I have a report that pushes back against everything. Would love some advice?

[Anonymous]

Make them take the thought experiment of seeing it from your POV. it’s easy to nay say, not as easy to make a path and commit. So, hear their objections out - this is a must. Then say, “knowing that we still need to execute this milestone and can’t say no, in my position, what would you recommend if you were me?” You can also say, yes, there are reasons this is risky but I can’t raise those risks without also raising a possible idea of what would mitigate them, since this needs to go through. So for each concern I need you to also document an ask that would help it or solve it.”

[Anonymous]

When I had a report like this, I let him go about a year with 1:1 to discuss. When it did not let up, I had us schedule a weekly status meeting. I informed him that he could bring up issues at the weekly meeting and we could discuss. Outside of that, he would need to work on items assigned to him. If the schedule for such items was before the meeting, then he needed to do the work as assigned and he could bring up concerns and issues at the next regular meeting. I stopped taking 1:1 from him questioning every assignment. I also informed him that whether or not we had a chance to discuss it, he would still need to meet the assignment deadlines. And that failure to complete assignments by deadlines would result in PIP and potential lower assessments on his annual review. In the end, he did get a PIP, he refused to change his behavior despite me explicitly telling him that his actions were obstructing our department's ability to meet requests from management and customers. He went on a PIP, I had to get HR involved, we both went through HR counseling and communication training and ultimately he was let go.

[Anonymous]

Define "pushing back." Is that part of this person's job? For example, it this a lawyer telling you not to do X because Y? Or an engineer telling you that an idea is not going to work because Z? Or information security telling you not to ever do something because it has security implications? Being a "yes man" isn't always the right thing to do, and saying "no" to things can be an important part of some jobs.

Or is it just a whiner who won't do his job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I run across this kind of person, I convince them that their talents would be more useful and appreciated in a different role far far away from me.

+100

They're often not happy with their current role/manager and are happy to move to a new role.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Define "pushing back." Is that part of this person's job? For example, it this a lawyer telling you not to do X because Y? Or an engineer telling you that an idea is not going to work because Z? Or information security telling you not to ever do something because it has security implications? Being a "yes man" isn't always the right thing to do, and saying "no" to things can be an important part of some jobs.

Or is it just a whiner who won't do his job?

everything.
anything i ask them to do or ask them to ask their reports to do. there is ALWAYS a problem. always a pushback. and the undercurrent of it is that I am not doing a good job and they are explaining it to me.
However my bosses and everyone else we work with think i am doing just fine. and a lot of the pushback does not take into consideration the needs of the business.
again though, I'm ok with pushback, but pushback on EVERYTHING is exhausting and a productivity killer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define "pushing back." Is that part of this person's job? For example, it this a lawyer telling you not to do X because Y? Or an engineer telling you that an idea is not going to work because Z? Or information security telling you not to ever do something because it has security implications? Being a "yes man" isn't always the right thing to do, and saying "no" to things can be an important part of some jobs.

Or is it just a whiner who won't do his job?

everything.
anything i ask them to do or ask them to ask their reports to do. there is ALWAYS a problem. always a pushback. and the undercurrent of it is that I am not doing a good job and they are explaining it to me.
However my bosses and everyone else we work with think i am doing just fine. and a lot of the pushback does not take into consideration the needs of the business.
again though, I'm ok with pushback, but pushback on EVERYTHING is exhausting and a productivity killer.

This person is not a good fit for your team - think outside the box and find a way for him to say yes to leaving your team