Need solid general management advice

Oct 11, 2018 7 Comments

Asking for a friend (no joke! We had drinks tonight and it was topic of conversation) WWYD if you started to have the sinking feeling someone on your team just didn’t have the experience or skill set necessary to perform at the level hired but was only 6 months into job (product manager.) Hired before you and now you manage him and several other PMs. Major obvious gaps in expertise. My take: I said to my friend that another six months to train and give feedback is a lot of investment if he has nothing to show from previous six months. Friend’s take — he is like the team didn’t have any direction or leadership before so we should try to make it work. Thoughts?

comments

Want to comment? LOG IN or SIGN UP
TOP 7 Comments
  • As a manager, if you’re going to try to get rid of someone, you want to be 100% sure you’ve done everything you can to support and help that person first. That doesn’t seem to be the case here.
    Oct 11, 2018 1
    • Semi normally agree but if you took a fairly well-defined job and were truly capable, wouldn’t you have produced one thing of value (however small) over six months? I think the fear is that this person is just completely in over their head.
      Oct 11, 2018
  • Uber
    iamblue

    Go to company page Uber

    iamblue
    Your friend is right, you need to at least try and not just get hung up on the last six months when leadership was questionable. You're a manager, this is your job. It's not a formal thing, so you can have a general idea that you won't invest longer than 6 months, but keep evaluating it. Don't give them a 6 month do-or-die project, give discrete items that can be assessed along the way. If you can't get positive signal, start the pip process when you feel comfortable that this isn't just a sinking feeling but can be backed by evidence. This isn't necessarily the fun part of management, but it's a key component - you don't always get handed a team of rockstars who are performing at peak.
    Oct 12, 2018 1
  • Amazon / Product
    Gurstfery

    Go to company page Amazon Product

    Gurstfery
    I would try coaching for six months
    Oct 11, 2018 0
  • Uber
    truckyeah

    Go to company page Uber

    truckyeah
    Been in a similar situation (I did not hire the person but he did start on my team). I tend to agree with your friend that previous six months should be discarded but at this point what he needs to do is understand, as quickly as possible, whether the employee is actually competent or not. It really doesn't take long. A two week assignment with some very clear goals and initial guidance will often show. Maybe four weeks at most. At this point if you've determined that this person is not competent you proceed with a PIP or whatever your company uses to fire people. Sucks, but it's better for everyone.
    Oct 13, 2018 0
  • Square
    Saltyyy

    Go to company page Square

    Saltyyy
    Put on a PIP?
    Oct 11, 2018 0