Need input

[twhfan]

Help!  I need some input from some impartial bystanders.  As some of you may remember, my company went through a merger recently.  I made it through the merger and have a new position and a new boss.  Although I’m grateful to have a job, I must say that it has been a very rocky road in our new world.  It is still very much “us” and “them”, and management seems to have no clue about how to bridge this gap.

Now on to my problem:  my new boss has just begun to hold departmental meetings.  She has been pulling out forms from ”their” organization and informing us that we’re going to start using them.  The majority of the forms that she is recommending are very poorly designed with way too much information crammed onto them.  Frankly, they look messy.  I’m told that they were created by a long-gone manager (with no Admin background!).  It doesn’t seem to have occurred to my new boss to consider that we have our own forms that we’ve used successfully.   It’s beginning to feel less like a merger and more like a take-over, even though my former organization was the larger and more successful one.  (Sorry, I’m starting to rant).

How would you approach the new boss with a suggestion to look at our and their forms to see which ones best meet our needs, instead of automatically adopting “their” forms?  I don’t want to make the boss angry, but I’m really getting tired of the lack of consideration.  This is no way to build a true team (whoops, here I go again!).   I’m finding it very hard to remain objective.

[countrigal]

Don't go into it as an "ours" vs. "yours" type discussion.  Ask to meet with Bossie to discuss the forms, and then go into it to determine what best meets the needs of the company, admitting that it might be a combination of information from both company's forms to get what is really needed and desired.  Get your ducks in a row, and be prepared with positives about both forms, but also with negatives on them both. This way you are not attacking "their" form, but both, thereby hopefully negating any defensive tactics they might adopt.  Would it be possible for you to develop some that merge information from both originals, and putting it all in a clearer format?  Then when you go in you could show examples of forms that are clear, concise, but complete, and ask for input on additional information needed.

To initiate the conversation, you might mention that none of the forms previously used seem to really meet the needs of the new merged company and you'd like to discuss an opportunity you've noticed for improvement, where the forms from both companies are combined.  This would be the opening to show any forms that you've created, where you have merged the information from forms from both companies.  As the new boss' admin, it is your position to help with these sort of items, to provide the best tools for your boss, and therefore his/her service, to use.

In the past, when I've been in a position where my predesessor had implemented forms that I wanted to improve on, I've taken the form that was previously used and started making small changes, keeping bossie and others informed of the why's and wherefore's.  This kept some of the balking that would normally have occurred at the thought of changing the form from actually happening, or at least happening in smaller doses that were easier to calm.  I've normally done this only after initially talking to those who use the form to determine what is really needed, how it is used, etc.  I don't ask permission, I just make changes and then tell them that I've done this to assist them in their duties.  Normally, the changes make it easier or simpler to do their role and after the initial balking at change, they adjust.  Then make more changes, until you feel they've adapted to the idea of change and you can then make the complete overall change.  Sometimes, just re-arranging fields, re-organizing a form, can make a world of difference to the users, though they won't admit it initially.  So you might try that.  Find out who will use the form and for what purpose and how... then make small changes to improve it and take it to bossie as a suggestion for improvement that will make it easier for the folks to use.  Make it worthwhile to bossie to accept the change and you'll have less balking from them.  Just be sure that what bossie wants from the form is also included, otherwise you'll shoot yourself in the foot.

I'll quit now... sorry for the diatribe.  Hope some of it is useful.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator