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Subject:Re: Plays well with others From:Patricia Castin <pcastin -at- cadence -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 02 Apr 2001 10:14:47 -0400
I've read the other postings on this subject and think there are items
in here that haven't been covered in the discussion.
* - The "acquisition" part. When companies merge or are bought, there
is often a very scary time period on the part of the "bought" people.
They have been used to doing things in a particular way within their
company. They've probably been working from their own set of policies,
procedures, etc., and now that they are working with a new company,
there might be a bit of anxiety as to how they fit into the new picture
and whether how they perform their jobs will change. The might be
feeling that there are things about their new manager/lead that they
aren't sure about. One of the other postings mentioned "fear". This is
a definite roadblock to performance.
* - You need to TALK to them. You might find out that Sally and James
both have lots of wonderful things about them in their writing (highest
priority) and their personalities (secondary) that you haven't found
yet. They might be in a state of "shock" from the acquisition (even if
it took place some time ago). If no one has taken the time to work out
how they "fit", then there could be real fear there (especially in
today's market). And in your original post, you said "Sally is cordial
with me and the others that work here, but she is curt and often
unapproachable." Um, cordial, yet not?
* - There are a lot of different types of writers and personalities out
there. I've worked with writers that had very different goals and
different outlooks on life that I would *never* consider for myself, yet
they were valid for them. The ultimate goal is the documents and their
usefulness to the client.
* - Experience isn't always leadership. I've worked with many writers
who have years of experience who don't *want* to lead. They know it's
not their gig, and that should be fine too. Some people shouldn't be
leaders.
* - I would wonder if the customers were happy with their documents? Or
is it possible that the customers are happy, but the documents aren't
how *you* would write them? I've found on occasions that how I would
write a document is very different from how one of my team had, yet both
options work. This is particularly difficult for a manager to deal with
at times. The "this isn't my way of doing things, but is it valid?"
* - And, is this information on James coming from your own observations,
or from outside sources?... Maybe some verification, for either of these
possibilities, is in order before beginning talks.
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