Another one of my work threads

[mommy_k]

So in other words, if I have it in an email from Julie that she always waits 3 months before sending in the paper work, if Sally asks for it earlier just use the broken record ‘As per Julie’s email she won’t send it in for 3 months’ ?

Yes and verbally add–" you can follow up if this is incorrect."
The original email that was sent should have had both on it to begin with julie’s reply should have reached sally this way. Never have yourself on an email when someone requests something…cc the person who requests the info.

 

[mommy_k]

Well, this is what ended up happening.

This morning I went into my bosses office and asked if he had 10 minutes. He asked about what and I said 'There is a bit of an issue with handing in the paper work and I was looking for a positive solution. If you are busy it can wait. He said he would get me in the afternoon.

Then, Julie sent me an email that Sally sent out late last night to everyone but me. She totally changed her tune and said ‘As long as the paper work gets to me a week before I need to have it in the computer, it is fine’ Well that was definitely a 180 degree turn.

So I sent the email to my boss saying ‘I had not be copied on this thread, the issue is solved no need to meet’

So, as much as I find Sally to be quite the two faced person. At least now I have everything in writing and will have ammunition to cover my back

Angie

I personally would not have pointed out to your boss that you were not copied on an email. I also would not have gone to your boss for a meeting. Sometimes waiting a bit to see how things play out is best. Also silence is good. If you were insulted not to be on an email, you have to think even more about ramifications down the road before reacting. Julie sounds like she is nice, however, she us also stirring the pot so to speak.
Also save emails for business purposes, not ammunition. That is not a positive outlook. Yes you may have to cover yourself, but be smart about how you are making others look so you don’t have to do this often.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

I personally would not have pointed out to your boss that you were not copied on an email. I also would not have gone to your boss for a meeting. Sometimes waiting a bit to see how things play out is best. Also silence is good. If you were insulted not to be on an email, you have to think even more about ramifications down the road before reacting. Julie sounds like she is nice, however, she us also stirring the pot so to speak.
Also save emails for business purposes, not ammunition. That is not a positive outlook. Yes you may have to cover yourself, but be smart about how you are making others look so you don’t have to do this often.

Yes. I agree. I still can’t understand why she feels like she has to be in the middle of this. Then when she wasn’t the middle monkey she seems put out about not being cc’d.

Myob is sometimes the best office acronym.

 

[Anglewannabe]

I personally would not have pointed out to your boss that you were not copied on an email. .

Just curious but could you explain shy not so I can better understand?

I also would not have gone to your boss for a meeting. .

This issue was dragging on for a while. The reality is, it is a grey area and if ever there was a disgruntled client, I could have been in big trouble potentially if the papers were not in on time regardless of whose fault it would have been.

If you were insulted not to be on an email, you have to think even more about ramifications down the road before reacting. .

I was NOT insulted for not being copied on the email. I was more concerned. Had I been copied on the email, I would have known Sally changed her tune and would have left it at that. But since she did not copy me, I was in the position where I might have told our boss that she blatantly told me if she did not get what she wanted, she wasn’t going to process the paper work. In a way, it would have been in Sally’s best interest to copy me

Julie sounds like she is nice, however, she us also stirring the pot so to speak…

Just curious but how is Julie stirring the pot?

 

[Anglewannabe]

Yes. I agree. I still can’t understand why she feels like she has to be in the middle of this. .

I am the main contact person for office X. Every time there is a new client, they send me the forms and paper work. After 3 months when there are more forms, they just send them to me because from where they are sitting there is no difference it is all paper work. To make it easy on them, my office just agrees that I get the paper work and if it is not for me, I walk it over to the person’s desk who needs it.

Sally has asked me for a heads up the second there is a new client. To be co-operative with Sally, I always give her a heads up. Which resulted in her wanting the paper work sooner and giving me an earful every time I tried to tell her office X won’t send it for 3 months.

To be honest, I think she would have been quite content to just complain every time there was a new client rather than seek a positive solution

Then when she wasn’t the middle monkey she seems put out about not being cc’d.
.

I was NOT put out in the least by not being cc’d on the email. As previously explained, it concerns me that I almost rated Sally out. As well, my boss was already in the know about there being an issue so in order to not look like I was crying wolf, I wanted him to know there was a positive solution.

To me honest, my boss is the type who would probably read ‘there is a positive solution’ and then delete the email and not care about the details

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

I am the main contact person for office X. Every time there is a new client, they send me the forms and paper work. After 3 months when there are more forms, they just send them to me because from where they are sitting there is no difference it is all paper work. To make it easy on them, my office just agrees that I get the paper work and if it is not for me, I walk it over to the person’s desk who needs it.

