You Can't Solve Your Employee's Problems

December 08, 2005

Whenever your employees experience a problem, your natural reaction is to try and help them. After all, you're the one in charge. As a manager, it's what you do - fix problems.

This works well as long as the problem involves strictly a performance related issue, for example, how best to perform a certain task. Most of the time, you instinctively know the best way to proceed based on your experience.

Things can get rather dicey, however, when you try to solve employee problems that are more personal in nature. Consider the following example: Sara relies on a family member to care for her two young children. Lately, the family member has been increasingly unreliable and as a result, Sara is frequently absent from work in order to care for the children herself. She's in a front line position and these unscheduled absences are having an adverse effect on the work. You believe that Sara should be looking around for a new sitter now, because the situation is not likely to improve. Sara appears to be reluctant to do so.

If you were Sara's manager, what would you do? If you suggest that she make other arrangements, she might resentful for intruding in her personal affairs. On the other hand, sitting back and doing nothing is not acceptable because the situation is already having a negative impact on productivity.

The best solution is to focus on the business problem. Discuss the situation with Sara and provide her both the opportunity and the responsibility for solving it. Some managers have a tendency to try too hard to help employees solve or cope with problems that are essentially personal, in nature. They do it because they sympathize with the employee's situation and genuinely want to help. Furthermore, they're good at solving problems and making decisions.

Unfortunately the truth is, you cannot solve your employees' problems. That's something only they can do.

So, what's a manager to do? Here are a few tips on how to deal with situations like the one involving Sara.

• Don't scold employees or express your disapproval of their decisions.
   
• Don't give unsolicited advice regarding matters of a personal nature.
   
• Don't treat employees as helpless.
   
• Don't intimidate, threaten, or demean employees who don't follow your advice.
   
• Do be supportive. Acknowledge the difficulty. For example, "I understand this must be a difficult situation for you."
   
• Help the employee think through the problem by asking questions. For example, "What if you did...?" Or "Have you thought of...?"
   
• Tell the employee what you need from him or her. For example, "I need to be able to count on you to come to work on a reliable basis."
   
• Be flexible and open to requests for reasonable assistance. "How can I help?" is always a good way to open this part of the discussion.
   
• If appropriate, encourage the employee to seek help from other sources, such as an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), if your organization has one.

Stephen Foster, Ph.D.
Expert Supervisor, LLC
1493 Market Street
Tallahassee, FL 32312
(850) 893-5699

E-mail me at: Steve.Foster@ExpertSupervisor.com.