Not Salary, But Definitely NegotiationHi, This is not a salary negotiation question, but it is definitely a negotiation question. I work for a large bureaucracy at a smaller rural worksite. Ever since I started there last summer, I've heard nothing but disdain and distrust of the larger divisions in larger cities. Thing is: in my position, I HAVE to work WITH folks at other locations, in particular the one nearest by which has most often been characterized as "trying to take us over," populated by dumb, stupid, ignorant, lazy bureaucrats who haven't a clue what we do and are always meddling in our business. This feeling absolutely permeates the location at which I work, from the custodial staff to the highest level execs. It is pretty obvious they have some similarly nasty characterizations of us ("Hicks from the Sticks", dumb, stupid, ignorant, lazy, uneducated, clueless, etc.). Because of this constant "disconnect" between the employees at the 2 locations, I can't possibly tell you how much time and effort is constantly wasted in numerous big and small ways. What strikes me is, we are all supposed to be on the SAME team, not warring factions. After repeatedly asking my boss to please do something to help create better lines of communication and more clear understanding of the division of responsibilities between their location and ours - with absolutely NO HELP - I took a deep breath and approached my 3 colleagues from the other location myself. I said that I can see that there is a "disconnect" between their office and mine, and as we all know, we are all experiencing frustrations, communication problems, etc., that are impacting our work. I said that I realize we are all supposed to be on the same side of the same team, and want to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. I suggested that we schedule a regular meeting to exchange information, clear up any communication problems or misunderstandings, coordinate our efforts, and just share information about our work. (Remember, this is all the SAME organization; we are all supposed to be on the SAME TEAM.) To my surprise, they agreed. (Note: it is 3-against-1; I'm the 1 and they're the 3.) But immediately after saying they'd be amenable to that, they started launching into a recitation of everything that they perceive me as "not knowing" or "doing wrong." They are clearly a tight-knit team and its clearly an "us" - "them" perception right now. Okay - so I said let's wait until the first meeting. (Of course as soon as I got back from that discussion, there was immediately a NASTY round of e-mails launched between their department and mine - I was not a part of it, but it contained all the same usual name calling, finger pointing, nasty remarks, etc. - which is currently "par for the course.") I want to be a part of finding a solution to that. We don't have to like one another as good buddies or anything like that, but I'd REALLY prefer if we can come to understand one another's perspective and responsibilities, strong points and expertise, daily workload, etc. better so that there can be at least a modicum of cooperation and professional respect. I'm willing to go half way. I'm usually MORE than willing to acknowledge things that I have yet to learn, things that I could change, etc. But I want that to be a 2-way street, and given that there will be 3 of them (on their turf) and only one of me, I'm concerned that I don't just get bowled over with the 3 of them all telling me what I should do differently (according to them) and not listening to what MY parameters are (such as my job description, the responsibilities I've been given, the work load I have, my boss's wishes about how I do my job, local rules that I have to follow, etc.). BTW - after I suggested this I told my boss that I'd done so, and just got a "shrug" - which from my boss means, "Go ahead and try it if you want, but don't expect it to work." So at least I didn't get told not to. How does one go about "negotiating" an agreement for mutual respect and civility between co-workers in different (currently warring) locations? Here is just one example of what I mean: I am an hourly, NOT SALARIED NOT EXEMPT employee. I am the ONLY person in my location who does my job. I can't work overtime without my boss's permission, and when I do, I must get paid time and a half for it. My boss doesn't authorize overtime. Period. So I can't. THEY apparently have the ability to work as much overtime as they need - and they frequently do. When the THREE of them are putting in 5-10-15 hours/week extra EACH to deal with a crunch, I CAN'T DO THAT. So I have to prioritize and sometimes I can't get paperwork back to them as quickly as they can get it back to me. They characterize me as "lazy, stupid, slow, ignorant, etc." because of this. I would like them to understand that I am NONE of those things, but I CAN'T pull my own overtime out of a hat in order to get their work back to them as quickly as they'd like. And I'm NOT "just making excuses." There is only ONE of me and THREE of them. I'm sure they are also under pressures, etc. that I don't understand either. And I'd like to learn about that soo, so that I can better understand what they're up against. I just want to negotiate a better working relationship, but without it all coming down to them bullying me about what I am allegedly "doing wrong." Does this make any sense? How do I start? While I agree that this is a problem and that something needs to be done about it, I think you've overstepped your bounds. You've gone over your boss's head and done an end run around him. That's dangerous in any organzation, but particularly one that is as dysfuntional as this one. You're also the lowest man on this totem pole being that you're the only hourly employee in the mix. It really is not your place to try and correct this issue. This is a management problem that either your boss, their boss or whomever is over both of them should correct. It isn't that you're not right, it is that it isn't your role to in essence tell your boss (and his boss) that they aren't managing their staff correctly. I think however, that your assessment of the problem is completely correct, but what you should be getting from that is that there is a serious management problem in this organzation and the action you should be taking is to find something else, somewhere else.
Tess Although it probably would have been a good idea to get your boss to approve a meeting before scheduling one, there are a couple of courses of action that you possibly can use - the situation you describe, buy the way, isn't all that uncommon in a variety of settings. Probably the best course of action is to enlist the help of a "moderator." What would probably work best is to get the help of someone who's trained on problem identification and goal setting to run the meeting, the stated purpose of which is to help improve communications, clear up misunderstandings, coordination of effort, and information sharing. Then, that person can start by listing on a flip chart or chalk board what everyone perceives as the core problems - from their own perspective. By having a third party involved, you avoid the problem of the meeting degenerating into a non-productive exercise that only creates more hard feelings. There are tons of people out there who are trained in problem identification and goal setting who would be happy to help - but probably who would also expect a fee for their services. The other way is for you to take the initiative and start by listing the problems the same way and taking each one and breaking it down into manageable bites. For instance, if lack of communication is identified as a problem, then you engage everybody, first, in identifying why they think it exists. Once that's done, you've got a goal - Improving Communications! Then you ask the group what they think can be done to achieve that goal - nice, easy, little steps that will help eliminate the problem and achieve the goal. That's the approach a third party moderator would probably take. The idea is to get all of you thinking about goals once the problems have been outlined, then breaking the goal down into action steps that everybody agrees will help achieve the goal and eliminate the problem. Hope this helps. Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert | |
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