Remember when your parents had to go to a parent/teacher conference with mean Mrs. Snyder? You just knew she was going to say terrible things about you and you’d be in SO much trouble. It was worse if your parents had worked all day, were dead tired and would rather do anything than go to the school.
Jeffrey Zaslow’s Wall Street Journal article, “Acing Parent Teacher Conferences” addresses how to prepare for and approach conferences with your kid’s teachers. It made me wonder what would happen if your parents regularly met with your boss to assess how you’re doing at work. (Okay, I’m making this up and I already have a creepy feeling of dread.)
It would start with a texted memo from your boss to your folks – “Please select an hour slot on my schedule to meet with me to discuss your son’s job performance.”
Then the meeting might go like this. “Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I wanted to talk to you today because I’m concerned about Timmy’s work lately. He seems to be slacking off a bit – a lot of Internet shopping, talking too much to colleagues, etc.” Of course at this point your mother would jump in with, “Doesn’t that just drive you nuts? That boy can get distracted by a car going by!” But, hopefully, your dad would interject, “Well, but he’s always been a good little worker, Mr. Jones. What’s your plan to help get him back on track?”(Yay, Dad!)
Then your boss would share the bullet-pointed outline he’s created to work with Timmy:
* Weekly 1-1 supervisory meetings
* Peer-to-peer mentoring
* Assign Timmy to be lead on a new project
* Enroll Timmy in an “Improve Your Organizational Skills” class
Is it just me or do you hear your mom saying, “Yeah good luck getting him to finish his homework!”
This is a post by Nancy LaFever. You can read more from her at the Centre for Emotional Wellbeing blog.
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