Management
Services supporting the growth of knowledge in engineering and technology
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Q&A: On the coaching couch
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Chartered engineer and qualified management coach Janet Wright answers your engineering management dilemmas
This week’s question:
I recently started a new job with a new company. The problem is that the job I am now doing is not the job I applied for or for which I was interviewed. I’m not sure what to do because I’ve been in role for about three months now and feel I should have raised this issue earlier. The reason I delayed was because I am enjoying the work and feel that the role is a more senior to that I applied for.
I now find that I’m not getting on with my work colleagues or my new boss. I can only describe them as very cliquey and rather childish. I have made several attempts to ‘get accepted’ but they have not worked. The strange thing is that, to my knowledge, my new boss was not part of the interview process and never actually met me until I turned up on my first day.
I am really not sure how to go about dealing with this situation without jeopardising my position within the company and possibly blotting my copy book for the future.
Janet says:
I have to admit that it does sound rather odd that a company would interview for one position and then allocate the successful candidate to another. I, for one, would not fill a vacancy with an unknown quantity, let alone one I had never met.
Is it possible that there has been some silly mistake? What does your employment contract say? Were you one of a large number of new starters? Did another employee with the same or similar name start on the same day as you? Stranger things have happened - it would be worth checking this out.
It can take many weeks - even months - to get to grips with a new working environment, so don’t feel that your delay in questioning your position is tantamount to acceptance. However, what is clear is that any further delay will not help your case.
You say you are enjoying the work, but not the people you are working with. Joining an already established team can have its challenges. Naturally, as the new kid on the block you would want to impress (especially as you feel you have been placed in a more senior role). It’s interesting that you describe your new department as ‘rather childish’ and I’m wondering whether your enthusiasm and more ‘mature’ approach has worked against you. Is it possible that your new boss may be feeling a little intimidated by you? What could you do to address this?
Perhaps you can work independently of your colleagues. However, this behaviour might serve to further isolate you from them. Could this be what has been happening? Would setting up individual meetings with each of them to find out what they do and explore how you can help them break down some barriers?
What you must remember is that it takes two to tango and if your colleagues and, more importantly, your boss will not make any effort to help you fit in, then it’s likely that all your efforts will be in vain. I feel the action you take to resolve your predicament centres around two questions:
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Can you find a way to manage the challenges you’re having so that you can use your role to open doors to other opportunities within the company?
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If so, how long must you stay in your current role before this is possible?
No doubt a little research within the organisation will give you the answer to number two above. A key relationship to resolving this situation is the one you have with your boss. Whatever you decide to do, his or her behaviour will be pivotal: best case, they will be supportive (even if that is to help you exit the department); worst case, they will be obstructive.
You should at least request a meeting with your boss to explain your concerns and how you have been trying to handle them and give him or her opportunity to respond. If the meeting goes badly, I would suggest that you bring it quickly to a close and ask that it be continued with HR present.
If your relationship with your boss is so poor that you cannot anticipate or trust their reaction to the request for a meeting then speak with HR beforehand. They should respect any request from you to keep things confidential.
Under these rather unusual circumstances I think it important that you do not feel you have to handle this situation alone. Continue what you have started by writing to me. The old saying “a problem shared is a problem halved” is really true. A healthy debate about options and consequences with an impartial but trusted individual will pay dividends.
Do you have a question for Janet? Email her at coachingcouch@theiet.org
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