Assignment 1 Implicit Assumptions

My initial days in the current org ie about 14 years back, I had Implicit assumptions which developed from
the need to process an abundance of information quickly in order to make quick decisions. These
assumptions are ideas that we accept as true without proof.

One of my implicit assumptions that influenced me to behave towards other persons @my work
environment.

When I joined my current organization in 2005 (that’s my second job and I was in my mid 20’s) , we
had lot of back log work to catch up and deliverables committed with very short timelines. It was very
challenging and I was motivated to make those timelines meet to prove and contribute in my own
way. I joined in a mid manager role so had a part of the team under my leadership. I had a team of 8
people with 4 senior resources in the age group of 45-50 years +age.

While I was working against time , saw couple the senior resources (who were otherwise known to
have proven good track record ) in the team working strictly as per office hours and not stretching to
meet those deliverables. I had this perception bias of younger people working for more hours being
more productive. I always felt people like me working with sleeves rolled in and working endlessly ,
ready for challenges are the best for any org.

I expected every one to spend their max time at work to meet the timelines and deliverables and clear
the back logs and felt that the senior resources were ineffective as they could not work for extended
hours , which later on I realized was incorrect as they were more focused and productive , but had to
go through a learning curve .

This belief effected my behavior towards the senior folks and I started avoiding them in my core
meetings and started ignoring them . They were much more experienced and knowledgeable given
their decade long stay at the organization and infact were doing their work very sincerely and had it
not been for my behavior, it would have helped us better which I realized later.

This was about 14 years back when I was new to the job as mid level manager and wanted to clear all
my tasks in a day !! . Those days we never had the smart phones or laptops so hence was my initial
impression or assumption on they being unproductive since they left early and rarely left late. Rest of
us, used to work as if there is no tomorrow and this continued for about 1 year till I was mentored and
I realized the ill effects of my assumptions and how I was being distanced from the most senior group
and it led to my miseries at work.

How this implicit assumption influenced my behavior toward another person in your work ?

I had written off the senior resources and was ignoring them in the critical decisions / team meetings
. My assumptions on they being not productive or useful and the behavior in these initial months
created a divide in the team and I could not realise this as was too busy with the deliverables / back
logs to notice that my behavior was creating an generation gap of sorts in the team. They needed to
be respected, given their credits and also sought for their experience at work instead of avoiding them
and not treating them well because of their age/timings at work . I had written them off for any
productive work and was getting tangled with more issues and delays.

This implicit behavior resulted in the overall productivity going down and though every one was
working very hard or trying to prove to me / everyone else the team had lost the charm or the
happiness at work and we started failing on most of the deliverables . There were dissatisfaction in
the team and increasing frustration at my end as we were still not able to finish the deliverables, the
quality of the work was suffering as well.

This continued till my senior manager stepped in after a bad audit meeting (my first in the
organization) and mentored me . I soon realized that I was moving away from my best and most
knowledgeable resources and not using them well and in the bargain not meeting the timelines or
deliverables .

Senior resources reactions -

The senior resources in the group were feeling neglected , not respected and of course their
productivity levels had gone down . They felt rejected and dejected . Suddenly after so many years in
the organization , thanks to my implicit assumptions they were not being wanted and perhaps did not
want to contribute as well . There was a big negative divide in the team, starting from lunch room
discussions, coffee meetings and the team too was not socializing with them as they felt unwanted
over few months. They tried to speak out in the meetings , but no one cared as I had created an implicit
assumption amongst others that they are not productive since they were aging and not slogging
beyond office hours. Those days we never had the smart phones or laptops so hence was my initial
impression or assumption on they being unproductive since they left early and rarely left late.

How Did It End and what did I learn ?

Thankfully this did not drag for long as we were not meeting our goals and meeting the deliverables
and the senior manager mentored me on how to involve the senior resources and their experiences
and made me realise that they were much more productive than I thought them to . When we were
not meeting our goals , I was forced to reach out to them and seek their advise and was very surprised
to see how they could help and were productive waiting for an opportunity to be involved . I started
getting them back to core internal meetings, discussions and audit committee reviews . They got back
to the realm of actions and started owning the actions , delivering it with great accountability .

Post my meetings with my senior manager then, I realized the errors that I had made in the judgments
over the 3-6 month period and did the following –

1. Communication- I reestablished the communication channels with the senior resources and
did gave them back the recognition and respect they deserved. Got them back to core
meetings, gave them task ownership and made them know of the seriousness of the
deliverables and timelines.
2. Accountability and Authority – Demanded Accountability and gave authority . Restructured
the team structure and gave them enough resources to lead and pull through the deliverables.
3. Structure Myself – Started introspecting and questioning self , my assumptions and started
connecting a lot more to the groups , people, teams to validate those assumptions. Did not
blindly go on my belief . Structured the decision making process and not be judgemental.
4. Self Consciousness – Post this incident I had become very conscious to ensure I was not been
trapped by my own biases and assumptions as that was detrimental to my thought process.
5. Feedback – I have had various employee connects formally and informally to validate my
assumptions and also seek feedback from the resources on various topics including their work
and my leadership , actions, accessibility , etc. Its not very easy in this part of the world , but
they are opening up in informal connects.
6. KPI Setting and Appraisals – Doing a detailed objective , target driven and recognizable KPI’s
and using the appraisal system to ensure the promotion and the ratings are awarded to the
deserving colleagues only.
Presently as I have a remote team , I am still trying hard to ensure I follow the above steps and be
away from these implicit assumptions and hope this has helped in long run to maintain a cordial
relationship in the team, where I work with the positives of each one of them , some are young, some
are experienced , some structured and some love to give surprises, its mixed bag and I am hopefully
away from any assumptions as I am constantly doing a reality check at periodic intervals ..