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Runs With Scissors
Jun. 17th, 2004 01:46 pmSo a group at work that prided itself on not having to follow corporate standards was brought under our VP about 18 months ago, with the intention that they formulate a plan for gradually starting to use our tools, procedures, and guidelines. Their director managed to produce lots of reports "rediscovering" ways of operating that we've been using over here for years, and making no move to actually get together with us. As a result, she lost her job in our recent layoff and our director got saddled with her whole group.
We've been dreading the transition and it looks like we were right to do so. We just had an email exchange in which they explained that since they're new to our guidelines, they'd like to know how to open discussions about some of them. The fact that the whole company was supposed to be using these standards all along, and that the decision-making process has also been open to everyone doesn't seem to faze them. The whole message reads like "Well, we haven't been using these guidelines but now that you're forcing us to use them, we'd like you to change them to accommodate us."
I've been busy drafting tactful emails that tell them to go read our previous discussions about their issues and make sure we didn't already consider their point of view and reject it before bringing the subject up again. What I really want to write is "You lost. We won. Now you have to do what we say." I have no objection to honest feedback if their conditions are different than the ones the guidelines were developed to address but I'm damned if I want us to waste a lot of time discussing issues again just to make them feel like we're listening to them when the outcome is going to be the same. I'm hoping management will feel the same way.
We've been dreading the transition and it looks like we were right to do so. We just had an email exchange in which they explained that since they're new to our guidelines, they'd like to know how to open discussions about some of them. The fact that the whole company was supposed to be using these standards all along, and that the decision-making process has also been open to everyone doesn't seem to faze them. The whole message reads like "Well, we haven't been using these guidelines but now that you're forcing us to use them, we'd like you to change them to accommodate us."
I've been busy drafting tactful emails that tell them to go read our previous discussions about their issues and make sure we didn't already consider their point of view and reject it before bringing the subject up again. What I really want to write is "You lost. We won. Now you have to do what we say." I have no objection to honest feedback if their conditions are different than the ones the guidelines were developed to address but I'm damned if I want us to waste a lot of time discussing issues again just to make them feel like we're listening to them when the outcome is going to be the same. I'm hoping management will feel the same way.
