Terri,
> I was brought into this by the agency director and the group's new
> manager, to help figure out what the issues and concerns of this group
> were and to make some recommendations if I could.
This sentence may contain the core of the problem: you were hired by the
director and the new manager, and not by the group.
First, I do not know how to help a group that does not want my help. In a
situation like this, my first job is to get the client to ask for my help.
Until a group has asked for my help, any attempt I make to help will
likely do more harm than good.
Second, the group seems to resent the outcome of the decision (to hire the
new manager), as well as how the decision was made (unilaterally), and by
whom (the director). Perhaps the group sees you as an agent of the agency
director and new manager, and that association taints the group's view of
you, and attracts some of the group's resentment.
Third, your assignment was to help the director and the new manager. If
the atmosphere is as bad as you say it is, helping the manager and
director is probably not high on the group's priorities. Especially if
the decision to hire you was made unilaterally, without the group's input:
a decision like the one that set up the problem in the first place!
One theme underlies all of my suspicions: right now, the group feels
unsafe with you. If that's true, you may be able to make progress if you
can make yourself and the situation safer for the group.
One possibility is to offer to consult with the group in confidence, to
help them work on the issue as they see it. Anything that happens will
stay between you and the group.
Another possibility is to bring out information anonymously, so that no
idea can be traced to its source.
As you suggest, working with group members one on one may help, especially
if they do not feel completely safe with each other in this sensitive
situation.
Perhaps other LOers can offer ideas on how to increase safety.
In the meantime, can you work with the director and new manager to help
*them* interact more effectively with the group? Do the director and new
manager understand how they contributed to the situation? Might that
understanding lead to some ways of easing the tension?
Regards,
Dale
--Dale H. Emery -- Collaborative Consultant High Performance for Software Development Projects E-mail: dale@dhemery.com Web: http://www.dhemery.com
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