselves. They have just worked on L1 support.
As they work only on oracle/unix, I will rate their knowledge average or below average to a 3 year oracle/unix
developer.
Sometimes, when they talk to me, they get rude. Even to the extent of telling me "If you don't feel foolish, I would
suggest.."
I can't afford to get rude to them or talk back rudely, as firstly, I am new to the project and I need to learn the
work they do from them, secondly, right now I need their co-operation to smoothly run the team, and thirdly,
I feel being rude to each another is no way towards creating a good work environment.
My project manager even warned me that people may not like to have a boss at the first place, since before they were working without any team lead, just a project manager who didn't understand anything of what they were doing.
I guess once they know my worth, they will calm down.
But till then how do i deal with their rude behaviour??
Is there any way to handle them without replying them back in the same coin?
SOLUTION
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Hi
The main problem here is that I think that your people are already aware that they aren?t up to the task. The IT industry is a very easy one ? you can either do the work or you can?t. If you can?t you will know it long before anyone else will. The fact that other people have noticed that you have people that cannot do some of their work means that your team has known that they are in deep water. This (and this is the reason for the inferiority complex) obvious from the bad attitude you are getting. You need to be on their side and stand up for them. You need to help them and guide them. If this does not work (and you need to set parameters for them) within a period of time, you will have to start the process of replacing them. You need to make them aware that you are willing to help them (and this is where I have to disagree with khristine) without showing them that you are a know it all. Guide them to the correct answers. I have done this with success in the past and have forged good teams like this. Again, remember that you are working with people.
The main problem here is that I think that your people are already aware that they aren?t up to the task. The IT industry is a very easy one ? you can either do the work or you can?t. If you can?t you will know it long before anyone else will. The fact that other people have noticed that you have people that cannot do some of their work means that your team has known that they are in deep water. This (and this is the reason for the inferiority complex) obvious from the bad attitude you are getting. You need to be on their side and stand up for them. You need to help them and guide them. If this does not work (and you need to set parameters for them) within a period of time, you will have to start the process of replacing them. You need to make them aware that you are willing to help them (and this is where I have to disagree with khristine) without showing them that you are a know it all. Guide them to the correct answers. I have done this with success in the past and have forged good teams like this. Again, remember that you are working with people.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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SOLUTION
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SOLUTION
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ASKER
Ofcourse, there are various angles with which this issue can be tackled.
I have got some of these angles here.
I personally go by khristine16, If these guys truely believe that I have experience to contribute towards achieving their tasks at hand they will have respect towards me.
Recently, one of these guys went on leave, and i worked as his backup.
All during his leave duration he never even called up to show concern to know how his work was progressing in his absence as his task is "critical". He called up one day before his return from holidays after I sent a mail to my manager cc to him showing that everything has progressed flawlessly.
He believes that noone can handle his work in his absence, in one word he believed till now that he is "indespensible" to the project,and this is the reason for his bad attitude at work towards others. And I believe this is the reason for the bad attitude of the other worker Guy2 as well.
My strategy:
At the end of it all I believe that I need to bail them out whenever they are in touble with the their task at hand, and also take over the work from them whenever they behave badly and perform that task on my own successfully.
Basically I believe, when they realize that they are not indespensible in the project they will start co-operating with me.
It amazes me when I "understand" the "evil thinking" these people posess.
Their mind is truely a "devil's workshop"
I also liked the comments given by Basheerpt.
"If you dont manage others, others will manage you"
I have some powers over them and I should use it wisely.
I have got some of these angles here.
I personally go by khristine16, If these guys truely believe that I have experience to contribute towards achieving their tasks at hand they will have respect towards me.
Recently, one of these guys went on leave, and i worked as his backup.
All during his leave duration he never even called up to show concern to know how his work was progressing in his absence as his task is "critical". He called up one day before his return from holidays after I sent a mail to my manager cc to him showing that everything has progressed flawlessly.
He believes that noone can handle his work in his absence, in one word he believed till now that he is "indespensible" to the project,and this is the reason for his bad attitude at work towards others. And I believe this is the reason for the bad attitude of the other worker Guy2 as well.
My strategy:
At the end of it all I believe that I need to bail them out whenever they are in touble with the their task at hand, and also take over the work from them whenever they behave badly and perform that task on my own successfully.
Basically I believe, when they realize that they are not indespensible in the project they will start co-operating with me.
It amazes me when I "understand" the "evil thinking" these people posess.
Their mind is truely a "devil's workshop"
I also liked the comments given by Basheerpt.
"If you dont manage others, others will manage you"
I have some powers over them and I should use it wisely.
ASKER
My manager has had a talk with these guys. He told them that, he knows my capabilities and the capabilities of the team.
He also told them that the team should learn whatever it can from me and take advantage of it.
Coupled with the fact that I have helped them in 4-5 instances technically where they were stuck, they have "started" being "friendlier" towards me.
A great releaf.
Thank you all for your contributions.
He also told them that the team should learn whatever it can from me and take advantage of it.
Coupled with the fact that I have helped them in 4-5 instances technically where they were stuck, they have "started" being "friendlier" towards me.
A great releaf.
Thank you all for your contributions.
One thing I can congratulate you on is not being rude to them. This would not help you at all. You would find that many people who are rude to other people they work with suffer from low self-esteem. By the sounds of things this would be no exception.
What to do about this? As you are the team leader, your responsibility would be to get your team working together as well as possible. The main thing here is not to berate or humiliate as this would cause a downward spiral that you would not be able to stop. Why not get your team together and have open discussions wherein you get them to provide proposals to get the processes working better. They need to understand that if one of you does bad, then all get a bad report (it is a team after all) and that you should stand together to make the project work. Have you introduced them to Experts Exchange so that they also have the opportunity to ask questions. Show them that you are on their side and that you want the best for them... it does not matter what their response is... they will come around. Remember that you are dealing with people. No one likes admitting to making a mistake and no one likes being reminded of their mistakes. Rather look at ways wherein you can help them get there work done (with a smile)
Regards,
Maynard