Leading questions
By Jim Bright | smh.com.au | 03 July
Linda from Burwood writes: "I was promoted to manager of my team 18 months ago. Since then it has been hell. People who were once my friends and colleagues in the office before
I was promoted will now not talk to me and they always complain that I give them too much to do. I used to leave at 5pm. Now, I am in the office till 7.30pm most nights and sometimes even later. Help!"
Linda's story is one that is being acted out in workplaces throughout the country. Her feelings of isolation and her perceptions of hostility from those she once counted as friends combine to create an unpleasant atmosphere.
Linda does not say whether there was any ill feeling about her elevation. Did she vault over a long-serving, or indeed more deserving, internal candidate?
One of the most common grievances I encounter in workplace conflict is the sense of blighted ambition. Imagine that in your opinion you have worked loyally and diligently for the organisation.
You have respected the traditions and the transitions as each colleague in due course gets promoted according to a long-held pattern or tradition.
You have strived to ensure that you have ticked all the boxes that everyone who went before you ticked.
And then some outsider comes in with new ideas and approaches, and the next minute they pluck and promote a colleague, who by the department's traditions can be said to be junior to you and therefore less suitable in every conceivable way.
It is not hard to see how such a scenario can leave the newly appointed manager/upstart with a team member who nurtures not a chip on their shoulder but the full San Andreas fault. Rumblings and ructions are almost guaranteed.
If that is the case, Linda needs to be understanding of her colleagues' feelings - up to a point.
Linda cannot expect this person to like her but she can reasonably expect that they continue to do their job professionally. Hence Linda should be polite, professional and focused on tasks and performance with such a colleague.
Linda does indicate that she is finding her workload burdensome. It is tempting to feel somewhat jealous of other staff who leave earlier.
However, it is worth remembering that they have not signed up to be the manager and nor are they generally as well remunerated for the role.
One trap to be especially wary of is to fail to understand the challenges and constraints that your staff work under.
Failure to do so is often seen in managers regularly demanding their staff "drop everything" or prioritise their demands over the regular work tasks.
One should never underestimate that doing this to staff can be perceived as unduly intrusive and even bullying.
Messing around with the tempo of your team's work without a clear, calm and reasonable rationale can appear to be insensitive to the team's needs at best or, at worst, a ham-fisted demonstration of power.
Neither are likely to be appreciated by the team.
Linda would also be advised to get some perspective on her own interactions with her superiors.
A beginner's mistake for new managers is to try to impress their own managers and they do this by agreeing to any demand placed upon them.
While in the short term this may make them feel very much part of the senior team, what will be the consequences in her own team?
So, in assisting Linda, my starting point would be to encourage her to step out of her own perspective and to consider how she is coming across to her team.
No matter how pressing demands and deadlines may appear from her perspective, if she is going to improve the communication with her team, the starting point is to understand and respect them and their concerns.
For more workplace advice, see mycareer.com.au/advice.
Jim Bright - Jim Bright is professor of career education and development at ACU and a partner at Bright and Associates, a career management consultancy.
First published by Smh.com.au on July 03 2010
Visit smh.com.au for the latest news updated throughout the day
