May 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 45

MANAGING MANAGEMENT

" You Stink! "
How managers can professionally handle awkward topics
they dread discussing with employees
By Lauren Yost

E

very manager, at some point in his or her career, will be forced to have
" that " conversation with one of their employees. The term " awkward "
doesn't begin to measure up to the depth of discomfort that both of you
will be experiencing the moment the conversation begins.
The Ugly Truth
According to leadership blogger Daniel McCarthy, the " 10 employee conversations that managers hate to have "
center around these topics: poor performance, co-worker clashes, stinky
staffers, promotion passed-overs, terminations, substance suspicions, mental-health maladies, fashion faux pas,
musings of motherhood and monetary mysteries of the missing kind.
In my career, I've had the misfortune of needing to address all 10 of
those topics with employees, along

with a few additional topics ( " So,
that's you in the video putting the
excrement in the vending machine,
right? " ) that would make McCarthy's
list look downright mundane. But the
most difficult conversations to approach are the ones that are not based
on your own observations, but are
brought to you by a third party with
the very clear " so do something about
it " expectation (stated or not).
By a wide margin, the number-one
office offense managers seek advice
to address is...? The stink factor. Al-

though usually a problem based on a
lack of personal hygiene, a common
variant is the noxious-cologne complaint, often accompanied by the allergic-reaction assertion to ensure it's taken seriously and addressed promptly.
Next, after the issues brought by
co-workers within noseshot, are
those within earshot, protesting the
persistent sniffing-snorting-coughing
of a co-worker who clearly has more
of a chronic tic than a cold or flu and
somehow has never discovered that
thing called a tissue.
Loud talkers and headphone-wearing cubicle singers fall into that earshot
group as well, but these are trumped in
volume (and level of awkwardness) by
the complaint of " sexual harassment "

W W W. N R PA . O R G | M AY 2 0 1 4 |

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May 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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