my new rent retains uncovering issues … and I’m embarrassed
A reader writes:
I’m the top of a small group. A yr in the past, we employed a brand new individual to fill a newly created place. Jane has 15 years of expertise and is aware of what she’s doing in her discipline. She is discovering issues and points in lots of areas. She is gracious about these points, doesn’t level fingers, and is glad to repair the problems herself. However each time she factors out a problem, I discover myself getting defensive. The issues are all the time massive ones, not tiny ones, and issues we should always have caught a lot earlier (like severe points with the accuracy of our database).
I’m embarrassed by all the issues and the way lax issues have gotten and I do know it displays again on me. However, as an alternative of wanting to repair the issues, I typically really feel as if I would like her cease pointing issues out and simply let issues go. The opposite employees have change into defensive and argumentative with Jane concerning the smallest issues. Jane has come to me with a few of the points with the opposite employees and I’ve not been her strongest advocate as a result of I perceive the place the others are coming from and am sympathetic to them.
However clearly hiding my head within the sand isn’t going to repair this case or assist us attain the targets we’ve set as a corporation. Reaching these targets is among the causes we employed Jane.
It embarrasses me that I resent her for thus shortly seeing issues that nobody else noticed or thought of or cared to examine. It’s embarrassing to really feel that “kind of possibly ok” is the usual I’m now accepting and my employees feels is okay. How do I let go of my defensiveness and help Jane and the way do I get the opposite employees to do the identical? I’m fearful that, after a yr, it could be too late and she or he’s already trying to depart. In that case, I gained’t blame her however hope to show issues round with both her or the following individual we carry on.
I reply this query over at Inc. in the present day, the place I’m revisiting letters which were buried within the archives right here from years in the past (and generally updating/increasing my solutions to them). You can learn it right here.
