Addressing Change with my staff

Addressing Change with my staff

Many things have become evident to me over the course of this week, one of which is my relationship with my staff. While things could be much better, they certainly could be much worse. We absolute are not a team, we are absolutely a group and I have know for some time that I have to do something but I just couldn’t figure out what it was that I should do. While I have two on my staff that are my hires and we get along beautifully, I have four that were inherited from the previous director. I have mostly thought of this as a negative, but perhaps there is a glimmer of hope. I of course have always recognized that each one has their own strengths and weaknesses I have not been able to arrange it very well so that each one can focus on what they are good at. This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately (before coming to PLMI) and yet was another obstacle I could not figure out what to do about. I recognized early on that because the previous director had left under bad terms that there would likely be a good deal of resentment toward me and my new goals and visions. Doing my due diligence I addressed it from the beginning, but now I realize that I did not address it well enough not did I likely have the best attitude about it. I know that despite my best intentions I am not naturally someone who dwells for long on anything. I acknowledged it to some extent and thought we would all just move on and get over and readjust. I now know that I was so dead wrong and that I know I have at least one staffer that is clinging for dear life to the past. The former director was much different from me, and he has issues with change, as well as bouts of depression and severe anxiety. I have seen him as a huge obstacle for so long and we get very frustrated with one another because we just don’t know how to communicate. He is very defensive at times and will just dwell on things, which drives me up the wall. I confess that I often find myself purposely avoiding him or half-ass paying attention to him because I just don’t have an hour to devote to reliving the same things over and over again (whatever it is that he is obsessing over at the moment). I get it now, though.

My new game plan: First, a staff meeting with a presentation entitled “Reasons why I am a Terrible Manager” by Jill Rael. I would like to hit the highlights of exactly what I have learned this week and own up to my shortcomings. I want to be up front and honest in saying that I know what went wrong and trust me, I know how to fix it. I realize now that it must have been awful to them to lose their former manager and have someone like me come in with no warning, no preparation, and no explanation about what was happening except the very jaded reasons offered up by the outgoing director. We need to go back to the start and address any animosity that is still there about that and take a fresh approach to where we are headed. I would like to have each one of the staff take some of the tests and perform some of the activities we have done this week so that I can better understand how I need to communicate effectively with them in their own unique way. Most importantly, I want them to know that while I may get lost in my own lofty ideas and sometimes drown in paperwork, I genuinely care about them and their happiness. I want to help them find their best place in the world and I think I have completely missed that opportunity to tell them that. Don’t get me wrong, I think we have a good foundation and a well-rounded group and I absolutely see the value in each and every one of them. Now, I just need to pull it all together and make us awesome.