it’s five answers to five questions. here we go…

1. my staff is unfocused and unmotivated — what can i do?

i’m a project manager for a team of engineers that builds websites, and i’m struggling with motivating my people. i consider myself a soft-skills and people-minded manager who is very aware of the common traps that “management” has often fallen into; micromanagement, constant status checks, false deadlines, abused authority, throwing people under the bus… etc. i strive never to do those things. i encourage my team to communicate, i ask them for favors when i need something done, i get constant feedback, etc.

however, my team often struggles with a lack of motivation and focus. the company’s deadlines and goals just don’t seem to resonate with them. they get distracted by other, less important tasks, and then i have to bear the brunt of the frustration from the rest of the company when engineering becomes the bottleneck. i am very clear when i communicate with them, but once i step away (which i feel strongly i *should* do), things just start slipping through the cracks.

how do i maintain these ideals of leadership and management that i firmly believe are worthwhile, while motivating my people and getting results?

these don’t sound like motivation problems; they sound like performance problems. you need to give feedback about what needs to change, and then hold people accountable to performing at the level you need.

it’s great that you want to be a kind, supportive manager, but a key part of your job is setting expectations and holding people accountable to them, and that sounds like the piece that might be missing here.

2. how can i get out of periodic office lunches for birthdays, etc.?

i’m in a bizarre office. my boss is incredibly micromanaging and goes so far as to follow us to the restroom (fortunately not inside for us ladies; the only other male in the office isn’t that lucky) and there’s an office tradition that we have to go out to lunch for administrative professionals’ day and birthdays, about 4-5 times a year. i have problems eating with strangers that predate this job, and the tension doesn’t help.

i’ve read “how can i get out of having lunch with coworkers?” but feel that just sucking it up since it’s not frequent doesn’t apply here, and there’s little in the way of professional development in these interactions. in addition, my coworkers have to pay for their lunches and i personally know that when it’s their birthdays, i sometimes don’t have the price of a restaurant lunch in my budget. i’d love a way out of this (until i find another job-actively looking).

well, 4-5 times a year is infrequent enough that you should probably suck it up and go most of the time. that said, you could feel out your coworkers to see if there’s support for changing this tradition to something else; it’s possible that you’re not the only one who doesn’t look forward to these lunches, and if you find that’s the case, you could propose skipping it at least for the birthdays. (maybe suggest having cake in the office instead — that’s less disruptive to people’s days and doesn’t take the same time or financial commitment.)

3. can i ask to shadow people to learn more about their jobs?

i’m 24 and don’t have much clue of where i want my career to go. i recently got a new job in insurance, but i’m not enjoying it much and don’t feel like this is the career for me.

im going to start job hunting and researching other careers and thought as part of that i could approach companies and ask if i could go in for a chat about the work they do, sort of an informal interview, and maybe even ask if i could shadow for an hour or two. how likely do you think this will approved by workplaces, especially the shadowing? i’d quite like to get involved in schools or hospitals, and i would completely understand if they weren’t willing to have me around or for security reasons for example, but do you think is something most workplaces would be happy to provide?

you can absolutely reach out to people for informational interviews (just make sure that you do them right — read this and also #3 here), but shadowing is iffier. i’d wait until you’ve already formed a rapport with someone who seems helpful, and then ask … and only when you really think it’s going to be useful to you, because it’s a much bigger request and much bigger commitment from the other person. (also, in many jobs, shadowing won’t tell you much. for lots of jobs, you’d just watch people sit at a computer all day.)

4. is it pushy to ask when a company will post internship information?

a brand new company website is being organized, and under the internships tab it says, “internship information will be posted soon.” although it has been like that for a few weeks, would it be too pushy to send an email asking when the information will be posted?

no, that’s fine to do. but since what you really want to know is presumably whether they’re hiring for internships and details on what those internships will look like, i’d include that in your question. for instance: “i’d love to learn more about interning with your company. i noticed that your website says that intern info will be posted soon, but meanwhile, if you’re able to tell me anything about whether and when you’re hiring interns, and for what sort of roles, i’d be grateful.”

5. formatting the date on my resume for a job that last a few months and then started up again

how would you recommend formatting the date for a temporary contract position at a company that lasted 6 months, and then started up again 3 months later? i am a recent grad, so this is the only work experience i have since graduating.

like this:

teapot maker, teapot emporium
may – oct. 2013 and jan. 2014 – present