A new high-value employee integrates successfully
Understanding Team Culture Leads to Successful Assimilation
Situation:
A highly compensated employee was hired from a key competitor with the expectation that the employee would immediately step in and contribute significantly to the business. Immediately there were difficulties assimilating the employee into the culture of the new company. People liked the employee personally but found the employee problematic to work with. They were beginning to label the new employee negatively.
The company hired us to determine whether the employee could be retained or whether they should cut their losses.
Solution:
The employee was extremely frustrated with the new situation. On paper, it was the perfect move but the reality fell far short. It quickly became apparent that the employee had a very black-and-white perspective which did not allow for flexibility in how they viewed situations. This perspective set the employee at odds with their new teammates and did not allow for compromise.
In the discovery process it became clear that the employee had a series of jobs in very competitive, territorial environments where controlling information was the pathway to success. The employee assumed that all work environments were the same and continued to behave in this manner even though the new environment valued collaboration and cooperation. The employee had no understanding that their perspective was driven by their past experience and was no longer relevant.
The employee was motivated to make the situation viable because failing at a position was antithetical to their view of themselves. Once they understood that the company was truly trying to help them as opposed to making a case against them the employee was willing to try new behaviors.
The key focus became delivering the best product possible regardless of who on the team was the key contributor. This freed the employee from worrying about their role or stature in the group. Once they let go of this need, they were able to relax into the group and work with the team instead of against it.
Result:
Immediate results were seen once the employee tried on the new behaviors. The company is very social and the new employee had been omitted from after-work activities. In very short order the new employee was being included in those invitations and sought after as a teammate on new projects.
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