my employee is bad at his job but keeps saying he’s doing great

A reader writes:

I recently hired a new administrative employee. His job is to answer phones, greet guests, and complete various tasks I assign to him. His customer service skills are strong, but his attention to detail is very weak. I have given a lot of feedback and training, but he continues to make basic mistakes and misses almost every deadline I give him.

But he is constantly telling me how great of a job he’s doing. He routinely tells me things like, “You are going to be so happy when I show you what I’ve done for you!” or “You are going to love me, I am making your life so much easier!” and then hands me a report that I have to spend a half hour correcting. Yesterday I told him I need him to follow up with me when he completes tasks because I would rather he proactively inform me than wait for me to ask. His response: “As you know, I always complete tasks immediately (this is untrue) but I didn’t know you needed me to remind you of that. No problem at all!”

This behavior is really grating on me. His work product hasn’t improved and I’m starting to feel like he’s trying to manipulate me into not giving him corrections. I’m starting to struggle giving him feedback because I feel like he ignores me and I’m letting that affect my interactions with him.

Have I already arrived at the “this needs to improve or else” conversation? He just started two months ago. I want to give him time to learn and grow, but my patience is zapped.

I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

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