25052019 Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast

I have been thinking a lot. (do i ever stop? probably not) I am feeling "better", which means the ENTJ me is coming back. At work, I do feel that I am making a change culture wise. I was going through the general inbox, just going through how the team was responding to emails - I like to do this from time to time, gauging the tone, looking at grammar mistakes, are we at a certain standard etc. And I came across a few from someone who seem to be "copying" the way I reply.

In this scenario, I often reply quite informally a " Thanks XXX!!" and nothing else. This team member has started to do the same. At first, something ticked in me, how dare this person copy my signature, this is infringing on the way I interact, it was my flavor of emails and correspondence. Then I had an inner staff meeting with myself. Is copying you so bad? Aren't you proud someone is copying you? She wants to be like you? Haven't you always wanted to be looked up to? Why are you overreacting? "Hm", i thought. I am actually quite glad that someone is making the effort to make the workplace welcoming and inclusive.

The longer I was at the workplace, the more I pick up things that could be done better and most of it had to do with attitude. There are multiple teams within a company, but we should be working towards a goal together. Being friendly towards one another, going above and beyond to help one another and be like a family, as cliche as it sounds. That being said there are some who aren't so and are quire passive aggressive. As an example, I recently sent someone an email following up on a request, he replied with "Didn't you check XXX document?" I said " yes however XXX and I couldn't find any link to it". I knew how difficult it was to get hold of anyone within his team so I sent it to his direct email. " Please do not send emails to the direct consultant but to the team inbox" was his reply. 

1. One part of me knew I should have done so, however, taking the chance, I did what I did.

2. Aren't we supposed to be helping one another? Even though we have separate managers, we are still in the same team.

3. Building the relationship was important so I forwarded the email to the generic inbox.

4. Was it so hard to get a confirmation to my request and just answer me with one detailed email?

This is where it can get a little toxic. There is always going to be people who are selfish, and self centered. Thinking they are helpful because they keep their inbox down to a minimum by responding the way he did. No. It's not helpful and it is cultivating a hate towards his team. In my team, whenever we do need something from their team, we ensure that we are totally maxed out then go to them, even though by SOP, they are our first point of contact.

In saying that, not all within my team are absolute saints. They are now because this person I am going to talk about has left. This time I was the "savage" one. I received an email from within my team (red flag #1), asking about a case I am working on. I sent,

"Good morning XXX, If you checked the email trail, I have sent a response to XXX and followed up with XXX, I have also copied him in the email" or something along those lines. 

Well.

She. Forwarded. The. Email. Too. My. Manager.

Are we back at school where we tell on others to get attention? Apparently we were.

Fortunately. My manager knew where I am coming from and just said. "Thanks for following that up"

My guess is that my email tainted her ego and she couldn't handle being talked down. From there I did sense that within the team there is a sort of fear of me. I didn't really think much of it until I became the one people had to come to for help and I was seen as the last resort by those who were "afraid".