A Survival Guide to Managing Employees from Hell: Handling Idiots, Whiners, Slackers, and Other Workplace Demons

Chapter 29. Communication Breakdown

Sometimes you think you are communicating what you want, but an employee who thinks he or she understands really doesn’t. If that employee assures you he or she knows what to do, you may believe everything’s being handled successfully, only to find that the work is done incorrectly—or not at all. What can make this worse is when you have an employee who is working independently, such as an outside salesperson or PR person whom you can’t supervise closely. And if that employee is the type of person who likes to take the initiative—a great plus if the employee knows what he or she is doing and does it well—all is well. If they’re not, it’s a prescription for misunderstandings and conflict.

That’s what happened ...