Frustrated with co-worker

Newlyboughthouse

My colleague and I work from home. To cut it short, my coworker has no initiative, blocks 4 hours out to do something that should only take 20 minutes, will not offer himself to help anyone out like he should as part of his role, and makes mistakes continuously.

I am therefore the one everyone calls on and the one that is relied upon.

Our boss has now asked me to line manage him directly and coach him. The problem is, I am feeling a lot of negativity towards him, and he hasn't seemed to have learnt from previous critique from others. How the hell do I go about this i.e. how do I re-word what I really want to say to him i.e.

'what the f**k have you been doing all day'
'why haven't you offered to go?'
'why has it taken you so long to do this simple task?'
'please can you stop calling me with stupid questions that you can easily find the answer to yourself'.

I can see what my boss is doing - well it could be one of 2 things. Either he is palming him off on me, or he is trying to coach me by getting me to coach someone else. I am going to take this as the latter as feel it would be good for me but OMG this guy is a joke.

What to do?

FBaby

Imagine yourself an HR manager. How would you tackling? Answer is following the rules and leaving the emotional side out of it.

Newlyboughthouse

I should probably have said, my co-worker isn't aware that I'm kind of line-managing him. I am in no way officially his line manager i.e. expenses, mileage and stuff, I've just been given the the task of coaching and leading him.

ACG

Newlyboughthouse wrote: »

'what the f**k have you been doing all day'
'why haven't you offered to go?'
'why has it taken you so long to do this simple task?'
'please can you stop calling me with stupid questions that you can easily find the answer to yourself'.

Check his diary and ask why he has booked 4 hours out. It should only take x.

Im not sure how to overcome the second, short of saying oi pull your finger out?

Go and find out where he is/call him and literally just pull him up on the time.
Have you checked the intranet/manual/whatever.

You could pull him into a meeting and say you have been asked to manage him, the problems are:
x
y
z

So, it may feel like I am on your case but it is only to help you get up to the speed expected and improve your knowledge so that if I am not around you know where to look.

Sets your stall out, he knows things are about to change and a rocket up his ..... is on its way.

ohreally

Take your own advice and "chill the f.... out".

Newlyboughthouse

ACG wrote: »

Check his diary and ask why he has booked 4 hours out. It should only take x.

Im not sure how to overcome the second, short of saying oi pull your finger out?

Go and find out where he is/call him and literally just pull him up on the time.
Have you checked the intranet/manual/whatever.

You could pull him into a meeting and say you have been asked to manage him, the problems are:
x
y
z

So, it may feel like I am on your case but it is only to help you get up to the speed expected and improve your knowledge so that if I am not around you know where to look.

Sets your stall out, he knows things are about to change and a rocket up his ..... is on its way.

Seems so formal, too formal for this particular situation and he won't thank me for it as it's not my place.

I'm wondering more about how to word things differently? My negativity is affecting my ability to form nicer, kinder sentences.

Guest101

'what the f**k have you been doing all day' - Can you create a current workload document, I'd like to assist with forward planning.
'why haven't you offered to go?' - I'd like to see you in the field more, do you require any support with this?
'why has it taken you so long to do this simple task?' - The 'X,Y,Z' should typically take X time, do you require any training or assistance?
'please can you stop calling me with stupid questions that you can easily find the answer to yourself'. - I'd like to create a frequently asked questions as part of contingency planning. Could you make a list of questions you email / ring me about?

Guest101

Newlyboughthouse wrote: »

I should probably have said, my co-worker isn't aware that I'm kind of line-managing him. I am in no way officially his line manager i.e. expenses, mileage and stuff, I've just been given the the task of coaching and leading him.

Ah, in that case I'd go back to your manager and say:


You have not given me the sufficient remit to carry out this task effectively.


In order to do so, I need X to be aware that I am going to be providing oversight and training.

Newlyboughthouse

Ace keep um coming

For context, we generally chat in quite an informal way. Any re-wording to make it sound less manager'y?

Newlyboughthouse

Guest101 wrote: »

Ah, in that case I'd go back to your manager and say:


You have not given me the sufficient remit to carry out this task effectively.


In order to do so, I need X to be aware that I am going to be providing oversight and training.

I think I'm going to have to. I'm in over my head with this one I think.

Guest101

Newlyboughthouse wrote: »

Ace keep um coming

For context, we generally chat in quite an informal way. Any re-wording to make it sound less manager'y?

For this to be at all effective, there needs to be a clear chain of command.


I get on brilliantly with Chief Officers of numerous NHS trusts, have a beer and a chat with them. But at work I know that they are the boss.


It's not a negative thing to have a clear hierarchy.