General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Just ripped a co-worker. Now I feel terrible. [View all]lapislzi
(5,762 posts)You're right. I don't particularly like this woman. I don't know why she chose me as a mentor, but as a professional, I did my best to assist her in her efforts--whatever they were, leaving my personal feelings aside. She is a competent professional and does good work, despite an attitude that does not always fit in with our company ethos. We have some shared history as domestic violence survivors, and that may be the reason she trusts me.
I have always praised her efforts and encouraged her in the directions that I thought would be to her benefit. She has an excellent work ethic and as a worker is an asset to the organization. She's overcome a lot in life, and I give her credit for it.
I also try to look at the big picture of our company and how she fits in it. I don't have to like her sanctimony in order to help her professionally. It doesn't work for me, and it really doesn't work in our workplace. If she chooses to stay, that's up to her, and I will continue to give her the best advice I can to help her cope in an atmosphere that she admittedly does not like. Despite what I might think personally, I've never said, "you know, you might be happier at Citibank across the street." I've tried to offer work-arounds that will assist her in coping with her particular discomforts with our workplace environment. (For example: if she doesn't like gossip, she should really avoid the coffee area first thing in the morning. Since conversation and ambient noise is a problem for her, I bought her headphones. I don't know how you could interpret that as anything but supportive. I'm not going to go to 30 people, most of whom are not my direct reports and tell them not to have conversations during the day because noise bothers M. I have spoken to my direct reports about this and they respect it.)