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SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2011
OFFICE COACH
New managers must pretend to be confident By MARIE G. MCINTYRE McClatchy-Tribune News Service
ten quite willing to share.
Q: I recently was promoted to manage a group of people who used to be my peers. Even though I was the team lead for a year, I’m finding it hard to supervise my former co-workers. As their manager, I feel that I am not being authoritative enough. How should I handle this? A: Like most new supervisors, you’re suffering from “imposter syndrome”. Although you’ve been given a management title, you’re not yet comfortable in the role, so management tasks seem unfamiliar and awkward. Supervising former peers can make this transition even more unsettling. To successfully adapt, you will initially need to engage in some on-the-job role-playing. This simply means that you must act like a manager even though you don’t quite feel like one. Fortunately, your team lead experience should have provided you with a head start. Begin by meeting with your team members to discuss their jobs and agree on expectations. Express appreciation for their contributions and encourage them to come to you with any problems they may have. Speak with confidence, even if you’re still feeling slightly shaky. You can increase your managerial effectiveness by learning to recognize how your leadership style is shaped by your natural personality. Every manager has a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses, so there are undoubtedly some behaviors that you may wish to modify. Finally, be on the lookout for helpful role models and mentors. Seasoned managers possess a wealth of practical leadership advice that they are of-
Q: For the past few weeks, one of my co-workers has been watching me closely and finding fault with my work. She keeps telling me what to do, even though she’s not my supervisor. I actually have more experience than she does. Should I tell my manager about this? I don’t want him to think I’m complaining. A: Before going to your boss, try talking directly with your intrusive colleague. Since this monitoring behavior is new, something must have triggered it, so perhaps you can find out what’s wrong. The next time she corrects you, inquire about the reason for her concern. For example: “Mary, I’ve noticed that lately you seem to be unhappy with my work. Am I doing something that bothers you?” If she says yes, try to resolve the issue. But if the answer is no, just tell her you’re glad that everything’s OK, then see if she ends her surveillance. Should the scrutiny continue, you will need to become more assertive: “Mary, you and I apparently have different ways of doing things. I’m comfortable with my own approach, and I have no reason to change.” After delivering this mild admonition, stop responding to any further criticism. If her pestering continues to be a problem, then it’s time to go to your boss. After describing the situation in a calm, businesslike manner, ask if he will remind “Mary” that you already have a supervisor. Marie G. McIntyre is a workplace coach and the author of “Secrets to Winning at Office Politics.” Send in questions and get free coaching tips at http://www.yourofficecoach.com, or follow her on Twitter officecoach
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THE TIMES LEADER
www.timesleader.com
Foreclosure activity plunges in February Nationally, foreclosure activity fell 14 percent from January and 27 percent from February 2010, according to RealtyTrac. That is LOS ANGELES — Big the largest year-over-year decline since the Irvine data firm banks put the brakes on fore- began keeping statistics in 2005. By ALEJANDRO LAZO and JIM PUZZANGHERA Los Angeles Times
closure activity last month as the American foreclosure system faced a major overhaul and homeowners challenged their lenders in court. The decline in foreclosure actions — from default notices to bank repossessions — dropped the most in states where a court order is required to take back a home. Nationally, foreclosure activity fell 14 percent from January and 27 percent from February 2010, according to RealtyTrac. That is the largest year-over-year decline since the Irvine data firm began keeping statistics in 2005. Evidence of a foreclosure slowdown comes as state attorneys general and federal regulators push the banks to revise the way they service loans, consider troubled borrowers for potential mortgage relief and conduct their foreclosure proceedings. Officials last week sent the nation’s biggest mortgage servicers a 27-page list of terms outlining these demands. “The foreclosure process is stalled, and the seemingly impending settlement is delaying foreclosures,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com. “The whole process is slowing down because of these issues.” Negotiations involve the
five largest providers of home loans. They include the arms of four national banks: Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. Also part of the talks is Ally Financial Inc., the former GMAC, which services loans through its GMAC Mortgage unit. The wrangling began last year after revelations that some of the nation’s largest financial institutions relied on “robo-signers,” people who signed key court documents used in thousands of foreclosure cases across the country without reading or understanding them. The revelations led several banks to issue foreclosure moratoriums and lawmakers to question the integrity of the entire foreclosure system. The February decline was probably related, in part, to banks resubmitting foreclosure filings that had been found to be faulty, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac senior vice president. About 70,000 foreclosure filings were resubmitted nationally last month, a number RealtyTrac did not include in its February estimates. Courts have also delivered setbacks to some of the nation’s largest lenders in recent months, ruling on behalf
of homeowners in key foreclosure cases. This increased scrutiny is probably leading banks to be more cautious with the way they conduct repossession proceedings, said Walter Hackett, an attorney who represents homeowners in California’s Inland Empire. In seeking a global settlement, government agencies have proposed penalties against banks ranging from $5 billion to $20 billion. That money would be used to fund principal write-downs, officials have said. But bank executives and Republicans this week began publicly pushing back. “We’ve got to be very careful that we don’t create an environment where we encourage people not to pay, and that’s the danger you have when you get into broad-based principal forgiveness,” Charlie Scharf, chief executive of retail financial services for JPMorgan Chase, said in a CNBC interview Wednesday. Sen. Richard Shelby, RAla., also on Wednesday blasted efforts by the state attorneys general and the Obama administration, calling them a “regulatory shakedown.” House Republicans sent Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner a letter asking
FORECLOSURE RATES Here is a list of states with the highest foreclosure rates in February. The ratio shows, for example, that one out of every 119 households in Nevada received a foreclosure notice during this period. Rate rank State Ratio of foreclosures to households in state Total properties with filings 1 Nevada 1:119 9,553 2 Arizona 1:178 15,485 3 California 1:239 56,229 4 Utah 1:273 3,488 5 Idaho 1:298 2,172 6 Georgia 1:317 12,807 7 Michigan 1:324 14,003 8 Florida 1:472 18,760 9 Colorado 1:515 4,207 10 Hawaii 1:541 953 11 Illinois 1:552 9,592 12 Wisconsin 1:578 4,478 13 Ohio 1:592 8,598 14 Washington 1:642 4,385 15 Oregon 1:676 2,427 16 Rhode Island 1:741 610 17 South Carolina 1:747 2,791 18 Arkansas 1:755 1,737 19 Delaware 1:782 507 20 Missouri 1:804 3,337 Pennsylvania’s rate was 1 in every 1,774, ranking it 37th
him to explain the government’s legal justification for trying to impose sweeping changes on the way banks process problem loans, the Associated Press reported. A total of 225,101 properties received a foreclosure filing last month, according to RealtyTrac, meaning 1 in every 577 homes was caught in some stage of the process. Big banks took back 64,643 properties, a 17 percent decline from January and an 18 percent drop from February 2010.
Work environment drives many women out of engineering By RICK BARRETT Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MILWAUKEE — Women who left engineering jobs after getting the necessary college degree were more likely to quit the field because of an uncomfortable
work environment than because of family reasons, according to a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee survey. Nearly half of the women surveyed said they left the engineering field because of nega-
tive working conditions, too much travel, lack of advancement or low salary. One in four left engineering to spend more time with their family. More than 3,700 women, with degrees from 230 uni-
versities, responded to the survey supported by a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant. About half of the respondents listed more than one reason for leaving the engineering field.