Have you heard the saying “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”? This saying applies in a working environment more than some people think. The word enemies might be a bit harsh. I consider enemies as anyone who directly or indirectly negatively impacts my ability to perform what I am doing at that time. The following is one example of where someone could be viewed as the enemy in a work environment.
One time in career I was working as a contracted employee. This meant that I had a desk in an office, I worked for the company, yet I was not technically part of the organization. I had no performance goals, or specific responsibilities.
I created my own marketing materials that had to be approved by senior management. My ideas were fresh and creative, which was something this organization lacked. Very quickly my ideas became respected by the entire office. Very soon you could say I was made an accidental project manager of their marketing campaigns.
A Vice President within the organization loved my ideas, but was always trying to make changes to them after I submitted my proposals to senior management. Because the actions of the Vice President negatively impacted my ability to accomplish my projects I considered this person an enemy who I had to keep him close. Did I mention he was a good friend, and I had known him for years? This fact brings a whole new dynamic into friends and enemies, but I will not go into detail under the topic.
The Vice President was not vindictive and was not trying to sabotage my projects. He was trying to help. His proposed changes and following discussions concerning his revisions would delay the implementation of my marketing campaigns. This would frustrate senior management, other employees, and me.
What I needed to do was get this Vice President on my side. To do this, I educated him on the change imperatives. Two change imperatives I practiced were change is everywhere, and people do not like change.
This particular Vice President needed to be shown that the old ways of marketing for their clients were being done by everyone else, and that their marketing did not differentiate them from other organizations. I knew he did not like the idea of changing so I had to take his hand and lead him down the road to enlightenment.
He understood change was needed in their internal processes, and how they interacted with clients and business partner. The Vice President was excellent as this, but he did not realize the importance of changing how they marketed their services. Once I compared marketing methods of other organizations to my ideas, he understood why change was required.
By using the change imperative of change is everywhere, and people do not like change I made him comfortable with the idea of change. Once he saw a change to their marketing was needed, and change was taking place all around him he became excited. He became enthusiastic about my ideas. He came to understand that I was a catalyst for change, and he cut back on his unintentional interference. As Rosanne Cash once said, “The key to change is to let go of fear.” I helped him let go of his fears.
This experience taught me that if I have ideas that require a change to a process I must quickly observe how everyone is reacting to change, and why they are behaving in a particular manner. At first, I thought the Vice President was being critical of my ideas, but then I realized he was only trying to help. Once I helped him understand the need for change, I acquired another sponsor and gained validity.
No comments:
Post a Comment