So i have one for you. About 1 year ago i was promoted to a lead whithn the company i work for. I'm trying to learn to be better in my role at the company. So i would like everyones opionion on how you would handle certain situations so that i may compare and learn for the future.
Being that the lead (one step below a supervisor) job is new to the company and no formal training was given to any of the former or current leads we are figuring out alot as we go.
One day I walk out to an area that we are suppossed to go to at least once a day to make sure that this product that we use is pumping into silo and the place has over several weeks gotten progressively messier. I try my best to clean everytime i go out to this area but we only have so much time in which to prefom our checks or switch out the material thats being pumped. Needless to say I had become agitated with the state of the area so I wrote an e-mail stating that we all should do our part to keep the area in working order and tidy at the very least. Which no one responded to but over the weeks got much cleaner.
Shortly after that 1 coworker became slightly hostile with me to the point where even saying good morning was meet with cold stares and snapish remarks. I did not put the to things together. But after a good month of this, a bad night at work, and another e-mail about a mess that I actually cleaned up but wanted this person to be aware of. They snapped at me and I had had enough so I snapped back asking what there problem with me was. I told them as far as i knew I had never knowingly done a single thing to them to make them this agitated with me.
They then proceed to tell me that I had blasted them in an e-mail about them not keeping the first area I mentioned clean. At which point I was confused because remembering that e-mail I knew that I had mentioned no names and asked that all leads in the department take part in cleaning.
They wouldn't listin to reason even after I had shown them the e-mail. They kept insisting that I had intentionally sent that e-mail to make them look bad.
I had finnally had enough and had said that in that case they should just do there job and I would do mine. But if anything happens in the future I would leave them out any of the e-mails I send to keep the peace.
But in doing so I feel that there is no way to be a team at that point all other shifts communicate to a point but that one is usually quiet
My question to you is how could I have handled this better, and how can I get a team presence into the place without seeming like im butting in.
Any and all suggestions welcome.