A Mini Case Study – Part II
Please read Part I for background information.
Shawn felt the meeting with Allie went well. Allie opened up and spoke frankly about her challenges and seemed open to assistance in correcting the situation and getting back on track. And given Allie’s tenure in the organization, and the fact that this was not a pattern of typical behavior for Allie, it made sense for them to work it out.
After this meeting, Shawn asked Allie to take a day and consider some ideas on resolving the issues, and he would do the same and they would meet the following day to discuss options and develop an action plan.
The action planning meeting
During the meeting the next day, Allie came to the meeting with ideas to move forward; as did Shawn as there were a few issues that needed his support.
Allie noted that she needed help in the following areas:
- An adjustment in her start time (she could stay later she noted, she wasn’t looking to reduce her hours) to ensure her kids get on the bus
- Training to help her get up to speed in her new areas of responsibility
- Working on the next few initiatives collaboratively with some of her co-workers who were having less difficulty in adapting
She was, however, concerned that there may be more changes coming down from leadership and she just wasn’t sure she could adapt to anything else. She disclosed that, given that her husband just took a new job that may require some travel, she was thinking she needed to find another job that had less responsibility overall and more flexibility in the schedule (she was considering part-time work.)
Shawn acknowledged he could help her in a number of her challenges including getting her training so she is comfortable with her new responsibilities and changing her work hours to come in later; but part-time was not going to be possible nor would a more flexible (work at home) type of schedule given the job requirements. However, he did know of a few opportunities in other areas of the organization where part-time work might be a possibility. He offered to make a few introductions for her and support her if she chose to move to another part of the organization or even if she chose to leave the organization for another opportunity.
In the meantime, they agreed to the following action plan:
| ITEM |
ACTION |
TIMING |
|
Need for new skills, increase knowledge to manage new responsibilities |
Training would be provided for Allie but also for the department as a whole to enable them to effectively manage in new areas of responsibility, better understand their news roles. |
Within 3 weeks |
|
Adjustment in hours of work |
Allie would start work an hour later and stay an hour longer to accommodate getting her kids off to school. (This would actually work out well as there was often a need for support after hours.) |
Immediately |
|
Partner with co-workers on upcoming initiatives |
Shawn would arrange for Allie to work on two upcoming larger, more complex, initiatives with two co-workers who had more experience than Allie. The co-workers would lead the initiatives and Allie would work as a member of the team. She would then be able to learn from them. |
Within 4 – 6 weeks (at project kick off) |
|
Apologize to co-workers |
Allie would reach out to each of her co-workers individually to apologize for her behavior and explain (as much as she wanted to share) about why she was stressed. Shawn would then reach out to the group as a whole during the upcoming department meeting to discuss upcoming training for all and also assign lead roles for upcoming initiatives. |
Within 1 week
|
|
Move to another department |
Shawn would reach out to his peers who were looking for part-time resources/where part-time might be an option and would mention the situation with Allie and introduce her if there was an interest. |
Within a month |
Shawn told Allie to check in with him within a week once she has talked with her co-workers to let him know about the conversations.
What are your thoughts on the action plan? What would you have done differently if you were Shawn?
