I work at a small business currently where a few recent meetings have made it clear the company has an “expiration” date sometime in the next 1-5 years. With that information I am mentally preparing for the future of my career.

I absolutely LOVE what I do, I love managing my team, and I am making the most I’ve ever made (creeping towards 3 figures). Our business is small enough that I hold a lot of responsibility. My title is essentially Billing and Customer Experience Mgr but I handle a lot of things outside of that such as sales tax, state filings, onboarding, training beyond my team and mentoring other managers. Prior to this I worked in another industry for a decade in cx and finance before becoming the regional CSM at a large corporate company.

I do not have a college degree, my accounting experience is thorough in the niche industries I’ve worked in but not full cycle. I’ve looked at job postings for both CSM and Accounting/Finance roles and almost all of them require a degree especially those that are in the pay range I am in now.

I am wondering how many managers have degrees? If you are hiring other management roles and list “requiring” a bachelors degree do you disregard candidates without them? Am I wrong for thinking I’ve “gotten this far” without one and will hopefully get lucky again in my next role?

I’m looking for some ideas/statements to say to my assistant manager. I don’t know if there’s a cognitive issue at play or what. She can’t remember the most basic instructions and rarely finished assigned tasks. I’ll ask her to send me an email address and they forget. I asked her to start writing down these requests and she complied yet doesn’t remember or complete them. My director told me to document and get her on a PIP but if I documented everything she didn’t do or didn’t do correctly, that would be my entire job.

I need some statements for the “in the moment.” when she says, “I don’t remember” or “I forgot” to the most basic task. She likes to repeat the same exact excuses. I’ve tried holding her accountable by sending reminders in Teams or email and she “didn’t see it” when it was read.

You all are super experienced and I need a way to nail this to the wall but it’s all so vague.

Hi All, I am struggling to decide here and looking for advice. There is a management opportunity at my job (but different location) I am more than qualified and want this position. However, I want it at my current location. But my boss won’t be retiring for another 5 years. I LOVE my current location and I’m not sure I would love the new location. Do I stay where I am and hope to get my boss’s position in 5 years OR do I take the risk of the other manager role and hope I like the new location? I’m torn bc I know I’m ready NOW to be in this role. Do I follow my dream job even tho it is not my dream location? Advice please!

Hey y'all, sorry for formatting. I'm on mobile.

Recently, we had a senior member of staff (not a manager) quit. Since then, most of the more difficult or time consuming tasks were shifted to coworker A. In doing so, we attempted to shift some of coworker A's duties onto coworker B. We hired another person to help, but since they are still training, they can only do very easy tasks that require minimal supervision.

Coworker B refuses to take on any duties from coworker A even though most of the easy tasks that went to the new hire were originally coworker B's tasks. "Not enough bandwidth" is the response I'm getting. Others in the office have said that coworker B says that since coworker A got a raise, they should be responsible for all the tasks. The raise was not substantial but it did come with a title change.

How can I handle coworker B's refusal? Coworker A is already getting burnt out and not meeting deadlines due to the workload.

And before you comment, coworker B has previously done these tasks since A and B were in the same role in the same team. They were crosstrained.

I work for a growing company and they have finally seen the need for my team to have some more senior employees. Most of my team is entery level with only a couple of positions that would be considered promotions( within my team) . As we grow I have been given 1 more of these senior titles. Which is great and much needed!

I now have a problem, but I great problem to have. Because of the lack of promotion being available for years I have many staff who feel like they are ready for this opportunity. I have a few who have more growing to do and a couple Candidates who made this a hard decision as they would both be good fits. Ultimately one brought needed experiences the other did not.

This means "passing over " on some people who strongly feel they are the best fit. However they do have a coworker better suited.

Before this position I have only been able to offer one promotion ( the one I was in before I was promoted).

How do you help team members who feel like they were passed over move forward. What do I need to consider with helping them move forward and helping them grow.

So context first: I’ve been a team lead for 2 years now managing a small team of 3 people across two different projects in tech. My teams work very closely with a third bigger(6 people )team so me and another manager had been very closely collaborating in terms of allowing our reports to move around and doing knowledge exchange. Now due to some internal restructuring I’ve inherited the bigger team and am now responsible for 3 projects and a group of 9 while the second manager got promoted into a director role and is now managing me.

