So worried about work situation

[Posturesorposes]

Been awake most of the night. Hoping some of you might give me advice. Have name changed so as to not out myself...

During lockdown, whilst I was on mat leave with a weeks old baby a fab new position within my organisation was announced. It would become roughly a third of the postholders contract and would be cross-departmental- a total step up and spot on with my interests. I applied. When I applied I knew that experience wise I would be a total newbie (say under 10 years after my PhD versus others in parallel roles 25 plus years since PhD). But my department encouraged me and I was called to interview. Interviewed on zoom and voila - was offered it! Returned to work two weeks ago with this cool new title at work and flung myself into my new role — a huge career step up.

As part of this role I’ve been having meetings with loads of people and have had 3 lines of feedback from some Very Important People. They are all under the rank of the person who hired me (this person is bear the very top of the organisation) but they still are Very Important.

Person 1 told me: I am too inexperienced for this role. They wanted it themselves.

Person 2 told me: the role itself is meaningless and adds no value to the organisation and they can see I’m buzzing with energy but they see no reason for them or their department to engage with me/this role.

Person 3: they already have what they need and this role makes little sense.

Three three people pretty much lead key aspects of the organisation. I can see they are years and years of achievement ahead of me. But I WAS given this role. I didn’t cheat my way into it somehow. Now I feel they’ve made a colossal mistake and I should resign.

Other less senior voices have subtly indicated the role decision had to do with my gender/ethnicity.

I’m a really driven ambitious person, and even with a baby and a pre schooler i was SO excited about this role but if such senior people are so so down about me doing this maybe it’s a task too huge for me and maybe my hiring was a huge mistake. So unsure what to do. An array of marketing is being produced to promote the role and me and I feel like a total imposter.

Really upset about this and soon will need to get up for baby’s morning breastfeed then nursery etc but thought would pop it on here. Have been looking vaguely for “women in leadership” type courses even :/

@Posturesorposes

Well done on getting the new job - on merit!

@EvelynBeatrice

You have raging ‘imposter syndrome’ - google it. Very common in women. Do you think a bloke would be that worried even if he felt (unlikely) that his rise had been undeservedly meteoric?!
OP, I came here to say the same! I used to work (in an admin role) in Executive Recruitment and got to see the CVs and covering letters of both males and females and so often the Male ones were so much more confident in how they "marketed" themselves, even though work experience and qualifications were pretty much even. Something I took note of for my own personal subsequent job searches.

Hard to do, I know, but take some of the emotion/doubt out of the equation. You were hired for this role for a good reason - and put noses of joint from those who either wanted the job themselves or were happy with the status quo/silo mentality.

I'd definitely keep as much as possible in writing (audit trail) and see if you can set up regular catchups (documented afterwards so everyone is on the same page). Also consider regular 1:1 catchups (monthly? quarterly?) with your immediate boss who recruited you to keep them in the loop of how things are developing and as part of your own feedback/review process going forward.

Good luck OP! 🌹

*noses OUT of joint

SoloMummy's responses are pitched well.

Archive these discussions should you ever need to approach HR. As SoloMummy says, you do need to mention this resistance to your line manager. Organisations do not need this level of inflexibility and resistance.

Prove them wrong! They are just jealous

The 3 managers feel threatened by you.

At a guess, your role will be responsible for driving through changes in the organisation. They either don't want the changes to happen because it'll diminish them in some way or upset their comfortable work life...or they know if you deliver you'll be "golden" and take away their spotlight.

Irrespective of what they think, the hiring manager and their boss has hired you. Just crack on with your role and show them what you're capable of. I'd keep an informal log of inappropriate comments regarding your sex/ethnicity but only as back up if they become intolerable and it moves to a bullying type of relationship instead of just a sour grapes one.

Best of luck!

"They have a saying that excellence is the antidote to prejudice; so, once you show you can do it, some of the barriers will come down." - Dr Roscoe Brown

Just be better than they are; always worked for me. I was similarly a bit difference (although white) and was working in the City with a toddler and then a baby on the way by the time I was 23 - much younger than many others as I graduated in law aged 20. I just tried to find common ground - eg much older people, partners etc had a nanny as I did, had bought a house, were looking at private schools and I sang in choirs so I found I get on with those older people in a way another 23 year old just into pop music. In other words I found the common ground and worked on that. Mind you ultimately I set up on my own which has been the best thing ever as I keep all the money. However I needed those 10 years of working in law firms before I could do that.

