FROM THE NOTEBOOK OF... A sharing of mistakes, wisdom, and learnings by Kristin Patrick

LESSON #04: “Assume positive intent…” -- Said by… a creative executive who is intense and wickedly smart.

We all sat at that conference table huddled up, even though we worked at the same company, there was an unspoken divide amongst the group. Team A (new execs) sat on the right-hand side of the table, lined up shoulder-to-shoulder while Team B sat on the other side. There was no intermingling amongst the groups and divides were clearly drawn by the self-selected seating plan.

Team A was the newly minted management leadership group brought in by the CEO to quickly turn around a business that had been steadily declining and was in need of some new thinking. This team looked and dressed very differently from existing employees at the company. Their appearance was, shall we say, a little bent toward the high fashion realm. They stood in stark contrast to the existing but evolving corporate culture.

Team B was a seasoned group of loyal executives who had built the business over the course of many years, a business they all loved and were very proud of. What was unsaid in the meeting was that Team B was worried about not having a say in the future of the company. Anxiety ran very high and it was clear that some people on the existing team had a high level of skepticism and did not want the new team poking holes in decisions of the past---decisions they were responsible for making.

Team A, saw an amazing brand and respected the group that sat in front of them and knew they lacked knowledge in the industry and would be reliant on Team B’s historical insight and overall expertise. They were excited to introduce some new ideas and see what the team with more history thought about them. The creative lead from Team A (new group) started the meeting by stating that while he didn’t know a lot about the industry, he hoped they could work together and make each better through their different knowledge sets.

“The only thing I ask all of us is that we assume positive intent. Let’s all assume that we're here to move the company forward and that we honor each other’s knowledge bases and set of differences and we use those differences to make us individually and collectively better.” 

After several rounds of discussion, it became clear that some members of the existing team were not willing to change or evolve and took issue with every single thought that the new group posed, no matter how brilliant. All the new team heard by two members of the existing group was, “We tried that before. Not a new idea. It didn’t work.” A few members of the existing team leaned into some of the suggestions posed by the new team and were able to build on the concepts and provide expertise and insight into why things failed in the past and were even able to discuss how to stabilize the infrastructure to support the process. At the end of the meeting, there were some hard feelings and some incredibly excited members who clearly were going to move the company forward.

The next steps were to be carried forth by a unified team comprised of existing employees and some members of the new team. Eventually, it became clear that even some members of the new team couldn’t live up to the expectations involved within the industry and company.  

LESSONS LEARNED: With corporations and industries changing every day, we have all been in the middle of a management or leadership shift. We are either a member of an existing group of corporate employees or a newly hired group brought in to evoke change. The best piece of advice I have heard is to “assume positive intent” of the other team.

Emotions and insecurities often run high whether you are part of the change or part of history. If you showcase a willingness to trust a bit and to listen to the other group, you will be seen as a collaborator with the ability to move things forward. As a leader, I view these situations and behaviors very carefully.

First, find your people, these are like-minded individuals who will lead the evolution with you. Second, find the 'fence-sitters', they are people who may be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and maybe skeptical at first but willing to support a vision and provide input of their own to make it even better. Some of these fence-sitters may elect to fall off the fence and opt-out completely. There will be a third group that will be unwilling to evolve in any way.