Unfortunately the team I inherited came with a problem senior employee that has been underperforming (missing deadlines, reporting me to HR because I gave them feedback that missing deadlines is not acceptable,unprofessional behaviour in the meetings etc) and also doesn’t want to work with me. The situation with HR was thoroughly investigated and since all my feedback to him was written it was quickly established that I’m not in fact harassing this person so next steps would have been very straightforward in terms of : establish expectations, hold accountable and if not PIP and goodbye if not for the fact that his previous manager / my new manager is absolutely committed to not only trying to force me to let him get away with bullshit behaviour but also keeps talking about while they agree with me that this person has performance issues they think that developing them into a people manager role will result in that underperforming senior turning around and finally taking on some responsibility which to me sounds like optimism bordering on insanity. Anyhow the performance review cycle rolled in and I had a long talk with my new manager about how I need to raise my scores because “senior had a hard year and him missing deadlines is excusable because he has hard time, the leadership changed so you know he might have forgotten how to work etc.” My managers chief justification is that i should think about the team and that if i score this person low they will be upset and quit or shit talk behind my back which will also upset the team in return… which is very ironic because currently the team has been flagging with me in 1-1s that they feel senior team members aren’t being held accountable for missing deadlines… I tried explaining this to them but they don’t seem to buy into my reasoning

Idk if anyone has any advice on how to best navigate this situation since to me it seems like the best thing for the team would be to handle the underperformance as fast as possible which is exactly what my manager doesn’t want me to do.

Note: After working with that person as a peer I get a sense of that this weird impasse comes from a place of extreme conflict avoidance which is really screwing me and everyone over now that they’re in a position to impose non confrontational management style onto the entire department. Edit: took out some details that could make the case identifiable

Ideas for an annual retreat!

What are good discussion questions? Things you’ve seen done well?

And how do you discuss changes with team? Effectuate them? Everybody wants to be in every meeting.

Got hired as a new assistant manger at a movie theater a month ago. It’s my first time as a manager and at this point, I feel like a liability. I’m not the best with money (caused a $12 variance in the safe due to counting the coins incorrectly), I’m too nice, and I forgot to have a customer sign a refund receipt (along with plenty of other things). I’ve always been wary to be a manager because I’m not crazy about handling money and I’m too “nice”. And all of my fears are now coming true. I’ve been working as floor staff for movie theaters for over three years now. Was generally seen as a “better” employee in whatever team I was apart of. But now, I’m the worst of the worst and probably will be fired soon.

I work at a private medical company in a supervisor role, and I’m on track to becoming an “official” manager next year.

We have a new deputy manager coming in who was very sought after, he has a lot of experience and was considered an “elite” candidate. I spent about 10 minutes with him after he accepted the job, just to give him an overview of the department I run and how things work.

I found out today that he told my manager and the CEO of the company that I didn’t give the impression of a leader. In the 10 minutes I spent with him, being nice and trying to make him comfortable in what was probably quite an overwhelming situation, he concluded that I wasn’t a leader. I’m shocked because I thought I had made a good impression and that we would work well together, and to hear that he said that to my bosses who determine my pay and promotion is gutting. After a 10 minute conversation?

Just for some context - I’m a 24 year old woman, I dress quite feminine and I look younger than my age, so I wonder if that influenced his opinion. I’m also naturally quite soft spoken.

Any advice on how I can prove this guy wrong, and how I can do some damage control with my bosses that now think I don’t come off as a leader?

I need to interview a manager for a school assignment , taking a leadership class, someone with a good amount of experience. Can you help me?! My chosen manager at work is on vacation!!

It’s 5 questions long, I will post them here in case anyone feels like responding with the answers, 🙏🏼 or you can message me your response. I’d realllllly really appreciate any help with this 🙏🏼🤗

What was your journey to becoming a leader at ____?

What are the strategies, practices, methods, and/or ways you empower teams to realize their potential?

Tell me about a time when you had to adapt your leadership of a team due to the wide variety of people and perspectives of those team members. What challenges did you face, and what was the most rewarding outcome?

How do you define team culture, and what do you do, or strategies do you recommend, to foster a positive team culture?

What do you think are the three most challenging elements team or teams? Why?

