Communication part 2

Today started as a sad day. The girlfriend of one of my new reports has passed away unexpectedly. She was in her fifties and suffered a stroke while they were driving. I called him in the afternoon and found a devasted person. What do you say, how do you communicate this 'officially' to your colleagues... I managed to find a way, but dealing with this event the coming weeks and months will be a challenge.

In parallel, a part of the new organisational structure has been announced (cfr earlier posts). As the structures above me are shifting (although the final constellation will not be clear until in a few months), and with the personnel manager moving to another job in the company shortly as well, I notice that my people are getting nervous  (and some of them are looking for other opportunities on the internal market). One guy actually will leave the company for reasons that are not immediately related to the above.

In the mean time, I feel I need to manage my team more tightly - make them document, focus on the really relevant stuff, get them to deliver quality.

The situation is:
- One report has just joined the team, needs to climb a steep learning curve, but is going through a personal tragedy (cfr above)
- One colleague is scheduled to leave my group, but is still looking for an internal job that has to fulfill a range of unrealistic criteria. Don't understand why HR does not drive this process more tightly. Need to get her deliver quality and and nourish a constructive attitude in the mean time.
- A new expert will join soon the team - he just recovered from a burn-out, but I strongly believe in his skills.
- The guy that he is meant to replace is still in the team and not being super-constructive and has a slightly arrogant attitude. Need to get him deliver and nourish a constructive attitude.
- Other colleagues that were unhappy with their (good) evaluations are instigating each other a bit. But they still do their job well... for now.
- One guy will leave the company and needs to be replaced.
- One colleague is on maternity leave till september.

Bottomline - communicate to re-enforce team cohesion in these times of uncertaintly.

Time for a beer tonight..