(image used, with permission, from Mark Brady of Alchemy Group)

Eventually, Bren got bored with writing, felt he’d “written out” everything there was for him to write about management, productivity and the like, so he sold the blog to b5 Media.

b5 Media held a little contest to see who would want to blog at this site, taking Slacker Manager in a whole new direction.

And they couldn’t pick just 1 winner…they picked 2.

David Zinger and Phil Gerbyshak (that’s me) were selected as the co-Slacker Managers. You can’t get enough slacking, can you?

About a year after starting, David dropped out and left me alone to do Slacker Manager. That was last October.

That was Slacker Manager. Stay tuned for details of what’s next…

Post from: EveryJoe

What was Slacker Manager?

But today, I got a new comment, with a question that I felt was worth answering, and seeing what all the smart people who read this blog have to say.

Slim shared: “Our recently new (about 1 year) boss brought 2 people over from his old department with him. There were already 4 of us in the department when he got here and we all 4 have a strong work ethic. The 2 he brought over are, in a word, worthless. One surfs the net and plays with her iPhone all day. Everytime she is giving an assignment, she grabs one or two of us to help. She’s been doing admin setups on our package for over a year and was trained well, but she still does not understand the most basic concepts of it – she asks me the same questions over and over.

The four of us are here by 7:30 – she comes in around 8:10, takes 1:15 – 1:30 lunches (we’re only allowed 45 minutes). They both worked on an AS400 in their old job and still do some. But she refuses to learn VB or SQL and shows absolutely no motivation to improve her knowledge. The other person basically is never at his desk! He must walk for miles a day around the office building in order to not have to sit down and work. No one seems to know where he goes!

They were both brought over ostensibly with the idea of helping but that’s been far from the case. I personally think they would have been let go if he had not brought them over. I have talked to my boss about this, he knows about these issues, but it’s obvious he does not like confrontation – that seems to be his only weakness – he’s really a pretty good manager. These 2 extra employees are affecting our morale….they just show up and collect a pay check and that’s about it.

Plus, they never seem to be held accountable for what they do, while we are. They are probably two of the most anti-tech people I’ve ever seen in a tech job – no interest in technology whatsoever. I don’t even want to think how much these two are getting for doing nothing! I am not sure what to do at this point. Go to my manager’s boss?”

What do you do when you’re dealing with a REAL Slacker Manager? My thoughts:

Mentally prepare yourself to be fired or to quit your job over this. Some managers do not welcome this type of behavior, and if you’re not willing to deal with the worst, you may want to keep your head down and just do your job.

Make absolutely sure you’re doing what you’re getting paid to do. The old saw about people in glass houses not throwing stones is very true here. If you’re not exemplary, it’s time to focus on YOUR performance and YOUR behavior.

Document what you observe, and what the impact of this behavior is. Ultimately, if the works gets done and customers aren’t complaining, then there isn’t a big problem. If this is truly impacting you and your work, then most likely it is impacting your customers. Take some time to gather feedback from your customers and document what you say.

Schedule a one-on-meeting with your manager. Talk to your manager about the documentation you’ve gathered, and explain the impact to you and the feedback from your customers. Focus on the impact to you, and the information you’ve gathered that impacts your customers.

Present solutions on how to improve this situation, don’t just focus on the problems. Whiners present just problems without solutions, and nobody likes a whiner.

When you’re done with these 5 steps, be patient, and let your manager deal with the offensive co-workers. It’s your manager’s job to deal with this situation, not yours. Let the process work itself out, and keep working hard. This slacking didn’t happen overnight, and it won’t get fixed overnight.

What would YOU do with this challenging situation?

Image source: http://www.streetsigngenerator.com/

Post from: EveryJoe

5 Ways to Deal with a Slacker Manager

Here they are:

1. Seek understanding, give support, find results
2. Look, listen, learn. Lift, laugh, lead.
3. Learned to GTD, teaching others how.
4. They tried harder but kept failing.”
5. Learned management wisdom, tried something else.
6. Eventually she understood what really mattered.”
7. Empower the team, hold them accountable.
8. Facilitate the network, let the net work.
9. Always learning and teaching, join me
10. I requested, they failed, I fired.
11. Challenge your people; pay them well.
12. I trust you, make it happen
13. Living to shape minds and destinies!
14. He tried, sometimes failed,always learnt.
15. Worked hard, failed alot, succeeded some.
16. Chaos ensuing, unaccountability ruling, we’re compelling.
17. I am interested in your work.
18. Worked hard, failed alot, succeeded some.
19. I trust you, make it happen
20. First, take care of your people.
21. Living to shape minds and destinies!
22. They tried harder but kept failing.
23. ‘He tried, sometimes failed,always learnt.’
24. Empower the team, hold them accountable.
25. Eventually she understood what really mattered.
26. Most importantly, learn to ask questions.
27. Herding Cats, Taming Lions. Why Not?
28. Your worth is in their eyes.”
29. Demand high standards; measure with grace
30. I ask questions, you find solutions.
31. To learn more sooner, fail faster.
32. Outward transformation begins with internal change.
33. Let’s squash the competition like bugs!
34. My success begins with your success.
35. Share vision. Don’t be an obstacle.
36. You will rise above and conquer!
37. Do Plan. Study. Act. Celebrate. Repeat.
38. Lead by staying out of the way.
39. One of many; catalysts don’t boast
40. Life is a journey…so enjoy.
41. Dare to dream…and dream BIG!
42. Watch, Do, Teach; Learn, Live, Give.
43. Orders are easy, Examples are harder
44. Measure twice, cut once.
45. Honeydew this, Honeydew that, I’ll watch.
46. Open hands hold more than fists
47. Who, What, Why, where, When, How.
48. My work is their work, succeeding.
49. Succeed by failing different every time
50. You’ll be MY boss, one day
51. Find the “why”, then act. Repeat.
52. Once knew all. Now know better.

And the teenagers choose two winners. It was a Toonie after all so two winners make sense to me.

“JB” won with “I trust you, make it happen” and Cheryl Tardiff won for life/work management with, “Honeydew this, Honeydew that, I’ll watch.”

JB and Cheryl email me at dzinger@shaw.ca so I can get your address and send those lovely toonies. I loved a lot of them and I think many of you now have a pithy was to state your story.

Thanks to everyone for entering

David Zinger

Post from: EveryJoe

52 Entries in the 6 Word Management Story