Cursive writing in the workplace

[prmommy]

So I manage a very young millennial (22) and she has about every stereotypical millennial quality I can name but I don't mean that in a bad way she appears to care about her work and I think she wants to do well.  She just doesn't take constructive criticism well ( always blames others etc.. when things are done wrong nothing is ever her doing)  I have coached her on this because she is a writer and there will never be a time when her work is not edited part of the job. She has gotten better with having her work edited but lately I have seen her attention to detail go out the door.  I have walked her through edits four times for the same newsletter and every time I review again 50 percent of the edits are not made.  She does not take notes when we meet but she takes my hand written notes and I keep copies.  It occurred to me today that maybe she can't read cursive. I noticed that the edits that went unmade were hand written by me.  I am talking rewritten sentences.  I have said to her on occasion that if my handwriting is hard to read just ask and she never does.  I really can't beat around the bush on this as most of the edits she will receive from others in our company will be hand written. A lot of what we have reviewed is in PDF form and not word plus high-level managers often don't have time to edit from their computer and would rather read and write on paper.  I want to ask her if she can read cursive but I don't want to offend her, but on the other hand if she can't I need to know and she needs to be able to come to me and have me read anything that is sent to her that she can't read.  Any advice on how to approach this?  I thought about asking in conversation if she learned it in school since bringing it back into the schools has been in the news lately. Talking about school is not uncommon where I work. Sorry this is long TIA. 

[frozenpeas]

I think the real issue is that she is not completing the edits you lay out for her. That's what I would address with her--I'm giving you these edits & you aren't completing them; I need to help you figure out why. Can you not read my writing when it is in cursive (and furthermore, if you can't read my writing but can see I wrote *something*, I would expect you to let me know)?

It will help her in the long run if she understands your expectations, and you're only doing her a favor by helping her identify what others may take for granted that she already knows. And good for you for thinking of that possibility--I don't think it would have ever occurred to me.

[prmommy]

Feb 21, 2017 20:58:03 GMT -5 frozenpeas said:

I think the real issue is that she is not completing the edits you lay out for her. That's what I would address with her--I'm giving you these edits & you aren't completing them; I need to help you figure out why. Can you not read my writing when it is in cursive (and furthermore, if you can't read my writing but can see I wrote *something*, I would expect you to let me know)?

It will help her in the long run if she understands your expectations, and you're only doing her a favor by helping her identify what others may take for granted that she already knows. And good for you for thinking of that possibility--I don't think it would have ever occurred to me.

thanks great advice.  I only thought of it after reading a news article on bringing it back into schools and others were commenting about having never learned it in school. 

[brachysira]

Yes, I agree. I taught a class that focused on students improving their writing although it was a science class. Sometimes I would send comments in Word. It's possible a student of this age has never had to read any handwriting since first grade, perhaps. Also, when I would print comments, students would complain they were hard to read sometimes. I would do as suggested above and not make it about cursive, but just about what the problem is and if she's having trouble reading the comments you write.

[prmommy]

Feb 21, 2017 23:42:13 GMT -5 brachysira said:

Yes, I agree. I taught a class that focused on students improving their writing although it was a science class. Sometimes I would send comments in Word. It's possible a student of this age has never had to read any handwriting since first grade, perhaps. Also, when I would print comments, students would complain they were hard to read sometimes. I would do as suggested above and not make it about cursive, but just about what the problem is and if she's having trouble reading the comments you write.

Thanks.  I am going to talk with her this morning. 

[twinmomma]

Feb 21, 2017 20:58:03 GMT -5 frozenpeas said:

I think the real issue is that she is not completing the edits you lay out for her. That's what I would address with her--I'm giving you these edits & you aren't completing them; I need to help you figure out why. 

