When someone can’t get out of the past: 5 ways to guide them
Most of us have years of experience behind us in the workforce. Some more than others. I remember when I could say: "I have ten years of experience." I was so proud and thought I had learned so much. Then, I evolved to: "I have 15 years of experience." Ok. Even better. Now, I am a bonafide seasoned professional. Now, I say: "I have 20 plus years." It's that plus that doesn't seem to change despite the number of years that are behind that plus. I am a "plus-er" and will be one for the rest of my life.
But that is nothing to be ashamed of. Unfortunately, I see age bias too much in our workplace. I am not sure why the age of 50 or 60 deems someone irrelevant. The workplace is catching up with the notion that 50 is the new 30…or, at least, the new 40.🙂 I see some positive opinions about age, and I hope we can welcome and respect multiple generations into the workplace as that only makes us more diverse and effective.
The key is not everything we have done or tried in the past will work now. Conversely, things we may have tried that didn't work a decade ago could work today. Having years of experience behind us only teaches us how important it is to stay up on trends, continuously learn, and apply our knowledge today to problem solve, plan and pivot. We need to figure out the proper ratio of past experience, current trends, and future anticipation to help us be successful.
I have met many people in my career and have worked at several organizations. I have run into seasoned professionals like myself who get stuck from time to time in their past life. Maybe you know one of these people? It is the person who says two years after joining a new organization: "Here's how we did it at my last organization." "We tried that already six years ago here, and it didn't work." "I have seen this situation in a different department or organization, and it won't work." "I did this ten years ago, and this is fool-proof." Hmmm…maybe.
Like many of you, I have many books on my shelves. I try hard to abandon paper for my Kindle Paperwhite but can't seem to do it. I have so many highlights, flags, and notes in some of my business books; I can't transition them to digital even though there are many excellent tools to capture thoughts in that manner.
One of my favorites is the Heath Brothers' book: Made to Stick. There are so many salient points in this book but the one that still sticks (no pun intended) with me today is the focus on how best practices are not necessarily transferable from one company to the other.
It is fair to learn what Microsoft, Google, or Amazon are doing from a business perspective. Still, you must ask yourself if your company has the same culture, leadership, clients, targets, objectives, shareholders, global footprint, values, etc., as those companies. If not, I question whether picking up some practice, process, or program from Meta and dropping it in a 100-year-old manufacturer will work. Maybe yes; maybe no. The answer is always: "It depends."
So, what do you do when working with someone who can't get out of the past? They are stuck on whether something will or won't work solely based on past experience without taking anything else from today or tomorrow into account. Here are five points to consider as a manager:
1. Listen to their perspective.
I have to admit when I hear people only living in the past, it is easy to tune them out. However, the past can be a good predictor of the future. We should consider all perspectives. I advocate for listening to the person who has experience. Allow this person to share their opinion and challenge them to share not just what they think but the context and factors around what they believe and why something worked or didn't work in their past. Be sure to ask them about the business problem, the stakeholders, the approach, and the measurements of success.
2. Challenge them to test their hypothesis.
Give the person a chance to test what they think with a small group of people, a small process, or a willing client. This takes time, and most of us don't have time to waste. I once did this with a team member. She was convinced her performance management process worked at their last job, so I asked her to try it with a small group. She did. People were confused and could not grasp how it was going to work. We debriefed, and it turned out it just didn't align with how we measured performance at our organization. We used this learning to devise something that made sense and aligned with our goals.
3. Collect input.
Ask the person to shop their idea around and get people's opinions about what will work and not work. Conduct interviews and send surveys to capture what others think. I don't think we always do this enough with almost anything we want to do. We are all intelligent. We are all capable. To leverage an organization's diversity, enlist people to help you think through a solution, especially if it is something new and requires a behavior change. Remember: People support what they create, so get them involved.
4. Build a compromise solution.
After doing a trial run and collecting the input of others, I have rarely seen someone emerge with the same solution. Most of the time, valuable feedback is gained through piloting and collecting data and input. There are many ways to skin a cat (which I find to be a horrible expression; we need a new one). So, work with this person to find a compromise incorporating some of their learning and experience with what they are hearing and seeing today.
5. Iterate.
In our agile world, I have embraced the concept of trying something out, collecting feedback, and iterating. Iterating allows us not to stay stuck. This approach makes change management even more critical if you are constantly tweaking or altering a new process or practice, so balancing these two factors is essential. With the landscape changing so quickly, we must adopt this mindset to listen to our customers — internal or external continuously—and continuously improve. We must be sure we are enhancing something and not making changes for change's sake.
We all have valuable experiences to share, whether we are 22, 34, 56, or 70 years old. The key is not getting stuck on something just because of our past experiences. I view growing our experience as collecting stones over time. You keep collecting and fitting them together to build a path to your current point. If we get stuck along the way, collect more stones through feedback, testing, compromising, and sharing openly.
We should respect everyone's perspective, and we should also challenge it and push on it from time to time to make sure our solutions are the best they can be….today.
Looking for practical tips for being a middle manager today? Check out my book on Amazon: Succeed from the Middle: A middle manager’s guide to stop being pulled apart and start balancing your team, your boss and you.