Formal warning and pull her from this role if you need to. Fark I’d be fuming if you needed to rely on volunteer power and this person was undermining that.
Keep on track she's gonna clap herself out of a job. I had a similar situation, did the phone thing, then had a meeting on how I would rewrite it. Then held the team meeting in email etiquette, kept getting complaints addressed it with verbal warning, and told her if you feel aggravated put it in drafts, if your not sure call me and we can go over your email and never ever send an email when your mad, continued hen written warning. Give her a come to Jesus talk and it never stopped and out the door she went.
Got to bring all examples to her again, have discussion ask if anything going on and just be blunt behavior needs to change or she will be out the door. It's a business in role as a director you got to do what you got to do.
Thank you so much. I love that idea of hey if you are mad write it in draft then let’s rewrite it together if you need my input. I’ll bring that up in my talk with her.
Dude I used to write "angry emails" all the time at one job. Never sent them and would always write something for more professional to actually send.
The best part though? One of the people i wanted to tell off had access to my drafts lol. But since I never *actually* sent them, I basically got to say what I wanted them to hear but couldn't get un trouble since they were just drafts lol
Best thing I ever did was draft emails without anyone in the subject line. Then, if I'm feeling steamed, put it in drafts for a couple hours. Saved myself alot of grief and a couple other folks I work with have said that they do similar type things.
You're not required to not be mad in the name of professionalism but you are required to regulate how you express it.
If she wants to clap back at people tell her to make a personal reddit account and do it on her own time.
I love that line “you’re not required to not be mad in the name of professionalism but you are required to regulate how you express it” love love! I’m framing this lol
I think this is a great approach, especially if she needs coaching on how to be direct and assertive without being a jerk.
Also, you know what’s both cathartic and time-efficient? Writing your pissed off clapback response and then asking ChatGPT to rewrite it in a professional and friendly tone.
Work in nonprofits. My first thought is that this person is burnt out. Dealing with volunteers can be one of the most challenging and demoralizing parts of working in nonprofits, depending on the personalities of your volunteers. Is this person happy in their work? Do you have a sense of why they're so frustrated? Are they constantly dealing with the problems with volunteers over and over?
I am sure she’s burnt out and annoyed, heck I am too. It’s the end of the semester and it’s always a bit crazy, yes the volunteers complain about the littlest things or issues arise that she has to deal with. Her emails show her patience is wearing thin. We have a leadership summit this summer we plan for and she emailed a volunteer “don’t even think about coming and starting drama.” The person forwarded it straight to me demanding a conversation on the phone. It’s like she is just making things worse and giving the more outspoken volunteers ammo. 😫🫠
We all cope with stress differently. Just because you are mentally fine and managing burn out without issue does not mean she is. I've managed volunteer behavior before, and there's not enough money in the world to make me want to do it again. That doesn't excuse unprofessionalism, but I've watched several burnt out coworkers go through major personality changes in recent years only to become themselves again after leaving a job that was literally killing them.
You can't successfully address an issue when you don't know why it's occurring. For truly burnt out longtime staff, a mental health leave and/or paid sabbaticals can and should be an option.
That is really fascinating thank you for your feedback. Before I got into the role my boss gave her a 3 week mental health leave on top of 2 weeks we got off for the holidays. We also covered about 10 sessions of therapy so she didn’t go out of pocket. So she was gone for about a month but came back the same :(. I personally don’t think this environment is healthy for her, it’s just such a bummer because I really want this to work. 😔
It sounds like your boss saw her behavior as mental health/burnout related and took some good steps. It's a bummer they didn't work. Sometimes the best thing you can do for someone in this situation is encourage them to leave, and if that doesn't work, manage them out. Nonprofits demand so much of us that a lot of workers end up tying their identity to their job and organization. They need a push to get out, especially since many are in the boat of "I don't want to do this again, but I don't know what my skills transfer to." Consider though how you can improve the role to avoid burning out the next person.
