Working World

One of the people I try to manage spends her days in long schmoozy phone calls that everyone in surrounding cubicles is forced to listen to, because she's got a voice that would sink the Titanic. She is waaaay over the line in time spent, eardrums abused and general indifference toward us. Our job is customer support and relations. The problem is, or maybe isn’t, that she really does a great job when she works. The corporate partners she services give her rave reviews. I can't fault her client performance, but she's dragging morale way down. How can I muffle her?

Schmoozing for customer relations is legit. As long as her productivity and client feedback are rated higher than the complainers, she has some high ground, but not impunity. Tell her that if she can lower the decibel level she can keep the gravy train running. But if not, she's going to shout herself out of her job. Give her a month to change her style. That month should include regular feedback from coworkers to you, and from you to her.

If she doesn't shush up the ante on her with YJFG Commandment Number Seven: “Say What Needs To Be Said.”

Tell her that one of the company's internal performance auditors (read that, spy) reported the problem to a bigwig. Say resolving it has become an objective your whole team will be measured by. Offer her some upside reward (keeping her job) for a solution (same productivity, less volume) and then meet with her weekly. This tactic hinges a little on exploiting a pack mentality, usually very bad, but if you're really managing a group, then the group will have to be part of the solution. Concentrate on the "team" word, and bring her back into the fold. And remember that motivation takes varied forms.