About a week ago, I was informed that our department would now have a new Director. My department has never had a Director since I started about 6 years ago and the whole company has been going through changes so I figured it wasn’t a big deal. He came in and sat with each person in our unit and we had conversations on what we do and what we’d like to see going forward. He’s a nice guy, but he doesn’t know much about what we do. I work in the employee benefit division and we focus on group health and ancillary lines of coverage. The new Director sold Individual Life products, 401K products and concentrated on Estate Planning. I could tell by talking to him that he not only didn’t he understand the environment he was stepping into but that he also seemed overwhelmed by all the new responsibilities that were thrown at him. Lucky for him he does have some managing experience from a stint about five years ago at MetLife so that aspect of the job will come easy for him. He’s got a huge learning curve ahead of him and I can see it’s going to be an interesting couple of months as he gets his feet wet. I wish him the best and actually see it as an opportunity for growth and future development of our department. It’s almost like we can teach him and educate him to hopefully get some resources for the department that we sorely need.
As I spoke with my other co-worker she too saw the potential for good things to come out of this new Director and we both liked the situation. The two producers in my unit though, a whole different attitude, they don’t like the change and don’t like that they have to report to someone who “knows nothing about what they do.” They seem abrasive and from our discussions I can see that their meetings with the new Director were very hostile and demeaning. Instead of embracing the change and helping the guy out, I can see that these guys are going to make his life hell. I’m not exactly sure why either. He’s been on the job for about 2 weeks, what do they expect out of him? Our department needs resources and our two producers have been in talks with the President to get these resources. The President then decided that he needed a Director to over see the development of the department and so he appointed this new person. Sounds like a logical plan right? Then why are these guys being so hostile towards the change. It’s a positive route and while he may not know every facet of the environment we operate in, it gives us an opportunity to educate him and point out the need for the resources we require. I see it as an opportunity and these guys see it as a threat.
In my opinion, the way they are handling it is very wrong. They should have played it very differently by embracing the change. How about we work with the guy for a couple of months and see where it goes. If after a few months he still doesn’t get it, ok, then you can get hostile and abrasive but let’s see what the guy can do first. Let’s work with him, make him feel welcome, let’s play as a team.
I only see negative things happening if they continue to treat the new Director this way. Maybe it’s me but I’d be very careful how they treat him and how they conduct their business. With the economy the way it is the company could easily find replacement Producers out there. I mean, come on, a new grocery store opened up across the street from where I work and 300 people applied for jobs…..300!!! Be careful my friends, embrace change or you’ll find yourself in a change yourself!
NOTE – as you read you’ll notice I didn’t use names. I think that’s important as I don’t want to find myself in hot water. Sorry if it’s a tough read due to that.
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