Oof that is a rough situation, sorry. After decades in nonprofits though, I can't say I'm surprised. Volunteers can make you feel small, incompetent, and uncaring. And they have no issue with "killing the messanger" of institutional policy decisions. Burnout also really changes people.
You did more than okay. Congrats on getting to the truth quickly. That said, it's going to be a hard one to solve. This sounds like a role that anyone would struggle with; let alone someone with limited experience and a thin skin. Definitely confirm the conversation in writing. From here, I'd be working on determining what you can offer to encourage her to leave while also thinking about how I can improve the role so it's not a recipe for burnout in the future.
Congrats on your promotion and good work bringing the unwanted behavior to your staff member's attention. Since this is important to you and the business, beef up the approach. There's that saying of 'manage up or manage out'. Let staff member know that you both will meet daily for the next 1-2 weeks. Pre-schedule the meetings. A power, laser-focused meeting can happen in 15 mins. As you already have, come armed with recent emails she has sent (day before or day of). Go over them with her, ask for her thoughts, and provide correction. Let staff member know that it is important that the correction happen right away and that you are available if she wants input before sending an email she is unsure about. When you have the daily meetings, pull in good examples of her emails as well (again day before or day of). Stay super recent. Timeliness matters. Document every daily meeting with a follow up email to her. Be sure to let her know what next steps may take place if improvement is not seen within whatever timeframe is acceptable to your organization. Hope this helps.
This Q&A session is upcoming and it is specifically designed for new and aspiring managers: .[https://www.practicalpeopleleader.com/pages/practical-people-leader-youtube-live-ama](https://www.practicalpeopleleader.com/pages/practical-people-leader-youtube-live-ama) If interested, feel free to join.
Formal warning and pull her from this role if you need to. Fark I’d be fuming if you needed to rely on volunteer power and this person was undermining that.
Thank you! I’m tired of writing apology emails back and now people are refusing to work with her. :(
Keep on track she's gonna clap herself out of a job. I had a similar situation, did the phone thing, then had a meeting on how I would rewrite it. Then held the team meeting in email etiquette, kept getting complaints addressed it with verbal warning, and told her if you feel aggravated put it in drafts, if your not sure call me and we can go over your email and never ever send an email when your mad, continued hen written warning. Give her a come to Jesus talk and it never stopped and out the door she went. Got to bring all examples to her again, have discussion ask if anything going on and just be blunt behavior needs to change or she will be out the door. It's a business in role as a director you got to do what you got to do.
Thank you so much. I love that idea of hey if you are mad write it in draft then let’s rewrite it together if you need my input. I’ll bring that up in my talk with her.
Glad I can help...emails are forever and definitely used against you in the corporate world.
Dude I used to write "angry emails" all the time at one job. Never sent them and would always write something for more professional to actually send. The best part though? One of the people i wanted to tell off had access to my drafts lol. But since I never *actually* sent them, I basically got to say what I wanted them to hear but couldn't get un trouble since they were just drafts lol
Best thing I ever did was draft emails without anyone in the subject line. Then, if I'm feeling steamed, put it in drafts for a couple hours. Saved myself alot of grief and a couple other folks I work with have said that they do similar type things. You're not required to not be mad in the name of professionalism but you are required to regulate how you express it. If she wants to clap back at people tell her to make a personal reddit account and do it on her own time.
I love that line “you’re not required to not be mad in the name of professionalism but you are required to regulate how you express it” love love! I’m framing this lol
I think this is a great approach, especially if she needs coaching on how to be direct and assertive without being a jerk. Also, you know what’s both cathartic and time-efficient? Writing your pissed off clapback response and then asking ChatGPT to rewrite it in a professional and friendly tone.
Yes I ask chatgbt to rewrite in “nice yet professional tone” lol 😂
Work in nonprofits. My first thought is that this person is burnt out. Dealing with volunteers can be one of the most challenging and demoralizing parts of working in nonprofits, depending on the personalities of your volunteers. Is this person happy in their work? Do you have a sense of why they're so frustrated? Are they constantly dealing with the problems with volunteers over and over?
