I have a person who also reports to my direct report. She has been longer than me in the company. I have multiple issues with this person:
- Often openly questions my expertise
- Sends excessively long email for the smallest things (like me conducting a survey), or things completely unrelated to her responsibility area
- Tries to push through decisions that are mine to make
Every time it happens I sit down with her and spend about talking. Most of the time we can find an "agreement" and she leaves seemingly happy. Sometimes it escalates to the point where she gets even more upset and threatens to leave the room.
At first I thought it was due to temporary anxiety because there was a restructuring recently, but now I'm pretty sure this isn't temporary.
Sometimes I'm forced to address her behavior via email that people on the mailing list can read, which I feel is damaging the team atmosphere. Same for during meetings. I have already directly addressed this issue with her but with no success.
How could I approach her in a polite and effective way to convince her of raising her issues in a more professional manner? It would be great if she could focus on her job and stop "bossing around" on matters outside her responsibilities, but I don't know how to convey this to her.