Q. I try to be approachable with my small staff team and have an open door policy. They have my mobile number, which has never been a problem until recently. One staff member has taken to phoning me out of hours to discuss issues that are not emergencies. How do I address this without stopping the open communication?
Elizabeth Trantham, director, Bright Start Early Years, Chivenor
‘The goal with managing your team is to empower your staff and enable them to problem solve and make decisions on their own. Obviously, managing that does mean they feel comfortable to come to you with questions. But you need to set boundaries and be clear there are set times and hours you are available.
‘Clarify with your staff what an open door policy actually is. We operate an open door policy at our setting, which means that if a staff member has any concerns, they can speak freely and openly. It does not mean managers are available 24/7. That is an inefficient way of working.
‘It's important to understand why this staff member has started behaving like this. Are they feeling insecure in their work? Are they lonely? If you are not their direct line manager, why are they not going to them? Approach the situation kindly by asking: what have I done or not done as a manager to allow this to happen?
‘Suggest to the member of staff that if a matter is non-urgent, they should drop you an email. That way you can decide if you want to answer. I would also suggest having two mobile phones – a work number and a personal number. Only have the work phone on during work hours. You can give them your personal number too, but then it is clear the personal number is only for real emergencies.
‘The situation might have arisen because this particular member of staff is from a younger generation, who has grown up with social media and mobile phones. They may not realise this behaviour is inappropriate. Reassure them that you do want to help, but be clear about what is and is not a priority.’
Sian Scammell, manager, White House Nursery, Brighton
‘This question makes me wonder if the manager is giving their staff enough time during the day to speak to them? A lot of nursery managers tend to spend much of the day in their office. I make sure, and I would recommend, that managers spend as much time as possible in the nursery rooms and check in with staff regularly. This gives staff plenty of opportunities to come and talk to you during the day. That way, there's no need for them to come to you with non-urgent queries outside of work hours.
‘When we have new starters joining us, I explain my role to them: it's a professional relationship, that I’m a role model for them, and that they can come and talk to me at any time in the day about anything. I never make them feel like they can't talk to me. Therefore, they don't feel the need to talk to me outside of work hours.
‘We have a WhatsApp group for staff, but it has clear rules. One is that no one should communicate on it before or after working hours. I also recommend that staff put the group on silent over the weekend. Everyone respects these rules, so it works well. If a member of staff were to text me outside of working hours, I just wouldn't reply, unless it was a real emergency.’
Dionne Jardine, founder, Nido Montessori, Shoreham-by-Sea
‘I think it is not necessarily a bad thing this manager has a team member who cares so much about her job that she's contacting them out of hours. But I can see why it can be a problem. I would suggest that when she calls, you should not answer it. Text them back with something like, “Oh, I’m sorry, I missed your call…Is it an emergency? If so, I’ll give you a call back. If not, can we leave it till tomorrow?” If this happens a couple of times, the member of staff might begin to think you have a life outside of work.
‘At our setting we have a team WhatsApp group. If this manager doesn't have one already, I suggest she sets it up. On our group, after work occasionally someone might flag an observation about a child, for example. Sometimes in the moment you don't have time to have a chat about something you’ve seen, so you may want to discuss it later. On the group, this gives everyone the chance to respond, and often a question can be resolved more quickly with more people involved, rather than the person calling to speak to you directly. This way you can also choose when you want to reply.
‘The group isn't always about work – we share more personal updates too. If I want to switch off, I’ll mute the group so I don't get updates all the time.’
