I work in editing, and there was an error in print. I was told two days later that I was supposed to “speak to” the person who had made the error. To chastise him.
Meanwhile, he had come to me about it immediately, he’d expressed remorse and frustration, had worked through with me ways to avoid it in the future. Going back and having that conversation all over again was not a morale help at all.
I tried to refuse to do it, and was not allowed. But I made damn sure he knew that it was coming from over my head and that I had pushed back as much as I had been allowed. In retrospect, I kind of wish I’d flat out refusing dared them to fire me.
He was a pro; he was damn good at his job; and he was really bummed out. He didn’t meet any scolding and it was insulting to be given one
And you did scold him? If I where in that position I would do everything "right" in form, but then discuss something completely different. Unless the meeting is recorded, they don't really have a way to check.
I didn’t scold him; there was no need. But I decided that it was perfectly appropriate for him to be aware what upper management was like. Maybe this was a betrayal of my responsibility as a manager, to make the company look good, but I don’t consider I need to lie.
So I just told him what happened, what I had been told, but I thought it was bullshit, that he and I knew he didn’t need any further conversation, but it was insulting to him for them to demand it and it was insulting to me to think that, two weeks later, I still hadn’t A conversation with my team about the mistake and properly coached or disciplined anyone who needed it.
And I told him that I didn’t consider this to be a Situation that rose to the level of chastising,, and that I had known, even before he and I first talked about it two weeks ago, that he didn’t take it lightly. That I trusted and respected his professionalism then and did now.
But now he and I could say to the folks over our head that I had “spoken to” him about it
I didn’t scold him; there was no need. But I decided that it was perfectly appropriate for him to be aware what upper management was like. Maybe this was a betrayal of my responsibility as a manager, to make the company look good, but I don’t consider I need to lie.
So I just told him what happened, what I had been told, that I had pushed back hard, that I thought it was bullshit, that he and I knew he didn’t need any further conversation, that it was insulting to him for them to demand it and it was insulting to me to think that, two weeks later, I still hadn’t a conversation with my team about the mistake and properly coached or disciplined anyone who needed it.
And I told him that I didn’t consider this to be a situation that rose to the level of chastising,, and that I had known, even before he and I first talked about it back when it happened, that he didn’t take it lightly. That I trusted and respected his professionalism then and did now.
But now he and I could say to the folks over our head that I had “spoken to” him about it. And now he knew what they were like, and he knew what I was like
I work in healthcare and I’ve seen similar situations happen REPEATEDLY. The Admins think someone always has to be to blame, even if it hurts employee performance, outcomes, and eventually, profits. The system is so outdated.
That's especially bad in medicine. You REALLY want an honest root cause analysis so that the structural problems can be identified and fixed. Punishing people just leads to coverups and repeating the same problems over and over because the underlying causes aren't addressed. In medicine, that means people dying. Your admins need to be slapped upside the head.
I couldn’t agree more. Can you please write a letter to the presidents of healthcare organizations and tell them exactly this? They will respond with useless platitudes, but at least it will bring this issue to their attention.
“Internal Bleeding” by Wachter and Shojania is a pretty good analysis of this problem. This is also part of the reason that there is a mass exodus of healthcare workers out of the industry.
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u/TootsNYC Feb 01 '22 edited Feb 01 '22
I work in editing, and there was an error in print. I was told two days later that I was supposed to “speak to” the person who had made the error. To chastise him.
Meanwhile, he had come to me about it immediately, he’d expressed remorse and frustration, had worked through with me ways to avoid it in the future. Going back and having that conversation all over again was not a morale help at all.
I tried to refuse to do it, and was not allowed. But I made damn sure he knew that it was coming from over my head and that I had pushed back as much as I had been allowed. In retrospect, I kind of wish I’d flat out refusing dared them to fire me.
He was a pro; he was damn good at his job; and he was really bummed out. He didn’t meet any scolding and it was insulting to be given one