Nature of Susan\'s Role Within

¶ … nature of Susan's role within the company. There is a disagreement between Anita and Susan about the level of involvement that Susan should have and the degree to which Anita should contribute to this involvement. There are a few different problems at work, but there are relationships between the problems.

The first problem is the perception that Anita has that Susan lacks interpersonal skills. One symptom of this is Anita' tendency to stay in her office and focus on her work, and another symptom was the situation with the cash management clerk. There are a couple of causes for these two particular symptoms. Underlying this problem is that Susan appears to lack clear understanding of the administrative role and the relationship that she should have with Anita. Susan wants Anita to be close by, for advice, to serve as a mentor and to provide social contact within the office. When Anita and some departments moved farther away, Susan saw the moves as isolating to her. Anita may have seen the moves as giving Susan more room to grow. Anita would have felt that Susan would use the opportunity to grow within the organization, and to ensure that her side of the office was strong in its own right. Susan clearly did not see this strength in her side of the office, and felt that she was being isolated -- she looked to Anita for leadership while Anita wanted Susan to step forward and be a leader in her own right.

Another problem is the addition of Bill to the office. Susan was able to build a good working relationship with Bill, but began to be uneasy with his presence in the office as responsibilities were being shifted to him from her. The uneasiness that Susan felt about Bill, however, was again a manifestation of her own lack of self-confidence. She sees a younger worker, well-educated, enter the company and immediately take responsibility from her, and feels threatened. Anita would likely have seen Bill's arrival as an opportunity to free Susan up for bigger projects. Her handing responsibility to Bill was supposed to empower Susan, but eventually it morphed into a sense that Bill might be better suited for a role of higher responsibility, something that Susan eventually sensed herself.

The underlying thread of the different problems is that Susan lacks self-confidence and does not see herself as a leader. She has framed these situations -- and her performance review -- in a negative light. This reflects an underlying lack of confidence that Susan has not been able to identify in herself. Anita, now that she has moved to the other side of the office, has diminished ability to understand this about Susan as well. If they were still having their regulator conversations, Anita might have been in a better position to understand Susan's outlook.