I had a manager once tell me that, “Every time a new member joins a team, there is a power struggle as that person asserts themselves and the existing leader of the team defends their territory.“
It didn’t matter how long the team had been in existence, he’d say, every time someone new comes in, there will be puffing out of chests.
So this rings true in every group I’ve joined. The most dynamic and rare teams of course have been where all parties have gotten over themselves and worked for the greater good of the team..
Boy, those were fun projects! ..but enough reminiscing.
I’ve joined a new team recently in a significant role. I read with much empathy and motivation about George Brymer’s experience trying to figure out what my “chair swap” could be. It’s been interesting to watch the territory protection of a few of my new colleagues along with their personal styles: quiet and avoiding, negative and distrustful, as well as loud and confrontational. It’s important to remind myself daily, that these otherwise tender-hearted people would react this way to anyone in my position, no matter who it was.
Many things have become important actually:
It’s been important to have a strong support group outside of this environment.
It’s been important to have a clear understanding of my role there.
It’s been important to focus on long term strategy and the mission of our group.
It’s been important to defuse triggers intended to explode set by these new colleagues.
It’s been very important to stay on track and perform flawlessly.
It’s been important to listen most of all to learn important details on culture, operations, and clients to uncover information trying to stay hidden as well as illustrate my sincerity.
Eric Klein, creator of Dharma Consulting says it best on a recent blog post, that all leadership problems aren’t necessarily solvable nor do they need to be solved. A team certainly can’t be fixed the same way a dimension in a plastic injection molding tool can be tweaked. Changing personnel only brings with it new challenges and loss of information. In a world where there is so much conflict, if we can strive to just get along in our work & volunteer groups, I’d like to think we can make progress in getting along elsewhere.
If the motive of each individual is true to the project and they are respectful of others, change will settle quickly. If the motive gets muddled, then the whole team should brace itself for a long rocky ride. I know I’ll come out of this learning more about people, leadership, and how to overcome difficulty.
In the mean time, it’s important to be yourself, help others as you would normally in spite of their behavior, be the servant leader you wish the rest to model, and excel to surprise and delight as you’ve been hired to do.
This is how I’m working through the situation.
What would you suggest?
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Jennifer Werth is the founder and principle consultant of a training and engineering service organization.
She can be reached at [email protected] and at her blog.
Image Source: myplaceoryours.org.uk
