Dear All,

I would appreciate advice on the following.

I am a manager responsible for 7 staff.

Last week I spoke with one of the team (who has aspirations for promotion) and explained that I wanted them to be more proactive and ensure that all tasks are completed, and if they did not know how to complete a task they should ask for help and not just leave the work half done.

The next day the employee came into work and it was obvious that they were very upset (looked as though they had been crying all night) and then broke down in the office to the extent that they asked (and were given permission) to leave work.

Upon their return, they seemed to blame me for them beinng upset. There was an informal “investigation” where our director found that I had said or done nothing wrong.

Despite this I now feel that I am the one in the vulnerable position and am almost walking on eggshells as I do not want to be accused of any kind of bullying.

I have never been in this kind of situation before.

Could anybody offer any advice as to how I am best to proceed (eg. should I be keeping a diary etc.).

AB