Establishing Yourself with a Hostile Team
10 February 2009
Read by 2505 persons
The first week: Listen to everyone
In the early days of your assignment, you must schedule a meeting with each of your colleagues to get to know them better.
* What do they do?
* How do they work?
* What are their aspirations?
During these one-on-one meetings, start by reassuring your interlocutors: you are not arriving as a conqueror, armed with ready-made methods. Such behavior would only worsen the situation. It would also be risky to break certain collective rituals (except in cases of obvious abuse). The Friday lunch together (even if it goes on a bit)? The (sometimes noisy) chats by the coffee machine? Think twice before banning them...
These individual meetings also give you the opportunity to gather useful information to adapt your management style and to calm the rebellious tendencies of some strong personalities. A colleague taken aside often tempers their aggressiveness, since they are no longer trying to play the rebel in front of the group. You will also identify the people who can serve as opinion leaders, the barometers that will help you gauge the temperature of the department and the supporters, valuable allies in the long term.
Finally, during these meetings, you will surely spot any malfunctions that have not been resolved by your predecessor. Try to remedy them as quickly as possible, you will then score points in the eyes of your troops.
The first month: organize a framework meeting
The relationship between a manager and their team is not spontaneous: it involves a moral contract. To this end, organize a framework meeting less than a month after your arrival. First, ask your colleagues what they expect from their boss. This question will bring out complaints and frustrations. Take notes without comment. Then explain what you can guarantee them and, conversely, what you will not offer them. Example: "I am committed to supporting you with other departments, but I want to be informed in advance of what you are doing. On the other hand, I will not answer all your questions, because I am bound by confidentiality on certain points." Also explain to your colleagues what you expect from them: an alert in case of difficulty, scrupulous respect of deadlines, a commitment not to address the director at n+2, etc.
So many mutual expectations for which you will seek the approval of each person. It is important to discuss points of disagreement: you will thus dissipate the "fog effect" (when the reasons for hostility are hidden) to find concrete solutions.
It is at this stage that you can consult your predecessor so that they can give you their diagnosis. Earlier, your judgment would have been biased by their perspective.
Try to win over the undecided
In a hostile team, the resistant employees are the most harmful, but generally not the most numerous. Their strength lies mainly in sowing doubt and speaking for others. There is no point in wasting your energy with them (you will wear them down). Instead, focus on convincing the "wait-and-see" employees, certainly in the majority and without preconceived judgments. During the individual interviews organized upon your arrival, encourage them to express their fears and concerns. You will then assess their degree of resistance to change. Does such and such person fear that their workload will increase? Guarantee them the opposite!
Posted on February 10, 2009
consulting06.com
In the early days of your assignment, you must schedule a meeting with each of your colleagues to get to know them better.
* What do they do?
* How do they work?
* What are their aspirations?
During these one-on-one meetings, start by reassuring your interlocutors: you are not arriving as a conqueror, armed with ready-made methods. Such behavior would only worsen the situation. It would also be risky to break certain collective rituals (except in cases of obvious abuse). The Friday lunch together (even if it goes on a bit)? The (sometimes noisy) chats by the coffee machine? Think twice before banning them...
These individual meetings also give you the opportunity to gather useful information to adapt your management style and to calm the rebellious tendencies of some strong personalities. A colleague taken aside often tempers their aggressiveness, since they are no longer trying to play the rebel in front of the group. You will also identify the people who can serve as opinion leaders, the barometers that will help you gauge the temperature of the department and the supporters, valuable allies in the long term.
Finally, during these meetings, you will surely spot any malfunctions that have not been resolved by your predecessor. Try to remedy them as quickly as possible, you will then score points in the eyes of your troops.
The first month: organize a framework meeting
The relationship between a manager and their team is not spontaneous: it involves a moral contract. To this end, organize a framework meeting less than a month after your arrival. First, ask your colleagues what they expect from their boss. This question will bring out complaints and frustrations. Take notes without comment. Then explain what you can guarantee them and, conversely, what you will not offer them. Example: "I am committed to supporting you with other departments, but I want to be informed in advance of what you are doing. On the other hand, I will not answer all your questions, because I am bound by confidentiality on certain points." Also explain to your colleagues what you expect from them: an alert in case of difficulty, scrupulous respect of deadlines, a commitment not to address the director at n+2, etc.
So many mutual expectations for which you will seek the approval of each person. It is important to discuss points of disagreement: you will thus dissipate the "fog effect" (when the reasons for hostility are hidden) to find concrete solutions.
It is at this stage that you can consult your predecessor so that they can give you their diagnosis. Earlier, your judgment would have been biased by their perspective.
Try to win over the undecided
In a hostile team, the resistant employees are the most harmful, but generally not the most numerous. Their strength lies mainly in sowing doubt and speaking for others. There is no point in wasting your energy with them (you will wear them down). Instead, focus on convincing the "wait-and-see" employees, certainly in the majority and without preconceived judgments. During the individual interviews organized upon your arrival, encourage them to express their fears and concerns. You will then assess their degree of resistance to change. Does such and such person fear that their workload will increase? Guarantee them the opposite!
Posted on February 10, 2009
consulting06.com
