A reader writes:
My coworker, “Jane,” was promoted to the identical degree as me eight months in the past. I had solely spoken to Jane twice in her two years on the firm previous to her promotion. A few month after shifting into the function, Jane arrange a gathering with me. Within the assembly, she yelled at me for scheduling early conferences (9 am) as a result of she doesn’t like beginning her day with conferences, she informed me repeatedly she hates me, asserted the staff hates me, known as me names, mandated no contact with me, after which hung up on me.
I had a sense Jane and I didn’t gel nicely on earlier interactions, however there was by no means any dangerous blood, and I chalked it up as not everybody you meet will such as you, and I remained cordial to her in any other case. I didn’t reply to any of her allegations and I instantly let my supervisor know in regards to the interplay.
I used to be filling in for the emptiness earlier than Jane was employed, so her purchasers know me and my staff. Jane refuses to ask for assist, and when her purchasers ask for one thing she doesn’t know, she’s going to inform them “I can’t allow you to” after which the purchasers come to my staff for help, since we’ve got a earlier relationship. My staff is now getting in bother for answering calls from Jane’s purchasers when she refuses to take action. As a substitute of telling her to work with my staff or to ask questions when she doesn’t know one thing, my supervisor mandated that my staff and I copy Jane on each message to my purchasers, so Jane can observe interactions.
Just lately Jane and I co-presented, and he or she had not seemed on the materials, didn’t know the content material, and admitted not figuring out in entrance of 10 executives, placing our fame and work in danger. She repeatedly exhibits up late to conferences with purchasers and scowls and rolls her eyes when I’m talking. I reported these behaviors to my supervisor.
Jane is now making accusations that I don’t assist her and is telling different colleagues that she is afraid of me. She won’t ship messages to me and directs them to others who aren’t accustomed to the topic, that are then forwarded to me for response. I’ve responded to each query promptly, letting her know that I’m the suitable contact.
She schedules every day conferences after hours with our supervisor, to complain about not figuring out issues. I get interruptions late within the night to rapidly soar in to help Jane with step-by-step instructions. The gadgets I’m requested about are by no means complicated or troublesome and can be self-explanatory to most. I usually must repeat the data 3-4 instances over a number of days, and Jane’s work product will nonetheless be incorrect, once more driving her prospects again to my staff for correction.
I’ve tried to inform my supervisor I can’t help Jane if she is unwilling to contact me instantly and nonetheless is sustaining no contact underneath her phrases. My supervisor is mandating that that is my downside to repair, and I want to determine a technique to clear up Jane’s behaviors towards me. There doesn’t appear to be any accountability for her work or habits, and I’m getting growing stress to assist her achieve success. Moreover, I requested my supervisor to gather suggestions from Jane’s purchasers, and I’m informed the suggestions was simply “she’s new.” How ought to I navigate this? Any recommendation?
Jane appears out of her gourd, however what’s up together with your supervisor? Your supervisor appears like an even bigger downside than Jane in some methods — why is she tiptoeing round Jane and telling you to repair her points, moderately than anticipating Jane to be taught her job, deal with individuals professionally, and cease this no-contact nonsense? (Additionally, how can Jane have a no-contact decree towards you whereas additionally complaining that you just gained’t assist her?)
There are two prospects right here: (1) Your supervisor doesn’t totally perceive the scenario, which is why her response to it appears so off, or (b) she does totally perceive the scenario however is a horrible supervisor with terrible judgment. What’s your sense of which is extra probably, based mostly on what you already know of her?
If there’s any likelihood that she doesn’t totally perceive the scenario — since you didn’t give her the total unvarnished image, or used shorthand, or felt uncomfortable spelling the entire thing out due to how weird it’s — then the following step is to return and actually spell it out, together with Jane’s repeated assertions that she hates you (!), the name-calling (!), and her announcement that she gained’t have any contact with you. These particulars ought to assist your supervisor see that this isn’t a character battle; it’s being pushed by Jane, who got here out of the gate hostile proper from the beginning and is behaving like a nap-deprived kindergartner moderately than an expert grownup.
However should you’ve informed your boss about all of that and he or she just sucks … nicely, there’s not so much you are able to do. You might attempt cc’ing her on all these messages she needs Jane cc’d on, so she will be able to see that you just are attempting to assist. You’ll be able to cease responding to late night time messages and begin solely “seeing” them the following work day. However none of that will get on the core of the problem.
Usually I’d counsel attempting to speak to Jane herself, however her habits is so bonkers and her hostility is so over-the-top — and he or she’s already telling individuals she’s afraid of you, which makes me assume she’ll simply paint any dialog you try in an acrimonious mild — that I don’t assume that will likely be significantly fruitful.
Any likelihood you will have first rate HR? I’m not usually a fan of bringing in HR for this sort of thing, however given how your supervisor is dealing with this, the simplest strategy — if and provided that your HR is usually fairly good — might be to speak to them. Framing it as “Jane informed me she hates me and refuses to talk to me and my boss is insisting I repair this — what do you advise?” may immediate some motion from them.