I'd say THIS is definitely the issue. To me, not completing edits that are made is unacceptable and shows me she lacks attention to detail and pride in her work. I would be speaking with her about her inability to complete her job, regardless of the why. I would never accept something like "I couldn't read your writing" as an excuse for why someone just didn't do half their job. There are ways to problem solve and get around that and I'd expect a professional in the workplace to figure that out, not just ignore edits and hope no one notices. Maybe I'm being crotchety, but it almost sounds like you're kind of giving her a pass on not doing the work because she might not be able to read cursive, and I think that just perpetuates a lot of those negative millennial stereotypes. 

[akafred]

God I hate having to go to my boss to ask about their handwriting. My previous boss was a millennial who should have been a doctor (for the record he DEFINITELY knew cursive). And perhaps because he was millennial (or perhaps just because he was an inexperienced douchebag in general), he felt the need to micromanage things and always insert his opinions, so I was constantly having to go to him and ask what this word or that word was. It's annoying and to some degree humiliating (is there a word that means "slightly humiliating"? Lol). But, you know, I am a grown up and did it, because if he took the time to write it out, he wanted it in there.

So, yeah, this needs to be addressed from the observational side. "I noticed that several of my edits don't make it into your work. What is going on with that?" Then after she speaks, state your expectation that the edits be made, so if she has trouble reading them to come to you and ask. Or problem solve other ways to solve the problem (you print or make your edits in Word, etc).

[Widget123]

FWIW I am leaning toward it not being related to your handwriting. Some of the millennials who work for me have problems making corrections to their work and we type everything. It could just be not paying as close attention to making the corrections as necessary or distractions because she is too busy listening to music or something else. And I am a millennial, barely, so I get it, but my attention to detail is much greater.

[saraml13]

Feb 21, 2017 20:58:03 GMT -5 frozenpeas said:

I think the real issue is that she is not completing the edits you lay out for her. That's what I would address with her--I'm giving you these edits & you aren't completing them; I need to help you figure out why. Can you not read my writing when it is in cursive (and furthermore, if you can't read my writing but can see I wrote *something*, I would expect you to let me know)?

It will help her in the long run if she understands your expectations, and you're only doing her a favor by helping her identify what others may take for granted that she already knows. And good for you for thinking of that possibility--I don't think it would have ever occurred to me.

I totally agree on addressing the issue of the edits not being made, regardless of cause.

As a side note, you can actually do document markups in PDF.   I used to be all about the paper edits, but now find doing the markups in Adobe so much easier because I don't need to worry about scanning or copying pages for my records, or misplacing a page with edits.  I get that you might not be able to convert management over to pdf edits if that's not their mindset, but just throwing it out there for you in case you want to give it a try.

[2chatter]

I'm amazed at paper edits! I had someone ask me if they could print and fax me a word doc a few months ago and my answer was "no". We use track changes and comments - it's annoying that ppt doesn't have the same facility.

We used to score writers on edit execution - it was motivating for those who cared about that. Take total number of proposed edits and total number executed and that number is scary for someone without attention to detail. Even doing that a few times "you only executed 62 percent of my edits"'or "you missed 36 percent of the edits" may help depending on her personality.

[billybumbler]

I agree with PPs, just wanted to add that I had a boss that told me to always take notes when talking to a boss or someone commenting or editing your work. I think you should tell her to take her own notes on top of handing her your edits.

[leap08]

I agree that the issue has to do with making the edits and that is what you should address. If she is going to be a professional writer, she needs to be able to accept feedback and act on it. She also needs to be able to defend her writing if she disagrees with an edit. I am a technical writer/editor and sometimes the edits I receive are truly terrible writing. But I have no problem editing an edit and explaining why.

I also would try to move away from paper entirely.

[xctsclrx]

I echo what other have said. The main issue is that she is not completing the edits. Use that to side into the handwriting thing.

This is also a good time to maybe mentor her a bit about what makes a good employee standout. Taking her own notes when her work is being critiqued is a good way to show that you are engaged and willing to learn. Make sure to always take notes during a meeting or at least have the ability too. (bring paper and pen)

I will say that I am 27 and I can read cursive. Not sure when they took cursive out of the school system. You still need to to sign your name and stuff like that so she should still be able to piece it together I would think.

[somebabiesmom]

How'd the chat go, prmommy?