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 prior to her promotion. About a month after transferring into the position, Jane arrange a assembly with me. In 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 told me repeatedly she hates me, asserted the workforce hates me, known as me names, mandated no contact with me, and then hung up on me.
I had a feeling 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 workforce. Jane refuses to ask for assist, and when her purchasers ask for one thing she doesn’t know, she will inform them “I can’t help you” and then the purchasers come to my workforce for help, since we have a earlier relationship. My workforce is now getting in bother for answering calls from Jane’s purchasers when she refuses to achieve this. Instead of telling her to work with my workforce or to ask questions when she doesn’t know one thing, my supervisor mandated that my workforce and I copy Jane on each message to my purchasers, so Jane can observe interactions.
Recently Jane and I co-presented, and she had not regarded on the materials, didn’t know the content material, and admitted not realizing in entrance of 10 executives, placing our status 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 is not going to ship messages to me and directs them to others who are usually not conversant in the topic, that are then forwarded to me for response. I have responded to each query promptly, letting her know that I’m the suitable contact.
She schedules day by day conferences after hours with our supervisor, to complain about not realizing 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 could be self-explanatory to most. I typically have to repeat the knowledge 3-4 occasions over a number of days, and Jane’s work product will nonetheless be incorrect, once more driving her prospects again to my workforce for correction.
I have tried to inform my supervisor I can’t help Jane if she is unwilling to contact me straight and nonetheless is sustaining no contact below her phrases. My supervisor is mandating that that is my downside to fix, and I want to work out a manner to remedy Jane’s behaviors towards me. There doesn’t appear to be any accountability for her work or conduct, and I’m getting rising stress to assist her achieve success. Additionally, I requested my supervisor to gather suggestions from Jane’s purchasers, and I’m told 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 along with your supervisor? Your supervisor seems like a greater downside than Jane in some methods — why is she tiptoeing round Jane and telling you to fix her points, quite than anticipating Jane to study her job, deal with folks professionally, and cease this no-contact nonsense? (Also, how can Jane have a no-contact decree towards you whereas additionally complaining that you simply received’t assist her?)
There are two prospects right here: (1) Your supervisor doesn’t totally perceive the state of affairs, which is why her response to it appears so off, or (b) she does totally perceive the state of affairs however is a horrible supervisor with terrible judgment. What’s your sense of which is extra seemingly, based mostly on what you realize of her?
If there’s any likelihood that she doesn’t totally perceive the state of affairs — since you didn’t give her the complete unvarnished image, or used shorthand, or felt uncomfortable spelling the entire thing out due to how weird it is — 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 received’t have any contact with you. Those particulars ought to assist your supervisor see that this isn’t a persona 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 quite than a skilled grownup.
But in case you’ve told your boss about all of that and she simply sucks … nicely, there’s not a lot you are able to do. You may attempt cc’ing her on all these messages she needs Jane cc’d on, so she can see that you simply are attempting to assist. You can cease responding to late evening messages and begin solely “seeing” them the following work day. But none of that will get on the core of the difficulty.
Normally I’d counsel attempting to speak to Jane herself, however her conduct is so bonkers and her hostility is so over-the-top — and she’s already telling folks she’s afraid of you, which makes me assume she’ll simply paint any dialog you try in an acrimonious gentle — that I don’t assume that might be notably fruitful.
Any likelihood you have first rate HR? I’m not usually a fan of bringing in HR for this kind of factor, however given how your supervisor is dealing with this, the best method — if and provided that your HR is usually fairly good — may very well be to speak to them. Framing it as “Jane told me she hates me and refuses to speak to me and my boss is insisting I fix this — what do you advise?” may immediate some motion from them.
