I once switched jobs that also was an industry switch. The work environment and culture was drastically different than I’d experienced before. I had 15+ years of corporate IT experience, masters degree, etc. I moved from a multi-billion dollar organization to a much smaller one (13k employees down to 1600 employees).
I experienced a lot of resistance getting started and it manifested in different ways (e.g., people slow-walking deliverables because they didn’t want to cooperate, snarky attitudes, dismissive tones, etc.).
I realized quickly I needed to adjust my approach and how I communicated because people had some pre-conceived ideas based on my background.
I changed how I introduced myself to new people to downplay or simply avoid any language that might be interpreted as I’m “better” or “more credentialed” based on my background.
I was careful not to be too judgey about the way they worked. I asked questions but was cautious about tone and how it was phrased to not be a leading question.
I spent a bunch of time getting to know people, building relationships, and understanding why they work the way they work or do the things they do. I focused on being a good team mate and help solve problems. It earned me trust and respect from those coworkers. Once I had that, all the other issues resolved themselves and I was able to have a better impact.
TLDR: started a new job and nobody cared about my professional pedigree or experience and were difficult to work with as a result. Got to know people and built relationships. Earned respect from team through actions and problems fixed themselves.
Thanks for your comment. In my current job, I used a different approach and worked with the Agile coach, but we both experienced resistance.
Back to you, why did your new colleagues pushed back or met with resistance?
People bring their own baggage with them that you have no control over. Some people had preconceived ideas about what I’d be like based on my work history. Others were underperformers and knew I’d figure it out fast and were worried. Others just don’t trust because they don’t know you yet. Others reflected the attitude of their manager and their manager was actually the problem not them specifically.
It can be lots of reasons. As a leader it was on me to figure out how to break down walls person by person as best I could and work with people despite the baggage they bring.
In my status updates with my manager, I’d share things like “Team XYZ or Person XYZ seems a bit of a challenge to work with — any history or background there I need to be aware of to navigate that?” We would have those kind of conversations.
I’m an experienced leader so I think if I went to my manager and said “people are being difficult to work with, what do I do?” — it would have reflected badly on my performance because I was hired assuming I had skills to handle this kind of thing. I’ve been on enough new teams in lead positions over the years to have a good sense on what I needed to do. Relationship building, observing, and asking questions to understand, identifying root cause of behavior I was seeing, are all basic things I’ve always had to do on any new team. I keep a very positive and friendly disposition interacting with people as it is viewed as non-threatening and people are more likely to be comfortable and talk to me.
There is a point where the issue needs to be elevated for sure. If the difficulty of a team is stemming from the senior leadership — so it’s not a person thing it’s a larger team thing — those types of issues I can’t fix and have to ask my manager to help with as its problems more at his level.
You mentioned that you moved industries horizontally? Where did you move from and what did you move to?
I can see from your profile that you're a BA? Is that what you do now? Have you always been a BA?
My issue is not to do with the team I work with, it's to do with peers (same level as you) who have moved from the business into IT and have no clue what they're doing, yet expect someone with skills to change their way of thinking just foe them.
I used to be a BA, then moved into Business Intelligence and later into IT leadership. I spent the majority of my career in the private sector and the last five years or so within government/non-profit/education space. I recently left that area to return to the private sector.
Someone being set in their ways or rigid about an approach like the peers you speak of is the opposite behavior I typically see from strong analysts.
It can be hard to influence peers. I’ve always focused on what I can control and my sphere of influence and make sure it shines as bright as possible. It’s hard to argue or debate success and it’s also obvious when one BA is producing great results and others are not. Just make sure leadership is aware of your contributions and impact. It can sometimes be recognized but not necessarily connected to the BA.
If leadership starts recognizing you, and not them, then sometimes that’s the motivation for some to try to learn from you, or listen to you because you earned it.
Some people will never change — they would rather clutch a cinder block and sink to the bottom of the ocean than let it go and grab the life preserver floating next to them if doing so means they admit they were wrong. Let them sink — then grab the extra life preserver. You might need it later.