So just find the common ground, avoid the people who seem out to get you and prove you are much better than they are but don't publicly shame them on emails if you find out their spelling and grammar is worse than yours or they make other mistakes. Just shine out through your own brilliance. Most people do not go round telling work colleagues they only got the job due to their ethnic origin. Do keep a note of that that person said as that (if it is not true) would be useful to save for future use.

I'd keep an informal log of inappropriate comments regarding your sex/ethnicity but only as back up if they become intolerable and it moves to a bullying type of relationship instead of just a sour grapes one.

Organisations will never change if these things are concealed to protect the reputation of the perpetrators. If they're prepared to write/say things like this to the OP how on earth are they reacting to more junior staff.

How rude and unprofessional these people are. In what world do you say "your job is useless and you only got it because you're female and non-white".

Lots of good advice on here OP.

As part of this role I’ve been having meetings with loads of people and have had 3 lines of feedback from some Very Important People. They are all under the rank of the person who hired me (this person is bear the very top of the organisation) but they still are Very Important.

Why have you capitalised ‘Very Important People’ and ‘Very Important’? In fact, I don’t understand why you have used those descriptions. It sounds like the sort of thing you’d hear from somebody very inexperienced who gets over-excited when they encounter somebody more senior than them.

I’m trying to work out whether it’s a clue to something that might have prompted the reaction of persons 2 and 3. Neither of whom disparaged you personally, I notice; they just aren’t interested in your project, which is what I assume it is if it’s taking up a third of your time and is cross-departmental.

Are you in the public sector? I’d put money on it. It’s great that you’ve got a new role but you need to remember that the public sector is constantly coming up with projects. Some useful, others not.

You can’t expect people who are more senior than you, and busy, to be excited about this particular project just because you are. Or even because somebody more senior than them thinks it is a good idea (and most likely, that person has been stuck with the responsibility of making it happen if it’s a cross-governmental initiative and/or a minister’s hobby horse project) It doesn’t mean that they are jealous, just that they don’t see the value of diverting resources and time towards it. Especially when the person trying to ‘sell’ it is unable to conceal his/her internal monologue, which goes like this: “I’m meeting Very Important People and if I impress them I can be a Very Important Person too!”

That might be you, or it might not, but I’ve been the senior person who has had to engage with a succession of projects led by super-enthusiastic ambitious people. Some of them were irrelevant, some lacked value, some were good.

Look, regardless of how you got the seat at the table- you have a seat at the table.

Now you need to focus your mind, your energy and your action on what you need to do.

Your Super Senior Person has probably wisely realised that very often the “top quartile” is full of crawlers and bullshitters and that there’s undervalued talent to be mined if they put the effort into finding it.

If Super Senior Person awarded you the job, then the views of people lower down (even if they’re higher than you) are irrelevant. Ignore them, enjoy your work, prove them wrong.

I would start recording teams meetings. Make up a reason at the start why, or if you want to be blunt ‘so there is no confusion about the purpose of my role’ and see if they will say anything then.

If not they know they are wrong. I would mention the sex (not gender, one is recognised in law the other not) and ethnicity comment to HR though, that is verging very close to protected characteristics discrimination laws and should be reported and logged.

A lot of people are so set in their ways they can't cope with change. Change is probably exactly what is needed at your workplace.

Keep your enthusiasm. You got the job you wanted and you power on with it. I'm sure you will do really well.

Well done on your job. You deserve it and don’t let anyone say otherwise!
Is this your first foray into office politics? Because that’s what this is just at a senior level. Person 1 is outright jealous, that should be fine but watch out for backstabbing to get your job. Person 2 & 3 are scared of losing control as it sounds like you are in a position to pass judgement on their work or practices and so will try to minimise your power/authority. I would point out that if they really had a problem with the role being created the time to bring it up was probably 6 months ago with more senior people and clearly either someone more senior thinks it adds value or they chose not to raise it, either way raising it with someone who went for the job seems odd.
In these situations I try end emulate Circe from Game of Thrones

And that’s where I cannot ignore my gut instinct that I didn’t really deserve it/will be out of my depths with it but that my
Gender and ethnicity made them give me it.

And that's exactly what they wanted you to feel. You're 10 years post-PhD so mid 30's? You're not some young and inexperienced person straight out of University. You have 10 years experience under your belt so dump that idea right away.