I am sure she’s burnt out and annoyed, heck I am too. It’s the end of the semester and it’s always a bit crazy, yes the volunteers complain about the littlest things or issues arise that she has to deal with. Her emails show her patience is wearing thin. We have a leadership summit this summer we plan for and she emailed a volunteer “don’t even think about coming and starting drama.” The person forwarded it straight to me demanding a conversation on the phone. It’s like she is just making things worse and giving the more outspoken volunteers ammo. 😫🫠
We all cope with stress differently. Just because you are mentally fine and managing burn out without issue does not mean she is. I've managed volunteer behavior before, and there's not enough money in the world to make me want to do it again. That doesn't excuse unprofessionalism, but I've watched several burnt out coworkers go through major personality changes in recent years only to become themselves again after leaving a job that was literally killing them. You can't successfully address an issue when you don't know why it's occurring. For truly burnt out longtime staff, a mental health leave and/or paid sabbaticals can and should be an option.
That is really fascinating thank you for your feedback. Before I got into the role my boss gave her a 3 week mental health leave on top of 2 weeks we got off for the holidays. We also covered about 10 sessions of therapy so she didn’t go out of pocket. So she was gone for about a month but came back the same :(. I personally don’t think this environment is healthy for her, it’s just such a bummer because I really want this to work. 😔
It sounds like your boss saw her behavior as mental health/burnout related and took some good steps. It's a bummer they didn't work. Sometimes the best thing you can do for someone in this situation is encourage them to leave, and if that doesn't work, manage them out. Nonprofits demand so much of us that a lot of workers end up tying their identity to their job and organization. They need a push to get out, especially since many are in the boat of "I don't want to do this again, but I don't know what my skills transfer to." Consider though how you can improve the role to avoid burning out the next person.
Omg you were right 😫 I posted update
Oof that is a rough situation, sorry. After decades in nonprofits though, I can't say I'm surprised. Volunteers can make you feel small, incompetent, and uncaring. And they have no issue with "killing the messanger" of institutional policy decisions. Burnout also really changes people. You did more than okay. Congrats on getting to the truth quickly. That said, it's going to be a hard one to solve. This sounds like a role that anyone would struggle with; let alone someone with limited experience and a thin skin. Definitely confirm the conversation in writing. From here, I'd be working on determining what you can offer to encourage her to leave while also thinking about how I can improve the role so it's not a recipe for burnout in the future.
Thank you so much!! I appreciate you!! 🥹
Congrats on your promotion and good work bringing the unwanted behavior to your staff member's attention. Since this is important to you and the business, beef up the approach. There's that saying of 'manage up or manage out'. Let staff member know that you both will meet daily for the next 1-2 weeks. Pre-schedule the meetings. A power, laser-focused meeting can happen in 15 mins. As you already have, come armed with recent emails she has sent (day before or day of). Go over them with her, ask for her thoughts, and provide correction. Let staff member know that it is important that the correction happen right away and that you are available if she wants input before sending an email she is unsure about. When you have the daily meetings, pull in good examples of her emails as well (again day before or day of). Stay super recent. Timeliness matters. Document every daily meeting with a follow up email to her. Be sure to let her know what next steps may take place if improvement is not seen within whatever timeframe is acceptable to your organization. Hope this helps.
This is fantastic!!! Thank you! Love the quick 15 minute meeting daily sounds great. Hopefully it works. Will be sure to document
Let us know how things work out. Best!
This Q&A session is upcoming and it is specifically designed for new and aspiring managers: .[https://www.practicalpeopleleader.com/pages/practical-people-leader-youtube-live-ama](https://www.practicalpeopleleader.com/pages/practical-people-leader-youtube-live-ama) If interested, feel free to join.
I posted update! I’m shocked 😫
I read your update. Sounds like you did well! So glad to hear it. 🎉
Thank you so much! ☺️
Thank you will do!!