I am the engineering manager at a plant for a small company (75 employees). My direct superior is the co-owner.

We also have a plant manager here at the plant who is not my boss. However he IS my bosses friend and worse yet his son is my “nightmare employee”.

My employee has Crohn’s disease so please keep that in mind. I’m not trying to make him work when he is ill. I’m very much flexible on this. However because of crohns he calls in sick approximately 3-5 days per month. Not really sure if this is out of the question for someone with Crohns.

He shows up 15 minuets late every day. He leaves dead on time, not a minuet late. He takes 1.5 HOURS for lunch (he’s scheduled for 30 minuets) because he goes and works out at the gym with his father (our plant manager)

He is constantly on his phone scrolling while at his desk working.

This year he will have taken 550 hours “PTO” (against the 120 he is given)

I took him out for lunch a few weeks ago and explained my concerns, gauged what he want to get out of this job, and listened to his goals for which there were many that included advancing from his current position. I told him clearly he needed to be getting 40 hours in weather it be makup time or whatever. I told him if his schedule did not work I was flexible and would get him a schedule that does work for him.

He does high quality work and when he is working.

He is drawing benefits and a full salary that my department can’t afford if he doesn’t pick it up. I cannot fire him because of his dad. He is also making me look bad because my numbers show down due to his performance

At the end of this year I will be recommending him being moved back to hourly pay. Thats the only solution I have as of now.

I’m asking this on behalf of my husband. For context, he works for a small independent consultancy with about 10 people in the company. There are 3 partners, one retiring soon, all late Gen X/Boomer ages. The partners and more senior members (my hubs included) are required to do most business functions regardless of their role to complete projects. The rest are individual contributors.

He had a beyond stellar performance this year, financially contributing more than most in the company between his work and signed proposals. He is also the only one who has both the technical aptitude and experience to do the type of work he does at a high level. This has, of course, required significant overtime to bridge both managing and doing the work while training junior team members for support.

With performance reviews coming up, he is struggling with how to leverage his success with the partners. Here’s the crux of the struggle: the partners live, eat and breathe work and their families are long since grown (and likely estranged). They’ve worked together for multiple decades at this point, steadfast in their ways, despite their approach being rapidly outdated (thus my husband’s data-centric approach winning most proposals). Since they are a small company, they don’t feel the need for formal titles or career matrices for advancement outside of becoming a partner, and there’s no objective path for even becoming a partner. Basically, the partners keep moving the goal posts that don’t exist, as there are no objective measures for him to work towards—their performance reviews are typically subjective based on how they FEEL he did.

My husband doesn’t necessarily want to be a partner because of the hours and the expectation to follow their processes (despite rapid obsolescence). He likes being more of a technical or thought leader, doing the IC work, proposals, presentations and junior staff development, but doing both management and IC work at the same time is burning him out. He needs expectations to shift, but he doesn’t know how to have that conversation in a way his partners would accept.

How would you recommend approaching the performance review so that he’s appropriately compensated for his work and can better define his role and expectations in the company?

This text came through about 2 hours ago and I still haven't responded because a) I can't stop laughing, and b) I simply don't know what to say.

First off, no, this has never been mentioned before. I didn't even know she was engaged (this is an employee I don't see in-person very often, so I'm not sure if she's been wearing an engagement ring. I guess I'm not very observant). It sounds like this is a planned wedding with a ceremony and everything.

This employee has not been particularly dependable and often does not give much notice before an absence, whether planned or unplanned.

I truly am flabbergasted. How do I even reply to this? I want to say something like "Are you serious? How long have you known about this?" But I also don't want to be a dick to somebody right before their wedding.

She may be the first person in history to "call off married."

I expect some level of exaggeration/finessing of an employees self-review. In my limited experience thus far, I have been lucky to not have had anyone be too off the mark. This review cycle, I have an employee who is drastically inflating their contributions. For example, they claim to have "Successfully managed and completed XXX project", where they had only a minor role in the project, appropriate to their fairly entry level role, and the project itself was managed by a leadership member and had about a dozen people who had a role to play.

This is just one example of many.

What is the appropriate approach to level set and reinforce that their assignments and results are in line with their position and to coach them on how to accurately reflect their work?

Appreciate any feedback!

