Don’t let Junior rock the boat!
If you’re well established in your role, suddenly working with a new staff member with all sorts of new-fangled ideas can be a real challenge.
From the first moment that Joanne Wheatley* set eyes on the new junior recruit, she knew that life at work would never be the same again.
Joanne had joined Print-It paper company as a receptionist 12 years previously, and had finally worked her way up to the comfortable role of Manager of Quality Assurance.
Along the way, she battled perceptions that she was under-qualified, as well as an ingrained ‘boys club’ mentality from the top. Her position, as far as she saw it, was well earned and worth the fight.
So when the company expanded and created a new role for Joanne’s department – Materials Inspection Officer – Joanne was at once enthused and nervous.
Deb Koval* came to the role straight from a uni degree in Materials Engineering. From the start, she had a list of ideas as long as anyone’s arm. She suggested a review and potential overhaul of most every process and procedure that Joanne had spent several years refining.
‘Talk to the hand’
In quiet moments of reflection, Joanne confessed to resenting her own reactions to the new upstart who dared challenge the system.
Joanne had found herself sounding like the very people she had once grimaced at when she first sat on the receptionist desk. To every idea that Deb had, Joanne’s responses invariably started with variations on the following:
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“Well we tried that in 1996.”
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“There’s not enough money for that.”
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“If only Dave in Marketing agreed.”
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“On paper it works, but here in the real world …”
And if none of those seemed appropriate, there was always, “Sorry Deb but we just don’t do things like that here.”
One day, in the lunchroom, Joanne overheard a couple young employees use a saying that shocked her: “Talk to the hand cos the face ain’t listening,” one of them said. Joanne asked herself how she had ended up as just that sort of person.
People who rock boats can tip boats over
The above story is made up, but there are countless authentic examples of this happening in workplaces across all industries and sectors. Wherever there are departments with role hierarchies, there is the chance that new team players will try to assert themselves without full knowledge of either what they’re doing or who they’re inadvertently undoing.
On the face of it, people like Joanne have good reasons for being hesitant. When things are going smoothly, rocking the boat is the last thing anyone wants.
It can at best disturb the ability to meet short-term goals; at worst it can seriously derail the system and compromise business results.
More so, when new people are hired, it’s effectively to do a specific job, one that usually requires the staff member’s full attention. To allow them to go off and explore their own agenda can – if left unchecked – lead to a serious neglect of duty.
At a more personal level, people like Joanne can feel deeply affronted and threatened by the likes of Deb. Having worked hard to get to where she is, Joanne has a lot at stake when someone presents new ideas that have never been trialled in that specific workplace.
A bit of soul-searching
All said, however, there’s never room to discount innovation. Whether large or small, all ideas are worth a fair hearing.
More so, from a people-development perspective, the best organisations are those that foster and reward creativity.
For people faced with the challenge of new team players with equally new ideas, the first step is to deconstruct the hidden meanings of one’s negative responses.
Taking the above types of responses that Joanne had initially presented to Deb, we can easily see the hidden meanings:
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“Well we tried that in 1996.” Read: “I have bucket-loads more experience than you.”
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“There’s not enough money for that.” Read: “I have executive knowledge of finances that I won’t let you access.”
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“If only Dave in Marketing agreed.” Read: “I know the people here better than anyone.”
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“On paper it works, but here in the real world …” Read: “I have real-life experience; all you have is a degree.”
Re-engaging with the team spirit
The trick is to strike the right balance of giving the new staff member the creative freedom to explore new ideas, on one hand, and holding tight to the reigns of what the role specifies.
Sometimes a one-on-one meeting, spelling out the above, can go a long way to bridging different agendas. Letting the new team member know what you’re thinking does help.
As people progress in an organisation over several years, they can become the most focused and efficient employees. At the same time, and even as a function of their focused and efficient capabilities, they can also become rigid and inflexible to new ideas.
By allowing yourself to become aware of where you’re at on the job path at your current workplace can help you re-engage with the (albeit shorter) trajectory of newer staff members.
A key to finding the balance is to consider more moderated responses. Again, take the initial responses to Deb as an example:
- “Well we tried that in 1996.” Change to: “It didn’t work then, but things have changed.”
- “There’s not enough money for that.” Change to: “Let’s work on finding that money for the next financial year.”
- “If only Dave in Marketing agreed.” Change to: “Marketing aren’t too keen, but if we re-jig your idea slightly, it just might get through.”
- “On paper it works, but here in the real world …” Change to: “Show me the evidence for it, and we’ll see where it goes.”
Giving a hearing to new ideas from young upstarts need not feel like swallowing a bitter pill. If handled well, it can build teams and increase effectiveness all round.
* Names of people and companies have been invented. Any resemblance to actual people is purely coincidental.
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