I Have a Question

I am new to my management position and I inherited a number of unaddressed employee and customer complaints. One of the company managers in our division calls me each day and hardheartedly asks why my team isn’t meeting company performance requirements. The manager is scheduled to visit our location sometime next week to address the team’s performance. What should I do?

First, it’s really unfortunate that a person in upper management would add to the stress of your new position in addition to the workload that came with it. Secondly, now you must prepare for the scheduled visit while working to address employee and customer issues. Below are a few suggestions that may help ease some of your anxiety.
1. Confirm the date and time of the visiting manager’s arrival and the specific items to be discuss. Obtaining this information will help you prepare a timeline for completing certain actions, allow time to meet with your team and reduces the feeling of being out of control.
2. Schedule a meeting with all team members to identify, discuss and plan a resolution for the most pressing employee and customer issues. This action will promote a spirit of collaboration, teamwork and trust amongst the group.
3. Select team members who are the most knowledgeable about company requirements and discuss why they are not being met and the changes needed to improve team performance.
4. Prepare an agenda for the meeting with the visiting manager that includes actions taken to address the employee and customer issues, the reasons requirements were not being met and actions planned and/or already implemented to meet company performance requirements in the future.