Re: Criticism to a sensitive employee
You are partly right Kageboshi. The thing that makes the difference between it being perceived as collaborative or adversarial is the background relationship before the event. Did you (or I) as a manager come alongside the subordinate and do anything at all to show that you cared about them? I know everyone on my team by name, I know their spouses (not just the names, I've talked to them and know a little bit about them), I know their children's names and ages, and I know a little bit about what's going on in their families. If I need to restructure their schedule to help them out (like if they have to share one car or get kids from school or such) I do it. I buy them lunch from time to time and remember their birthdays. Is that too much to ask!? Evidently for most managers it is. My employees almost never have a problem if I ask them to put the new cover sheets on the TPS reports.
