New job: undermined

[Mangetoutmangetouti]

This is long, sorry.

I had a great job, hybrid, lots of WFH, part time with regular weekdays off.
Perfect for me with disability and kids, but I was bored.
No progression, not stimulating. Then a job came up that felt more me , aligned with my skills and experience, interesting, challenging, more hours, less holiday but school hours (not term time only unfortunately).

I enjoy the job and know I’m good at it.
I’m the only one doing my role. My predecessor left before I joined, so I’ve been learning as I go.
I was told to make the job my own, which I’ve done. It’s public facing and relies heavily on volunteers.

There was no clear system for seeing customers, people would wait around for ages, volunteers would call my name while I was with someone else.
It felt chaotic and unfair to customers, so I introduced a simple reception process to manage things better. It’s basic, I tested it with colleagues, one said she really liked it.

Every day I introduce it to the day’s team of volunteers, saying it’s a trial and I’m open to feedback. I’ve tweaked it when needed.

One day I was out at a meeting and my boss sent an email to everyone saying not to follow the new process after I’d not been there to introduce it to the team, honestly it is simple and nothing more than you’d be asked at any appointment anywhere .

I explained I needed some structure, then she agreed I could keep using it.

The next week, while working with customers , I overheard volunteers talking about me , through two appointments. Loudly & negatively, comparing me to my predecessor, saying I don’t understand our clients, that I’m inexperienced. It was humiliating and unprofessional.

One came over afterwards to give their collective “feedback.” I told her I’d heard everything they said whilst I was working. She explained why they didn’t like it , she said she didn’t care one way or the other…
most reasons were spurious but I listened, took notes, said I’d adapt it.
She said she’d bring it to their volunteer team meeting.

I left the room and heard them still talking about me. When I came back, it continued.

While they were gossiping, they missed a key security step that could’ve put us at risk.

At the end of the shift she said she was going upstairs to talk to my manager (apparently not about me). She then left, all smiles. Another volunteer left, saying goodbye to everyone except me.

My manager then came to ask if I was ok , clearly the volunteer had said something.
I explained what happened.
She said the loudest complainer always behaves like that, that new staff often go through this, and shared examples.
I was shocked they were still being allowed to volunteer.

My boss said I should’ve run my new process by her, but I reminded her she’d told me to make the role my own.
She then admitted the volunteer lied , there was never a system before, and my predecessor didn’t have a structured one. She said they actually like my professionalism and ‘modern’ way of working.

Mind blown.

We agreed I’d remove my form temporarily while we create a more basic version.

The next day, without it, I was run off my feet.
Whilst with a customer ,
I again heard volunteers whispering about me , different people this time, saying “she’s still learning” and discussing parts of the service outside my remit as though I was doing something wrong but it’s something legally I’m not allowed to touch.
I couldn’t hear it all as working, but it really upset me.

I thought I was doing well. After years of WFH, this has been a big adjustment with my health, but I was excited to prove myself. Now I just feel crushed and embarrassed .

I’ve thrown what felt like an amazing opportunity for a disabled mum just because I was bored .

My old WFH job isn’t being re-advertised, and I can’t find anything similar.
I feel stupid for leaving a safe role for this , and now I’m stuck in a toxic, undermining environment where I feel exposed, vulnerable, and unprotected.

How do I deal with this?

It sounds like you're doing all right! This kind of reaction is normal to change. One way to make change land better is to give people a say in the 'design' stage so that when it comes along, they at least feel their ideas have been given a hearing. But ultimately, you're the leader here - your job is to lead - that's what you're doing. You can't always be popular as a leader.

I think things will settle down when the staff get used to the idea. Make it clear you are open to feedback but through the proper channels - i.e. they should feed back to you in a professional way, not stand round complaining in your earshot.

I’m not a manager. We work alongside each other, they’re the first point of call.
As stated succinctly by another poster, I’ve walked into a situation where there’s no structure or privacy for the service I give. It’s like a freefalling free for all and I didn’t issue any orders or anything other than a piece of paper asking for very basic information along the lines of: time slot, name, which service is required to try and get some management of my working day.
I have made a point of talking it through at the beginning of each shift as another manager (not my immediate boss) advised me to do and it has evolved following feedback from each team, so I have not just implemented a piece of work with no discussion.
as I have said a few times, I’ve removed it now because it was too stressful in a new job.