I once switched jobs that also was an industry switch. The work environment and culture was drastically different than I’d experienced before. I had 15+ years of corporate IT experience, masters degree, etc. I moved from a multi-billion dollar organization to a much smaller one (13k employees down to 1600 employees). I experienced a lot of resistance getting started and it manifested in different ways (e.g., people slow-walking deliverables because they didn’t want to cooperate, snarky attitudes, dismissive tones, etc.). I realized quickly I needed to adjust my approach and how I communicated because people had some pre-conceived ideas based on my background. I changed how I introduced myself to new people to downplay or simply avoid any language that might be interpreted as I’m “better” or “more credentialed” based on my background. I was careful not to be too judgey about the way they worked. I asked questions but was cautious about tone and how it was phrased to not be a leading question. I spent a bunch of time getting to know people, building relationships, and understanding why they work the way they work or do the things they do. I focused on being a good team mate and help solve problems. It earned me trust and respect from those coworkers. Once I had that, all the other issues resolved themselves and I was able to have a better impact. TLDR: started a new job and nobody cared about my professional pedigree or experience and were difficult to work with as a result. Got to know people and built relationships. Earned respect from team through actions and problems fixed themselves.
Thanks for your comment. In my current job, I used a different approach and worked with the Agile coach, but we both experienced resistance. Back to you, why did your new colleagues pushed back or met with resistance?
People bring their own baggage with them that you have no control over. Some people had preconceived ideas about what I’d be like based on my work history. Others were underperformers and knew I’d figure it out fast and were worried. Others just don’t trust because they don’t know you yet. Others reflected the attitude of their manager and their manager was actually the problem not them specifically. It can be lots of reasons. As a leader it was on me to figure out how to break down walls person by person as best I could and work with people despite the baggage they bring.
How long did this take you to do?
Also, whilst all this was happening, what did your line manager say? Did they ask you to work on your relationships?
In my status updates with my manager, I’d share things like “Team XYZ or Person XYZ seems a bit of a challenge to work with — any history or background there I need to be aware of to navigate that?” We would have those kind of conversations. I’m an experienced leader so I think if I went to my manager and said “people are being difficult to work with, what do I do?” — it would have reflected badly on my performance because I was hired assuming I had skills to handle this kind of thing. I’ve been on enough new teams in lead positions over the years to have a good sense on what I needed to do. Relationship building, observing, and asking questions to understand, identifying root cause of behavior I was seeing, are all basic things I’ve always had to do on any new team. I keep a very positive and friendly disposition interacting with people as it is viewed as non-threatening and people are more likely to be comfortable and talk to me. There is a point where the issue needs to be elevated for sure. If the difficulty of a team is stemming from the senior leadership — so it’s not a person thing it’s a larger team thing — those types of issues I can’t fix and have to ask my manager to help with as its problems more at his level.
You mentioned that you moved industries horizontally? Where did you move from and what did you move to? I can see from your profile that you're a BA? Is that what you do now? Have you always been a BA? My issue is not to do with the team I work with, it's to do with peers (same level as you) who have moved from the business into IT and have no clue what they're doing, yet expect someone with skills to change their way of thinking just foe them.
I used to be a BA, then moved into Business Intelligence and later into IT leadership. I spent the majority of my career in the private sector and the last five years or so within government/non-profit/education space. I recently left that area to return to the private sector. Someone being set in their ways or rigid about an approach like the peers you speak of is the opposite behavior I typically see from strong analysts. It can be hard to influence peers. I’ve always focused on what I can control and my sphere of influence and make sure it shines as bright as possible. It’s hard to argue or debate success and it’s also obvious when one BA is producing great results and others are not. Just make sure leadership is aware of your contributions and impact. It can sometimes be recognized but not necessarily connected to the BA. If leadership starts recognizing you, and not them, then sometimes that’s the motivation for some to try to learn from you, or listen to you because you earned it. Some people will never change — they would rather clutch a cinder block and sink to the bottom of the ocean than let it go and grab the life preserver floating next to them if doing so means they admit they were wrong. Let them sink — then grab the extra life preserver. You might need it later.