I have a report who has good traits - good culture fit, good work ethic, passion for the company, etc.; however, seriously every single thing they submit for approvals has mistakes.

For context, his role is marketing so he is often submitting creatives. Whether it's spelling, grammar, the wrong image matching to the text (wrong product), things not centred, our brand fonts or colours not being used, the list goes on. It has been over a year in feedback that things need to be proofed before being submitted. We discuss it at every performance review, he makes an effort to get better, it's maybe better for a few weeks, but then the mistakes happen again. He is smart and has the potential, I honestly just think lazy or checked out. I have tried just sending things back to him and not telling him where the mistakes are, but the amount of time he spends looking (because there are so many documents being sent back) is time consuming, and sometimes he still cannot find the mistake.

It feels so extreme, but do you go the PIP route? I just cannot keep fixing his work or sending it back for edits and approving again. It consumes a lot of my time.

Hello everyone! First time posting on managers subreddit! I work as one of two managers at a museum. I am currently dealing with an employee who is driving me up the wall. I’ve had two one on one conversations with him about his behavior and it still continues. My supervisor has hope that he will change and I don’t have the ability to fire or suspend employees. It’s gotten to the point where I feel like I’m rather rude to him because I have to constantly remind him how to do his job- all things I’ve already told him and he should already know. It’s silly at this point that he is still working here but since I don’t have the power to get rid of him does anyone have any tips for staying calm and not snapping at him? I am trying to remain as professional as possible but it’s incredibly frustrating when I have to correct the same mistakes constantly. Any help is appreciated!

Currently a manager over a team of 5 employees. Our company wanted to do a “employee appreciation week” and Hr wanted everyone involved not just manager showing team appreciation it’s just show whoever you want to show appreciation but I still shower my team and spoil them. So Tuesday was taco ‘bout appreciation and today for Wednesday I did “we would crumbl without you” and got everyone crumbl cookies (team usually loves crumbl) today no one has touched them. I never get a thank you for any of the things I do for them either (outside of this particular week which is actually often) and my boss never gets me things either. I’m in the middle and I feel like the shit everyone walks on half the time. I understand as a manager it’s our position to do these things and the employees under you don’t have to like you but fuck! Appreciation in return would be nice too!! They get each other cute gifts but it’s literally like I’m the elephant in the room and I’m kind of over being the nice manager . Feel like I just let everyone walk all over me. Not sure if I need advice or just needing to vent and get over it.

EDIT. Thanks for the helpful responses. I do want to be a better manager to this person. And will take your responses into consideration.

One clarifying point - the info I did not give certainly will not make a project fail.

I have every confidence in her that the project will be fine. But It is her perception — I realized that she puts a lot of pressure on herself. We don’t have that kind of work culture. it isn’t a high pressure environment. I think coupled with what she said about meeting expectations - it’s clear she wants more feedback and reassurance. And I can discuss that with her.

—-

Background: we do digital marketing for a media company.

Today, in a 1 on 1 call with someone I manage, I gave feedback that I’ve been meaning to give - essentially this person asks too many questions. It didn’t go well. I could have prepped better and gotten my talking points much more clear.

I approached it by saying that she needs to be OK with some gray. She responded by saying that she needs to know that she is meeting expectations. And I told her that I give her feedback and that she is doing a good job overall — she is! She then said I don’t give feedback (only in performance reviews) — I’ve never said oh the meeting went well or the schedule looks good — she runs meetings and timelines for my team. So it comes to light that she needs positive reinforcement — which I get — and know I’m not good at. So I’ll work no that. And said that to her.

She then said that she needs to be able to ask questions — for example, I didn’t tell her something that affected the timeline — so now the project will likely fail. So things escalate bc she then blames me for this — when it’s just a small over site - I forgot to tell her. So I go on the defense and say something like - oh you’re blaming me — and she said I didn’t say that. And I said you just did. She then says I want to meet with HR bc I’m feeling attacked!

I de-esclated by telling her that I don’t want her to feel bad or attacked. I want her to ask questions but she needs to be able to ok with some grays. She explained that she brought up the info affecting timeline as an example of need for asking questions. But not to blame me — those things happen.