I’m not a leader and had said each day I’m open to feedback and have altered accordingly but ditched it now as I’m not a boss and I have not got it in me to defend myself against what I’ve learned is an ingrained culture here

Yes exactly this. It’s crazy and imagine trying to give support when you can see you have umpteen people waiting, people constantly telling you there’s people waiting. It’s horrible for everyone concerned, including the volunteers but especially the customers receiving the support and for those awaiting the support.
Ive got a headache just thinking about it

It's a shame you've felt you had to give the idea up. You might not be formally a manager but you clearly have it in you to be a leader or else you wouldn't have tried to put in place a change, you'd just have accepted the status quo, however inefficient it was.

If the environment is toxic, look for something else. You now have a brilliant interview example of how you've implemented a change to bring about greater efficiency; and also about how you've handled objections from staff members to this change. It's all material for your CV.

Thank you for your kindness and understanding of the situation.
I am so very sad I made this decision. I was sold something different to what I’ve ended up in so I’m trying to make the best of it

I hadn’t considered it this way, I guess it is a good example of how I didn’t manage change effectively and gave up at the first hurdle 🤣🙈😭
but thanks, yes it is an example of how I spotted a gap and tried to fix it.

No, you need to see this differently - it's an example of how you learned lessons from the implementation of a change, and in an interview situation you can talk about what you might have done differently.

Really, it's a dream interview example - it could fit so many questions - improving a process, handling conflict, learning from a mistake, putting the customer first.

Ok, so could you hold a meeting and suggest a restructure:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings are drop in sessions. 10 minutes to gather information, then an appointment booked for a 30 minute/ 1 hour follow up appointment on a Tuesday, Thursday or Mon-Fri afternoon. Or something similar.

That way, you're giving immediate attention to the problem the client brings, but also can give the bespoke support they require.

The manager doesn’t want volunteers booking appointments . I hadn’t gleaned that from previous conversations with her until things had gone past coming to a head.
I’m not clear if it’s about not giving them too much responsibility or not giving them too much authority.
it feels like the goalposts change all the time

Yes! 🙌🏼 thank you, you’re right, all I can think of is failure and disappointment at the moment, I appreciate your alternative perspective

I wasn't really intending that. I meant that your CIC could change their advertising of it, so it's clear that the initial contact will be a 'surgery' appointment, then a detailed follow up will be arranged. You could book the follow up personally at the end of the initial appointment.

Your manager doesn’t have your back. You’ve implemented a change to help you manage your work but they’ve dismissed it because change is just too difficult with some volunteers. They also haven’t implemented the adjustments for your disability.

You haven’t failed, your manager just sounds useless and lazy. They don’t deserve you.

I would accept it for what it was and just do the best you can without changing anything. Put your energy into finding another job.

Thank you, this is kind of the mindset I’ve given myself. As a disabled non English single parent of sen kids I have spent a lifetime trying to change systems or advocate or be heard and understood, I just do not have the fight in me to try and tackle yet another system.

This is a good idea thank you

Surely there's a way of giving information to all the volunteers? By email etc? The new system could be shared that way to everyone.

Isn't there a handbook or code of conduct for volunteers too? Ongoing training?
Every place I've worked with volunteers there have been updates on things like H&S, GDPR etc.

It sounds like the shit ones are unprofessional talking about you in earshot of clients and like they'd also chat shit about clients/service users to others too.

How are they with sensitive information? GDPR?

Some of them are exactly as you’d imagine with gdpr. Exactly. There are others over the last few days who have clearly expressed their views and we’re definitely on the same page.
i don’t have access to the information about contacting them as a group. For some reason this has not been encouraged and despite other colleagues and seniors knowing my original planned change, I was encouraged to disseminate the information myself and it backfired. I honestly cba now, I’ve been put in my place, I’ll let those who are paid to do their job and I’ll work out another way to deal with it, it’s worked well over the weekend with a different group and a few other changes subtly related solely to me but which will still improve how the service is delivered