COMPETENCY

(?) Why does my boss always yell at & criticize me in front of other colleges?

I feel ashamed & self-destructive as the frequency & degree is more and better. I want to quit

(A) Maybe he wants you to quit.. What he is doing as you describe can be called bullying behaviours.

They only work when the victim give the bully the obvious opportunity and recognition that you are much weaker & smaller.

Don't give him the chance. Be strong and be clear with them about who you are with regard to bullying at work.

You are also in a employment relationship that is governed by workplace rules.

Study the rules & talk to the persons-in-charge that you trust. If the rules are not against bullying, you can talk to leaders directly about the situation, a solution and costs & benefits of the solution so the leaders can make the decision quickly

(Nguyen Thanh Mai, HCMC)

OPPORTUNITIES

(?) I am a recognised manger that is awarded "Best Manager of the Year" 3 times. I am now replaced by our VP's cousin who has no expertise & bad teamwork reputation. What should I do?

(A) You can work on your company's corporate governance rules & practices to study whether your replacement is legitimate or not.

This means it has to follow Labor Law about replacement & Internal Workplace Rules about replacement criteria.

If your company doesn't have any or the rules are not respected, you can work on your bargaining options to negotiate for your rights & positions. Remember that while bargaining you need to know what you want the most.

If it is truly a bad workplace political issue, you can either (i) challenge the replacement everyday for your leaders to verify his/her capacity, or (ii) leave with your heads held high if you have alternatives. There are many better workplaces out there

(Van Hien, Da Nang)

COMPENSATION

(?) Why does my HR Manager bonus herself 5-month pay when she didn't evaluate our performances timely that make all 10 senior leaders unable to get year-end bonuses?

(A) You should work on the rootcause of the problem here. What is going wrong? The HR Manager (she manipulated the HR principles) or the HR procedures (no or weak systems that one can manipulate)

Then you make the decisions (better with our senior leader colleagues) to appeal the case to higher leadership. Strong evidence always put weight on your grievance (no communication in place or no performance review results shared or added to your pay check/pay roll this year etc.)

A workplace with good corporate governance will take this seriously. Wish you luck

(Jenice Nguyen, Vung Tau)

RELATIONSHIP

(?) My team members have been working like zombies in the past 3 months when the project comes to an end. I try to talk to them but they say they can't handle the overbearing workloads anymore. How can I help them revitalize?

(A) The key to this at this moment is your ability to make them tell you the nuts and bolts of why they can't bear the work. Is it too much work, or poor incentives, or poor organisation, or lack of teamwork among them?

Understanding the problems of the team and each individual will help you see the below of the iceberg. Making good questions with sincere & care will make them trust you. It will be even much better if they can tell you directly about the root cause that comes from you.

When you have the real rootcauses, i'm sure you will know what you need to do

(Everyn Foster, Hanoi)