I also said to her that it’s stressful to get a barage of questions (which I shouldn’t have said I know). And some questions I don’t have the answers to. And she said that hearing that I don’t have answers is fine too.

She also communicated and has communicated - “I want to know if I’m meeting expectations.” — Something to unpack with her some more. But I told her that I’ve written my own job descriptions for the past 15 years to illustrate that you make your job - but didn’t verbalize it. (Mean while I’ve rewritten her JD 3 times in the 4.5 years she’s worked for me because she constantly wants clarity).

What I should have said: ⁃ It’s ok to have gray areas but come to me for questions on parameters and seeking clarity ⁃ Know when to stop digging too deep and when to continue to execute. it’s something you’ll need to learn and lean on her knowledge and expertise.

Help me unpack this convo. What is happening here?

Any other tips or other things to communicate?

Basically title. Employee is middle of the pack performer. Their performance would be sustainable as far as keeping a job. They’re just under goal, but the company is large enough for them to fly under the radar. Every 1:1, they tell me about panic attacks they have coming to work, feeling insecure about their performance, and worry for their future. I remind them constantly that they’re fine and point out all their best qualities. I set them up with sessions and trainings to work on their weaknesses. Usually by the end of 1:1s, they’re energized and ready to go, but then we run into the same cycle by the next 1:1. This has went on for at least a year, and I finally suggested that maybe we look to find a job for them where they feel confident. This sent them into a spiral. They said they feel all the progress they made is for nothing and that they feel unwanted.

I am genuinely confused and taken back by their reaction. I expected them to be ecstatic about the idea they could go to another department. How else should this have been handled?

Bit of a sideways question here, as I’m an HR person watching some crazy stuff happen to my brother and I feel like I might be too close to assess neutrally and was hoping for outside input.

My brother (senior career professional) started a new role a six weeks ago at a very large company. It’s in his field, but a new industry with all new tools and processes he’s learning. The team is all new as well, no one more than 3 years and most 1 or 2.

He’s been getting along well with his boss and the team as he ramps up, and just took on his first solo project. Has a weekly with the boss and the feedback has been good, on track, etc. He has said that everyone is so busy that when he asks questions, he gets told just to refer to the manual they wrote internally a few months back.

About two weeks ago, boss’s boss returned from maternity leave. Three days ago there was an all hands meeting with the team and big boss really dressed him down. She was upset that he hadn’t known how to use some tools and hadn’t followed up more aggressively on project pieces that others had told him were on schedule. He’s been working 10+ hour days as he ramps up but loving it and obviously felt terrible. Boss’s boss also told team she’d heard “grumblings” about long hours and that was unacceptable and to stop.

Ok, I told him, rough patch, sounds like new boss is a grouch.

This was Tuesday.

Yesterday he went in and had an impromptu “performance meeting” with both where he was dressed down again for about an hour, but this time in private. Ended up staying last night until past 8 with boss working on stuff and asking her input as he went along.

He gets in this morning, is told to schedule a meeting with both of them again to discuss “issues” today. HR has been in none of these and he hasn’t had any of his official probationary reviews.

My question is basically WTF. What managers have such simultaneously high expectations of an employee barely a month in and two to four hours a day to tell them how awful they are? By the way this person two years ago was in a role subordinate to where he is now and has three big promotions in this new team. Do you think he should call an HR rep? I told him to start looking already but I’m pretty furious for him.

Also to note, the team is understaffed and has had a horrible time hiring.

Sorry for typos and apologies this doesn’t belong here.

I work in a call centre environment, we work from home. I have an employee who's an average performer at best (horrible at worst) - I have known them at work for years but only started managing them a couple of months ago. When started listening to their calls, I noticed their speech sounds a bit slurred. They also very easily get agitated/argumentative when speaking to customers even if the customer is being perfectly reasonable and polite. They take things personally very easily and escalate the calls instead of de-escalating. I listened to one call today and the customer blatantly said to them 'you sound like you're drunk' and I agreed. Obviously, this is no proof of them actually being under the influence of alcohol and the slurred speech is not super obvious. We also work from home so it's difficult to judge this in person. I think I may have to just approach it from the behavioural issues/performance side of things but I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience and how you approached it. I am aware some health conditions can manifest this way so would cover that as well. Any advice would be welcome!

