I work in a company where I’ve just started a new role in development. The company up until now has been very old fashioned, with an old website, no social media etc. I’ve been brought in to transform all of this, get it within the industry guidelines, including new systems and new ways of communicating with the public and bringing it into the 21st century.
There is an “old guard” at the company
who have made it clear they are resistant to any change, despite seemingly going along with my recruitment for the purposes I said above. There are also many great people there who have been helpful and keen to move things forward.
I am receiving a lot of hostility from one man in particular (he is 71) and he is a joint head of the company along with two other people. The hostility has taken the form of:
Seemingly becoming unreasonably impatient for changes to be made (eg expecting a new website to be online within a week of me starting the new role, sending emails to me cc-ing in everyone who works there saying they expected things to be faster.) Telling me to “just get something online and fix the niggles later,” then when I did produce a new website in record time (2 weeks from starting new job) complaining about the niggles over email and again cc-ing in everyone at the company . It later transpired that one of his sons who is an amateur website developer, made the original website, and his nose was put out of joint when others at the company suggested there should be a new one created.
Scheduling meetings “about” me which come up on my schedule too featuring various and changing people in the company but always excluding me and leaving me alone in the office when they occur.
He usually goes around some schools and universities talking about the company to young people. He became ill before one of his engagements and I offered to fill in for him as others at the company said they did not enjoy public speaking. It went well and I got good feedback from the school, but he did not seem to like this, was very dismissive of it and has turned more against me since this.
If I send an email to our department asking what others think about certain plans for the company, and everybody has a group discussion, he will not reply to the group email and email me separately being quite rude and dismissive of my idea, and also takes me aside individually after group meetings which have been constructive, to undo or overrule any permissions I’ve been granted for change or progress.
He once made me apologise to him in front of a group of ten people for something that was not clear. I still don’t know what it was, but apparently it was something to do with somebody not able to access the website during the time that the new one was being uploaded and the old one was down (a normal process that I had warned everyone about.) Apparently it caused him a lot of embarrassment.
withholding passwords, information and contacts for certain processes that I need to complete
He regularly sends emails to everyone who works there saying he is unhappy with how things are changing but not being clear about why. Then at the end he suggests that if anybody “wants him out” they “just have to say.”
It’s clear to me that he is worried about losing control of things. He feels threatened. He has been there a long time. I can understand this.
I think I have gone above and beyond in being sensitive towards this (I know it may not seem like this with the stepping in for his role when he was ill) but I think I was damned from the start because he simply does not want it to change.
The other people I’ve spoken about this to, including the other heads of the company are open about calling him difficult and making it clear he’s in the wrong, and say they want him out but he’s been there so long they don’t want to have to resort to anything undignified for him. I can understand this too. I have approached them about this a few times and they have just reiterated how grateful they are, how I just need to carry on doing what i am doing. And I feel embarrassed continually running to them with the attitude of “now he’s done this...”
But it’s very hard going into work every day knowing that such hostility exists, that he is in a position of power over me and that he will twist anything positive I do into something negative.
WWYD?