[–] MinorLeakage ago
In my personal opinion, you should basically tell him exactly what you posted here. You like his work, you like him personally, and he's a great employee. However, when at work, he needs to remember you are his boss, not his friend. Part of that needs to come from you. If he thinks you WANT him offering his 2-cents on every single decision, he may have no idea it's frustrating you. You have to set the limits, and make him aware of them. It's likely he has no interest in pissing you off or stepping on your toes.
I think 99.9% of the time, reasonable people can just speak honestly to each other. And if it turns out he isn't reasonable, it's better to find out now, and not drag it out.
[–] Righttobeoffended ago
Well listen to what he has to say, evaluate it on its on merit and if hes just trying to be argumentive for no good reason you can either use the carrot or the stick method.
[–] Spaceballs-1 ago
"Do it the way that I ask because at the end of the day, I'm the one responsible not only for the job but for your pay check. I'm paying you to get things done, not to argue. "
[–] Le_Squish 1 point -1 points 0 points (+0|-1) ago
Instead of being irritated by the disobedience try actually listening to what he's saying and truthfully acknowledge your own shortcomings and consider the validity of his suggestions.
Too many bosses get stuck in the rut of needing to be perfectly obeyed. Being the boss does not mean you know best. A subordinate that will tell you the truth is more valuable than one that will blindly obey you.
The results will always speak for themselves. Let him show you if his way is better. Get over the butthurt of being challenged and actually listen to him. It will you a good leader.
[–] Banned4Truth [S] ago
I agree 100% But didn't I say I already let him have his way? There's other factors you're not considering. Personality, time constraints, experience, among others. It's not just about wanting to feel "obeyed". I assure you, obeyed is the wrong word to describe it. It's about doing a job seamlessly that matters. It took 5.5 hours yesterday for 2.5 cables competed. Too much talking. I have to invoice the customer, not him. I understand what you're saying but I can have a plan in my head and then get bombarded with all his ideas. Should I just make him in charge?
If the problem is him talking too much at inappropriate times then make time.
There are many times when your plans experience don't mean shit and can often times cause a leader to become bias and closed minded.
Other people have ideas and plans and because we have aptitudes it can be better to delegate.
You might not be a good as you think you are but if you learn to give a listen, you can be as good as he thinks you can be. Even if you don't agree on the fix, you might find agreement on the problem or inefficiencies being identified.
[–] [deleted] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
[–] Banned4Truth [S] ago
I know. Good point. That's why it's tricky to assess these complex scenarios.
[–] sakuramboo 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
How often is his way a better way?
[–] Banned4Truth [S] ago
There's always two ways to skin a cat so his way isn't necessarily any better than mine. You wouldn't actually know unless you did it both ways to compare. Know what I mean?
[–] sakuramboo ago
Sounds like this guy doesn't understand the roles of employer and employee. You had already made it clear that your way is what you are paying him to follow.
Unless he is a manager type and would work better if he ran the job and had people work under him, which could also be the case.
I take it he works great alone?
[–] cyclops1771 ago
I'll play it from his POV.
We can do it like X. I did it before and it worked. You say, do it Y. I say, yeah, but X works. Just fucking do Y, don't question my authority! Fuck you, what's wrong with X? I don't care, let's just do Y!
All I can add is that I get better results from my employees when I explain what we are doing AND WHY before we start. The WHY is important, so they understand what you are doing, how you think, and can ask questions THEN, not when on the job site.
So, that previsou conversation goes like this:
Hey, tomorrow we are doing thisjob. We are going to run this like Y, because reasons. Oh, I always do X on these jobs for myreasons, would that work? Hmmm, let me think. Yeah, that might work, but I prefer Y, because thisotherreason. You cool with that? Oh, yeah, I can see that.
Now, when you get onsite, you don't have to argue X or Y. Granted, running cable, you are going to find shit you didn't see on your site survey and have to go on the fly, but at least you have a way to communicate now.