Is Your Boss Too Busy to Meet with You?

In this episode of My Crazy Office, Kathi and Katherine discuss a common problem that many people grapple with at work: Is your boss too busy to meet with you? They start with a question from someone who’s recently started an exciting new position at a growing company but can’t get the boss to meet and lay out the expectations of the job. Kathi and Katherine discuss how to tackle this frustrating situation before it causes you too much distress.

Does Your Employee Think They Know Better Than You?

In this episode of My Crazy Office, Kathi and Katherine discuss a frustrating situation for any manager – what do you do when you have an employee who always thinks they know better than you? They start with a question from someone whose direct report constantly tells her what he would do if he were in her position. Kathi and Katherine examine how to manage a know-it-all employee and still get the best out of them.

Are You Protecting the Wrong People at Work?

In this My Crazy Office episode, Kathi and Katherine pose a question: Are you protecting the wrong person at work? They start with a question from a manager who’s been protecting a skilled-but-difficult employee. This person’s behavior offends other employees so much that HR recently intervened, insisting the manager confront the employee. Kathi and Katherine discuss why it can be tempting to protect certain people at work and how to resist doing it. When is being protective helpful to an employee and when is just enabling poor behavior? Listen here.

Want To Get Promoted? Get Better at Managing Up & Managing Down

In this My Crazy Office podcast, Kathi and Katherine discuss how to get promoted by being better at managing up and managing down.They start with a question from someone who wants to move to a higher-level position but has been told that they need to be less enabling of staff and more visible to upper management. In other words, this person’s promotion is tied to more managing up and less micro-managing down.

Do You Have To Fire a Friend?

In this episode of My Crazy Office, Kathi and Katherine explore a sensitive topic: How do you fire someone who is a friend? They start with a question from someone who finds themselves in the awkward position of having to fire a good friend due to that person’s poor performance. Kathi and Katherine discuss the challenges of this kind of situation and how to prepare for the fallout.

Are Your Afraid To Fire a Popular Employee?

On this episode of My Crazy Office, Kathi and Katherine discuss the challenge of firing an employee who seems to be popular with the staff. They start with a question from someone who has discovered that a popular employee has been cheating on time sheets and disseminating confidential information to unauthorized people. Kathi and Katherine discuss how to manage these unruly employees despite your fears about letting them go.

How to Handle Conflict Between Employees

In this episode of My Crazy Office, Kathi and Katherine discuss a tough topic for many managers: How to handle conflict between employees at work. They start with a question from a manager who has two very valuable employees who are constantly arguing with each other. Kathi and Katherine explore how to manage your staff when they can not get along.

Don’t Like Your New Boss?

In this episode of My Crazy Office, Kathi and Katherine discuss a common workplace dilemma: What happens if you don’t like your new boss? They start with a question from someone whose former boss retired, and the new boss is a completely different kind of manager. We’ll consider what you can do when management changes in a way that you don’t like.