Victoria looked a little down. “Why the long face?” I asked.
“Ugh,” she replied. “I think I just entered the J-curve. We had to let two more people go last week, I had to reassign some of their work to other people. Empowerment, you know the drill. It’s tough getting people to do new kinds of work. Their new responsibilities are suffering, big time.”
“What do you think is the problem?”
“The new things they have to do aren’t that difficult, but I am getting resistance. And some of the new decisions they have to make, well, maybe, with a little experience they will do better.”
“Describe the resistance,” I shifted.
“It’s not really resistance. They don’t say anything. But I can tell. It’s like a blank look. A nod that says yes, but a feeling that says no.”
“What do you think you are going to do, to get a different result?” I pressed.
“I am going to give it more time. Maybe things will improve.” Victoria was an optimist.
“And, what if they don’t improve? First, how will you know whether they are improving? And what if they don’t improve? What will you do differently?”
Like Victoria, I am an optimist as well, and I am not proud to admit that I have also made this mistake. I found myself in a similar situation, and I thought if I gave it time it would work itself out, but instead I found that I had many unhappy employees that were eager to go elsewhere. In order to see change we must do something differently, and typically sitting back and waiting it out does not produce positive results. As the manager of the team, it’s your responsibility to make that change for your team and your department.
Kara,
If you know you need to make a move, but you aren’t sure of the move, you can always ask those who seem most eager for the change. Their input along with your intuition and the facts of the situation will lead you to action.