Part of managing employees means listening to the challenges employees face as they do their jobs. When those challenges get laid at your feet due to an employee’s need to vent or worse, to vent with more emphasis on venting than solution, you’ve got drama. Their drama. And it can wear you out.
I love what one manager did. She put a glass jar on her desk and told her employees it was a Drama Jar. It had coins in it suggesting deposits be made when drama was brought to her office. Periodically, her white board announces a goal of a “No Drama” day.
Did this eliminate drama? No, of course not. What it did do was help put what is part and parcel of managing employees in a gently humorous light for the manager. Better yet, it brought employees’ attention to what they bring into her office. Some even changed their way of communicating, and yes, reduced the drama!
U.S. Library of Congress ISSN 2164-7240
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