Two stories crossed my path recently and I was amused by them. Both have some similarities and I wanted to get the feedback from the wise ones at TR about these situations.
1. A boss is planning for his eventual departure. He has someone in mind to be his successor. He has worked with this person for years and feels that he would do a good job. The boss has a conversation with him about what he would do if he got the job. The prospective replacement goes on and on about how he would “change this”, “overhaul that”, what he did not like about what was in place. In other words he basically trashed the current establishment, including things that the current boss put in place. Needless to say, that person talked himself out of consideration for that position.
2. A IT worker was hired to be an assistant to another. This person immediately, and aggressively starts trying to adjust the way procedures and things are done, including things put in place by the one in charge. The newbie also was criticizing the current process to a degree. The one in charge wanted to give them more responsibilities, but as a consequence, the assistant has been actually excluded from things that he/she could have been involved in, and the one in charge has deliberately not delegated additional responsibilities to this person because of their aggressive approach.
In both cases the ones in charge have not violated any policies (far as I know) but is this reaction really fair? Some might feel that both reacted too personally and are just afraid of change or they are afraid that the other person might do the job better than them. I think that the ones in charge reacted in a human way but in an understandable way, protecting what they have worked hard to put into place from a person who may or may not completely understand the process or who may have an agenda that benefits them alone and not the business.
But I am putting it out in the forum.
If I were either person, and I had an agenda, I would have worked hard to blend in and then if necessary, give my input. But that is me. However, these two individuals clearly were confident that their 2 cents was actually worth more at least to the one in charge, and it cost them, at least at the present.
What do you think?