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Hi:

Appx 6 months ago one of my directs requested to transfer to a new group in my company. He stated he wanted a change and was tired of current work routine (which can be high pressure and deadline driven).  His new manager requested an aggressive time line to effectuate transfer.

I was willing to accommodate transfer partly because I felt it would afford me the opportunity to bring in some "fresh blood" with a stronger skill set, that due to growth in the company, the position now demands.  I also feel it's never good to hold people up if they want to try something new.  

I conveyed to members of my team that the short term pain of finding replacement hire would be worth it for the longer term gain of finding a stronger candidate to fill open position.

So we are 6 months down the road, my staff has had to work short staffed during this period and is overtaxed, we've put in many hours on finding a good candidate to fill open position and are at the stage where we would like to make an offer. Now I have been informed by "big boss" that we should hold up on hiring because they might pull the plug on new group and I might have to take old report back. 

Needless to say I was pretty upset by this turn of events with my main point being we should try and find the right place on the bus for my old report and avoid a knee jerk solution. The problem is that it's a small company and there are not a lot of options.

I have expressed my preference that i would like to move forward on boarding new hire and if the need arises I could take old report back as well to work in a different capacity.( i.e. there is plenty of work in my group ) but of course this poses a headcount issue. 

Do I have the right to push back hard on this decision or is this something I just have to suck up?

NickA's picture

You're in a difficult situation, and that sucks.  But thinking about it in terms of 'rights' is a good way to get yourself into a fight, and a fight won't solve anything.  Nothing is going to stop you from pushing back as hard as you decide to push, the better question is "What will happen if I push back hard?"  The answer depends on a lot of variables that are not visible in this forum.

You've expressed your preference.  You've hopefully also explained your reasons and your plans (which count for a lot more than your preference, I doubt you're ruled by the preferences of your directs).

The elephant in the room is the possiblity that the new group will fail.  The current plan requires that the new group succeeds.  If you want to influence your boss's decision, a useful first step will be to understand it better.

GlennR's picture

I agree with Nicka. You're on record. Now be a good team player. I'll bet there are factors impacting this  of which you are unaware.

Singers's picture

A couple of points, if it's a small company, is that other team important for success of the company? and if so have you done what you can to support it or can you do more? 
If this is not critical for the company, understand your boss situation, and look around in your team, could anyone else replace this person so he could take another role in the team that better suits his skills? is there someone else in the potential failing team that could be of better use to you and have a better skill set? if so come up with a solution for your boss.

Remember, often he will see the most logic solution which is moving people back where they come from, unless someone come with a better idea, that's the sensible thing to do...

Kind Regards

Mads Sorensen

Disc 4536

buddhawtb's picture

Hi All:

Thank you for input, my immediate boss and i came up with a workable compromise and i have moved forward with new hire. I did push back pretty hard on this and I think it resulted in desired result (ie the compromise). I do believe,however, I would have been better served avoiding the pushing and first proposing compromise.