I have a complex problem that I cannot supply specific details about but I need a variety of opinions and perspectives to help me make a decision about what to do. I recently asked a professional to be part of a team of professionals I put together to manage a very delicate project. This person was to take on a leadership role that would allow me to step back and take care of other pressing matters.
IMO this person had all of the skills and experience to assume this role. I felt confident in their abilities, so confident that I relaxed my guard and chose to trust them to a larger degree then I had trusted someone in this role before. I did this in part because I needed a break and partly because I felt confident in their ability to do the job and do it well.
Unfortunately, this person had some ulterior concerns that I was unaware of. They expressed these concerns to me in an indirect way but I admittedly didn't pick up on them. As a result, I allowed them access to my team in a leadership role. They wreaked havoc with my team and undermined some of my projects main goals. Now, many of the existing members of my team are basically freaked out. This was a team I had put together over years and hand picked each and every member. This is close to a dozen people who all play a significant role in managing a project that is very dear to me.
Right now I have several problems.
1) I have to clean up the problems this person created.
2) I am not going to be able to clean this up with all of the members of my team, which means I may have to let go of some of them, or some of them may choose to leave, or the professional relationship we previously had, that was running smoothly, now has to be redefined.
3) I have to find replacements for the members of my team that either choose to leave or I have to let go of. This is no easy task because it took years to find each one of these people and a few of them I've developed long term professional relationships with that I grew to rely on.
4) I have to replace the person I hired as team leader, which unfortunately isn't an easy task because this persons skills are so specialized there are only a half dozen to maybe a dozen people that have the experience and specialization to do what they do. This would also entail me moving my project to another state, which I don't want to do. I don't think it's going to be possible to salvage the professional relationship with this team leader, even if it were possible I wouldn't be able to trust them to be willing to answer to me.
5) I need/have to let go of the direct hands on leadership role I have in this team but I need to stay the person making most if not all of the final decisions. Apparently, when you hire someone to run a very specialized project such as this, the people you need are people who are used to running their own show and most likely aren't going to sit well with having to answer to someone in the way I want them to answer to me.
6) I'm pissed off because I'm having to do all of this. I'm pissed at myself because I should have been more careful in choosing the person to lead this team. Im pissed because the professionals available to do this job are limited, which means there isn't a lot to choose from to begin with. Im pissed because the nature of the project requires me to make decisions I don't have a lot of experience making. I'm also just pissed off at this team leader for taking my team and my project goals in a direction they fully knew I was radically opposed to. Lastly, I'm pissed off because in just a few short weeks this person managed to undermine and wreak havoc with a project I've spent years developing.
I realize one of the first things I need to do is get over being so angry. But even after that, the reality of the situation still exists and has to be dealt with. Maybe I'm missing some important points or not seeing the whole picture. Anyone have any thoughts, insights, advice, opinions?
IMO this person had all of the skills and experience to assume this role. I felt confident in their abilities, so confident that I relaxed my guard and chose to trust them to a larger degree then I had trusted someone in this role before. I did this in part because I needed a break and partly because I felt confident in their ability to do the job and do it well.
Unfortunately, this person had some ulterior concerns that I was unaware of. They expressed these concerns to me in an indirect way but I admittedly didn't pick up on them. As a result, I allowed them access to my team in a leadership role. They wreaked havoc with my team and undermined some of my projects main goals. Now, many of the existing members of my team are basically freaked out. This was a team I had put together over years and hand picked each and every member. This is close to a dozen people who all play a significant role in managing a project that is very dear to me.
Right now I have several problems.
1) I have to clean up the problems this person created.
2) I am not going to be able to clean this up with all of the members of my team, which means I may have to let go of some of them, or some of them may choose to leave, or the professional relationship we previously had, that was running smoothly, now has to be redefined.
3) I have to find replacements for the members of my team that either choose to leave or I have to let go of. This is no easy task because it took years to find each one of these people and a few of them I've developed long term professional relationships with that I grew to rely on.
4) I have to replace the person I hired as team leader, which unfortunately isn't an easy task because this persons skills are so specialized there are only a half dozen to maybe a dozen people that have the experience and specialization to do what they do. This would also entail me moving my project to another state, which I don't want to do. I don't think it's going to be possible to salvage the professional relationship with this team leader, even if it were possible I wouldn't be able to trust them to be willing to answer to me.
5) I need/have to let go of the direct hands on leadership role I have in this team but I need to stay the person making most if not all of the final decisions. Apparently, when you hire someone to run a very specialized project such as this, the people you need are people who are used to running their own show and most likely aren't going to sit well with having to answer to someone in the way I want them to answer to me.
6) I'm pissed off because I'm having to do all of this. I'm pissed at myself because I should have been more careful in choosing the person to lead this team. Im pissed because the professionals available to do this job are limited, which means there isn't a lot to choose from to begin with. Im pissed because the nature of the project requires me to make decisions I don't have a lot of experience making. I'm also just pissed off at this team leader for taking my team and my project goals in a direction they fully knew I was radically opposed to. Lastly, I'm pissed off because in just a few short weeks this person managed to undermine and wreak havoc with a project I've spent years developing.
I realize one of the first things I need to do is get over being so angry. But even after that, the reality of the situation still exists and has to be dealt with. Maybe I'm missing some important points or not seeing the whole picture. Anyone have any thoughts, insights, advice, opinions?
