Cultivating confidence

By code-R | Thursday, 01 Nov 2018

cpjobs.com has partnered with code-R to bring you examples of challenges faced at work and practical advice to empower yourself and others.

Miserable Manager: I’m at my wits’ end. I have a distinguished record leading successful initiatives at my new companies. I have always been able to turn around the problems I inherited from my predecessors, restructuring workflows to get the most out of my new teams and develop my own projects.

A few months ago, I was hired to reorient a department whose former head had left due to disagreements with senior management. At first, my new team seemed great. They are qualified for their roles. Each is competent, and knowledgeable about their own work. And it appears they had a successful working relationship with my predecessor, despite the company leadership’s disagreements with his direction.

With such a capable team and pressure to deliver results quickly, I wasted little time in streamlining the department’s operations and workflows. However, despite my improvements, I met with increasing resistance by the staff. Two team leaders already resigned, and I have overheard other staff comparing me to their last boss. Why are they against me?

code-R: It strikes me that your letter is overflowing with the one letter effective leaders try to avoid. And this is after you’ve already had months to settle into your new role and integrate yourself into your team. Should I be expecting write-ins from them about a manager who makes them miserable? Sorry to be blunt, but reality can bite. Don’t let yourself become its chew toy.

You committed a cardinal sin of leadership - disregarding the buy-in of your team. It seems you did not consult them before making sweeping changes, or bothered to take the time to find out their feelings on the transition and show respect to their current and future priorities.

You may have previously been successful in your career, but don’t let past successes lull you into losing sustained awareness of your actions and their effects on the team whose careers you now have influence and leverage over as their new boss. Also be careful not to mindlessly accept everything your new bosses tell you at face value and neglect the responsibilities you have to protect and advocate for your team.

Leadership transitions open paths to change, but don’t rush to uproot the entire ecosystem. Sustainable change takes time and patience, so be realistic and humble in your ambitions. If something works, don’t shoot yourself in the foot by overhauling it unnecessarily. And don’t make changes just for the sake of making changes - it’s ok to adapt your plans to retain and take into account existing ideas.

Be mindful as well that every decision you make serves all affected, not just your goals. Ultimately you need the support of your team to be a successful leader. By coming in too strong and making big changes too fast, you put your new team on the defensive to preserve the legacy of their preferred leader (psst - it currently isn’t you). Sadly, your rash lack of awareness has done you no favours.

The bottom line is you need to establish your credibility, which is rooted in trust. For your new team to trust you, they need to know that you don’t intend to just willfully destroy their hard work under your predecessor. They need to see that you respect them and are willing to listen to, understand and support their needs.

Think beyond your first year, not just the first months. As your new team trusts you more, you will have more genuine support for your initiatives. Just stay mindful that in serving yourself, you do not neglect to serve your own team.

code-R

An independent non-profit project created to support the self-actualisation of those in their 20s and 30s, and even beyond.

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