Sally has asked me for a heads up the second there is a new client. To be co-operative with Sally, I always give her a heads up. Which resulted in her wanting the paper work sooner and giving me an earful every time I tried to tell her office X won’t send it for 3 months.

To be honest, I think she would have been quite content to just complain every time there was a new client rather than seek a positive solution

I was NOT put out in the least by not being cc’d on the email. As previously explained, it concerns me that I almost rated Sally out. As well, my boss was already in the know about there being an issue so in order to not look like I was crying wolf, I wanted him to know there was a positive solution.

To me honest, my boss is the type who would probably read ‘there is a positive solution’ and then delete the email and not care about the details

I’d take a cue from your boss. They sound wise.

 

[Anglewannabe]

I’d take a cue from your boss. They sound wise.

Well, I definitely won’t be bringing this issue up to anyone at work again

 

[mommy_k]

I would not have pointed out that you were excluded from an email to your boss as it can be perceived that you and sally have issues with each other.

I would have not arranged a meeting with him because it is not conducive to a team enviornment. It attaches your name to negativity within the team, and sally will feel you were again throwing her under the bus.

If julies department takes 3 months to do paperwork, she could have gone directly to sally when you spoke to her and kept you out of it as well.She used you just as sally did. She also did not have to send you the email you were excluded from. She could have professionally stated that a resolution has taken place and outlined it for you.

Be smart and be a player, not a pawn on both sides in the future.

 

[EasterJoy]

True, but somehow I have the feeling anything I did that would equate to Sally not getting her way would have made her feel it is unfair.

Unfortunately if there was a next time, all I can do is what is the best course of action and Sally still will not like it

I have no idea what is meant by that

I mean that working with difficult people takes skills that can be learned.

For instance, once I had a co-worker that would be difficult to move from his decided course of action once he thought he saw the best course of action. With him, I learned to look down the tracks for issues that might concern both of us and consider what he would look for in a solution. I found that if I thought of a solution that both worked for me and kept his most likely concerns in mind, he’d very often advocate for what I wanted just as if he’d thought up the idea himself.

I’d present it to him, thus: I was thinking about X coming up, and was considering that you’d probably want an option for dealing with it that takes Y, Z, and W into account. (Pause, making sure that this is in fact the case.) Well, I was thinking we could take the Path through A and B. That gives you Y, Z and W, and while we’re at it, it also gives me G and F, which are my concerns. (Then you listen to feedback, prepared to add or subtract issues from your consideration.) No matter how things worked out, this co-worker knew that I took his point of view into account when I looked for solutions, before he’d ever asked me to and even before he even saw the problem coming. Even if I misread what he wanted, as long as I was obviously flexible in view of his feedback, that let him know I had his back.

There is rarely just one best course of action. There are usually many different solutions, and each one offers different things to different parties. There are also many ways to look at what is essentially the same solution. Sometimes the solution that offers the most to one party or another needs to be sold to that party. If you run up a bad emotional history with someone, they can become an unnecessarily hard sell.

Sometimes, too, the solution that is less efficient but more conducive to harmony among important players is the wisest one. There are worse things in the world of work than to adopt the method that is most decidedly not the fastest one.

Most of all, there is nothing more winning than to clearly have your own opinion, to listen to someone else, to appreciate their point of view, and to change your own stance in a way that takes both their goals and yours into account. You have probably heard of this: it is called looking for the win-win.

If you haven’t heard of looking for the win-win, find Steven Covey’s book, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” He won’t teach you to resign yourself to the idea that you’ll never have Sally on your side. Sally is someone you want on your side. It is undoubtedly worth your energy to look for a plan of action that might one day put her there.

 

[EasterJoy]

I highly recommend CCing all parties for any emails regarding this issue. It will help cut down on miscommunication. No need to worry about someone mis-characterizing what you’ve said as it’s right there in black and white. This needs to be handled by Sally and Julie’s boss from what it sounds like.

I also find it helpful to be able to forward the email back later when it becomes necessary, something like “Hi remember when we all talked about this? Has something changed that I missed?”.

When you cc: someone, you are also saying, “I want you included on this e-mail to all be my witnesses that I’m saying this.” Yes, you want everyone who wants to be in the loop to be in the loop, but be very careful you put everyone into a good light when you do it, too. It is better to err on the side of making someone else look good than to seem to be throwing them under the bus in order to protect yourself.