No one wants to be in this situation – I was, and glad it happened.
Not long ago, I was hired by a company voted as one of the best place to work in the country and one of the best in the industry. I felt privileged to get in! The interview process was arduous. I suppose, they have to, in order to get the RIGHT people in.
I was brought into the company for three reasons:
- Replace someone who wanted to get into a different team (same company)
- Motivate a low morale long running team
- Bring fresh ideas into the company
In every new organisation I joined, I always capture my observations on both the organisation & the team I’m in for the first two weeks (as these are the most crucial time as a noob to identify what are actually working (right) or not working (questionable) in the workplace.
The 5 dysfunctions topped my observations.
One of the first tasks for me was to make it a more collaborative workplace for two teams (one was overseas). As I had the experience in distributed teams, it was second nature for me. I also thought (as a noob in any company I joined) I’d bring in fresh ideas to try out. One of the highlights of agile is to experiment and learn what works & what doesn’t, so that we can then improve to be better.
Lesson 1 – Not everyone wants to try new things.
One thing I had learnt was that not everyone welcome to try out new things. Or should I say, not everyone has the appetite or bravery to fail. In this situation, I was being questioned (like a criminal line-up) with every ideas I had to promote collaboration & freshen up the dull day-to-day agile ceremonies. I was asked to provide proofs on all my ideas that they can be successful here. No trust.
My response?
This has worked in the past in other organisations & teams I was in, however, it is a different culture, experience & people here, let’s give it a go and we can learn what works & what doesn’t. It’s all about experimentation.
POSITIVE SELF
My manager did not share my point of view. It was shut down almost immediately, saying “This is not the [company] way.” No support.
I refused to believe that. I mean I was brought in from other organisation into this company for a reason. I came up with other ideas, this time, presenting them back in a “validated” format to get the support I needed to implement with the teams. The ratio of my successful ideas being accepted? 1: 10.
Lesson 2 – Let’s try again. Be honest & talk it through
Well, that didn’t work, what else can I try to get my ideas across? Perhaps our working styles are total opposites? I thought to myself.
Using the Situation, Impact & Way forward format, I had an honest 1:1 open & honest conversation with my manager. Hoping to reach an understanding and acceptance on how we can reach middle ground.
The topic discussed were:
1. Our different working styles –
- Mine: Empowering & trust team to make decisions, experiment & learn from mistakes
- My manager: Dictatorial style, needs approval before going ahead
2. Our communication styles –
- Mine: Respect people’s time & communicate important items when happens at appropriate time & channel (e.g. when one is in the middle of working on something, slack/email or wait for the right time to talk it through)
- My manager: Inform at every opportunity arises (even if one is busy on the computer)
3. Objectives vs. Task detail driven approach to getting things done –
- Mine: Agree on objectives, identify high level key activities & have the freedom to work out the tasks/details needed to achieve goals
- My manager: Need to know every tasks & agree on the details before undertaking them
The outcome?
I was asked to conform mostly to my manager’s style. “This is the [company] way.” – No freedom.
I felt exhausted – mentally & emotionally.
The effort & emotions I put into it outweighs the benefit I got out of it. Being shut down for 90% of the time impacted my own morale, confidence & motivation.
One thing to note about me: I am generally a positive, smiley & energetic person. I went through a radical downward change. My family & friends were highly concerned.
Lesson 3 – Pick your battles
I questioned myself ALOT when I was there.
Am I doing the right thing? Am I any good in what I do? Do I deserve to be here? Why are all the things I do not good enough?
NEGATIVE SELF
I was only there for three months and I felt like a failure. Refusing to give up or give in that I am a failure, I thought I would better reach out to the person I replaced and other agile coaches in the company for advice in how to succeed being in this company. Perhaps I need an attitude / aptitude re-adjustment (since I had numerous successful experiences in other companies & I let it get to my head!)
And so, a very wise person (one of the agile coaches in the company) said to me, after learning the situation I was in . . .
You can usually change a situation, but you cannot change a person. When the person in question is your manager, you just have to remove yourself – Pick your battles.
WISE AGILE COACH
After almost 7 months, I left.
Why am I glad this happed?
I learnt a valuable life lesson here: Pick your battles.
One cannot change a person. And if you are reporting to a person that does not care or have the same or at least similar principles & values as you, it will be an uphill battle – which you’ll need to ask yourself… Is this worth it?
I also learnt a few things about myself,
- How much I love & passionate in what I do. I bring my all to work. And when I am negatively impacted, my work absorbs its negativity. So I need to manage this better.
- What my working style is. I was forced to analyse myself to prepare for the 1:1 conversation I had with my manager. This is important as it will help identify the workplace, the manager & team that I want to work with and am suited for.
- I know the leaders that I want to surround myself & work with. Someone I can learn from, mutual respect, trust, freedom & support for me to do what I do best – build teams.