It's a typical response from a man (and ethnicity has nothing to do with it here) who has lingered around like a bad smell, waiting for the promotion, thought it was theirs by right (being male) and is now having a tantrum because a woman was better than him. Saw it a lot in the civil service. The only thing to do is ignore it, do your job and when you get powerful enough, sack them (last one is a joke - sort of).

Good luck and well done!

Firstly, congratulations on the role, certainly sounds like was achieved on merit!

I agree with PPs - sounds like a clear case of jealousy and politics at play here. From your perspective, I think it’s good though that 1,2 and 3 have shown their hand so early in the game as now you know where you stand, and you can deal with it up front!

I agree that you will likely be expected to manage much of this hostility yourself and your Super Senior boss won’t want to hear about every silly comment. But you should find a way to let them know about it - a monthly catch up / status check in meeting is a good idea. I would bring up the issue in a way that demonstrates that you are prepared to deal with this yourself and that you don’t expect your boss to get involved etc - eg “In some interactions I have gotten push back from some groups about the approach I am taking - I am dealing with this by doing x,y,z. Is there any background / context that I should be aware of here / do you agree with my approach?” That could open up a very interesting conversation and give you more ideas of how to deal with this - eg following pp suggestion, it could be that a similar project failed a few years ago and that’s driving the negativity. With that knowledge you can then distinguish your project from previous experiences.

Unfortunately, in any senior position politics and personal agendas get in the way of getting the job done at times. You probably need to be prepared for more of this. In my role I seem to spend a not insignificant proportion of time pandering to peoples egos - getting the right people onside and making them believe that engaging with you will help them achieve their own objectives is often the only way to actually get the job done.

Having a sponsor / mentor who has your back is also key. Sounds like you have that with your HoD

Good luck!

I would start recording teams meetings. Make up a reason at the start why, or if you want to be blunt ‘so there is no confusion about the purpose of my role’ and see if they will say anything then.

This might be the worst advice I’ve ever read on here, and that is saying something.

This is in academia, right? If it is, then this is SO par for the course sadly - so please know that this is about the dysfunctional culture, not about you. Hierarchies are so rigid, and seniority is often more important than capability. And the pale, male and stale feel very threatened by younger, female, BAME academics... Plus academic autonomy gets interpreted by lots of gatekeepers as being carte Blanche to resist change or improvement. I’m sorry that you’re experiencing this, OP, but stick with it and influence those who you can. Once you have allies and collaborators, those unpleasant people who clearly se you as a threat won’t be able to undermine you and are more than likely to fall in line. And you will be able to demonstrate the value of the role and your own excellence in performing it.

I'm guessing you're an academic and the politics of academia really are exhausting and petty (Google Sayre's Law).

Where I work these cross-cutting initiatives and posts often falter because the organisation's sense of identity and unity is only surface deep. People are often more committed to their department, their discipline and especially their own career than the employer or funder that's asking them to engage with a project that they don't see as useful to those things (dept, discipline, career). As PP have said there can also be initiative fatigue. If you add into that a feeling that they should have got the post...whew.

The only advice I can give is that it takes a while. Keep chipping away. Engage, engage, engage. If you can find people lower down who are more open to working with you and the aims of your project, do it. You can achieve an awful lot of change by almost circumventing the senior people.

What's the job OP? (I work in academia too so Would like to know 😁)

Academia can be a snakes pit. Of course all the more senior people will be rattled you got promoted over their heads. Hence all the disparaging remarks. The only thing they prove is their poor manners and bitterness, not their honesty or good judgement.

Just ignore the bastards and do your best. Try and identify allies that will be supportive of your role (while providing sensible, constructive feedback. You need more than yes men: aim for a good mix of sensible, experienced people, and energetic "revolutionary" types). Some may be senior, some might not. Just make sure you form your very own army of goodwill. Keep the big senior guy who appointed you on your side, and let the middle managers do their thing. Some will get over it, so may try to sabotage you, so may eventually become allies...
Good luck! It won't be easy (and you won't please everybody) but you can do it!

Oh in terms of women in leadership - as well as Lean In also take a look at some of Brene Brown’s books / material - Dare to Lead is prob a good place to start

If you’d been asked at interview ‘not everyone is in agreement about this role. How will you overcome resistance from colleagues?’ my guess is you’d have given a great answer about working with people, addressing concerns, demonstrating impact over time.
So you have your first challenge but actually I’m sure you do know what you need to do. And it’s not to quit!

I completely get this- I was In a similar position myself. It's pure jealously. I really let it affect me and I wish I didn't. You got that job because you bring something that they don't. Don't let them get you down