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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Another MB here.  Is she someone who is fluent in English - so that nuance, subtlety, etc... are not a challenge?

Hopefully yes - as that will certainly help with communication.

Since you know you can come across as pretty strong (I totally get this - I'm an alpha female and have to curb myself sometimes) you know you will want to approach this gently.  I would suggest letting her know that you'd like to sit down and touch base about how she's feeling in the job, how things are going, etc... - just because it's a good thing to do periodically - not because she's "in trouble" or anything.

Think about how you want to frame the conversation.  An approach of "I'd like to talk about the things I see not getting done" versus "You are a great nanny, we are so pleased you've been with us for so long, we really value you and your skills - especially the way you've taught Jane and Joe how to be kind and polite (or whatever).   But I've also noticed that you're not doing some of the things you used to do and I am wondering why?  How are you feeling about the job?  Are you enjoying the job?  Do you feel that the workload is manageable?"  Etc... Obviously not barraging her all at once with those, but being direct and asking open-ended questions to see if you can get her to open up.)

This isn't earth-shattering advice obviously.  But it sounds from the way you frame things that you might have to really establish a calm, comfortable space to get her to talk about whether anything is going on or something has changed.  I would be as specific as possible about the tasks, and steer clear from any judgment or language about her personally.  (Which is pretty much how you've framed it here obviously)

I had to deal w/ something as a supervisor in my work setting recently and my boss advised me to start the conversation by establishing and reiterating the level of respect for the parties involved - regardless of their role.  It struck me as slightly basic advice but I took it and made a point of saying a few things I thought were obvious but apparently they weren't.  Establishing that baseline of personal and professional respect for everyone involved really unlocked the conversation.  Obviously this is a limited analogy, but I'm offering it just because sometimes it's small behaviors that are the "tells" to a deeper issue of someone not feeling valued or respected - even if that seems unimaginable.

Hopefully she'll just say "sorry I got lazy" or whatever and that will be it.  Maybe it will be no big deal and it just needs a clearing of the air to reset everything.

Good luck!  Let us know how it goes.[/quote]

+1 excellent advice (nanny here) [/quote]

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