Many years ago, I joined a startup and was given some stocks. I still owned them today. Fast forward, I have left the startup more than 3 years ago. Now, my current company is doing business with my previous company. What was your experience in the similar situation? Come clean about when the startup do better I’d do better? stay away from the project? Or force to sell the stocks?

I certainly would like to hold on to the stocks until they become a mature company one day.

20 years in an industry and finally woke up to the reality I am stuck where I am. I have been a manager of a department, 14 people, for 15 years for a small company. As the business has grown the people I hired into the industry have promoted up and make more than me. I have been told that I am considered for a Director or General Manager role but that’s not happened. Now I am told I am too good at what I do and the best place for me is where I am.

The people that have promoted out are making double what I do but I am expected to continue to train and lead them, even though they have a manager.

I decided to make a career change and move on within the next year. I used to drink the Kool-Aid but now I spit it out.

Hey yall, this is just a post to get this off my chest. You can chime in with some of your own stories.

Over the past 3 months my teams productibity has not been hitting the mark. For simplicity , the goal is 10 PPH (parts per hour). Since ive joined we went from a 7.5 to a 3.4 as of last week. We've been hounded from the brass to get these numbers up and work faster. So we did, for months. Skipping breaks and cutting lunch short to try to hit numbers. In our manager meeting yesterday they announced that out numbers went down to 3.4 PPH. I was asked why and i didnt have an answer because me and the crew have been busting our asses. Big boss says "well you guys just need to pick up the pace".

I got a little ticked and replied "ahhh fuck, why didnt we think of that?!"

Waiting on a phone call from the owner, lol.

Edit: first let me say i love all the comments, reading them just reminds me how far this company gone.

To those saying i need to do some more analysis and such, i agree. However, I'm waiting on a couple phone calls this week about a new job so i dont really care anymore what happens here. Love you all

Hi guys, I have to interview people with jobs or professions that are related to operations management. Can I please ask anyone with careers related to management to answer these questions? Thank you so much.

• Every information here will only be used for school purposes.

1. What is your profession?

2. Where are you currently working?

3. Are there any academic preparations needed for people who are planning to take on this profession? What are they?

4. Are there any manual or mental skills to master in order to succeed in this profession? What are they?

5. Would you say that this profession is currently in demand? How so?

6. What are some benefits or perks of having a job like this?

7. Are there any downsides or difficulties that you face throughout your work?

8. What can you say about the salary range offered to you from your job?

Hi guys, I have to interview people with jobs or professions that are related to operations management. Can I please ask anyone with careers related to management to answer these questions? Thank you so much.

• Every information here will only be used for school purposes.

1. What is your profession?

2. Where are you currently working?

3. Are there any academic preparations needed for people who are planning to take on this profession? What are they?

4. Are there any manual or mental skills to master in order to succeed in this profession? What are they?

5. Would you say that this profession is currently in demand? How so?

6. What are some benefits or perks of having a job like this?

7. Are there any downsides or difficulties that you face throughout your work?

8. What can you say about the salary range offered to you from your job?

I supervise a utility plant at a decent size collage. My old supervisor was old school, word docs for PMs not metrics ect. I took over about a year ago, the shop had no supervisor for a year and it was a free for all with no over site.

After I got done getting the plant back to acceptable I started implementing changes, safety practices, better work tracking ect. That was obviously met with resistance, people don't like change or accountability.

Is there any advice besides "have a meeting with them"? My most senior guy quit yesterday, and to be honest I'm happy about it. I feel relieved. Maybe a purge is a good thing in the long run?

Bonus points if you disliked individual contributor life.

I’m about to take on a first-time manager role. I hear so much about how awful it is to be a manager on here, and it doesn’t fill me with confidence!

I never really enjoyed being an IC, and I was a freelancer for the last year too which meant I was always in execution and pleasing mode. It felt seriously stressful to always be rushing to meet deadlines, never having time to sit back, think, breathe. Being a manager feels like you get to focus more on bringing the best out of people. You can engage your leadership skills etc, and focus on strategy. (I could be wrong — it’s a new world to me. I appreciate all work can be stressful, I just presume it’s a different kind of stress.)

Is there anyone who liked their transition from IC to manager, or enjoys being a manager who can offer some positive feedback from their experience?