SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/575944
FIELD SCIENCE 22 SportsTurf | October 2015 www.sportsturfonline.com C ongratulations! Your extensive training and knowledge in turf maintenance has paid off and you have been hired as the new supervisor at your facil- ity. Let's take a moment to get to know your staff: One employee, the one looking at you with open hostility, will be your assistant; despite the fact that he has worked here for the past 17 years, he was once again passed over for the position as the "head guy" because of his nega- tive attitude and his rather volatile personality. He has a few write-ups in his folder already, but is in a protected age group so HR/management has been a bit afraid of taking any "dras- tic" final steps with him. Another employee is your "go to" for all landscaping needs. She is a hard worker, has a very specific way she likes things done, and is not much on hearing new ideas or open to change. And why should she? She's managed this area just fine without help for the past few years; she didn't have much need for input from your predecessor and she certainly is not looking for your ideas either. You have three part-timers; each has potential but all struggle a bit with "illnesses" the day after a happy hour outing and intermittently throughout hunting and softball season. They also can be a bit hard to find throughout the facility during the workday. They seem very loyal to your assistant manager, and as he's told them many times, "I am the only one who really knows what's going on around this place and everything would be a lot better if I would just be in charge." In their eyes you took the job right out from under him. So that's your staff, and your ability to be successful in this position is contingent on your ability to effectively manage and lead these people, and for them to help assist in completing the long list of tasks for which your depart- ment is responsible. Yikes! Scenarios like this can be enough to make you want to just wipe out the entire staff and start over brand new. After all, you weren't the one who made this mess; that guy is probably on the 9th hole somewhere now. But the reality is, these are the people you have and the truest testament to your leadership skills is to take on this challenge and make it into a workable situation. It is stress- ful but not impossible. As you start this venture, here are a few things to keep in mind: the challenges in this department didn't appear over- night, so they won't disappear overnight either; transitioning, building a cohesive workforce, and dealing with problematic HOW TO HANDLE INHERITED PROBLEM EMPLOYEES ■ BY CAROLE DAILY Your goal is to have each employee become a positive, productive employee that helps your depart- ment not only meet organizational expectations, but to exceed them.