How a Difficult Feedback Conversation Transformed Team Dynamics in Global PR

So the, um, The tough part is not in my chain of command, but um, At HPE, at HPE, um, we have a global public relations team, uh, you know, basically, Germany, France, UK, they're all over the world. Um, and there was a situation where, uh, there's a lot of tension between the, the global PR team and the, the US PR team that, that I manage, and, um, My, there was, um, just some passive aggressive behavior going on between my team and their team. So what I needed to do was, was basically, um, You know, dive in deep, so to speak, and, and take ownership of, um, of the situation, take it off email. So what I did was I, I had to have a difficult conversation with uh the head of that team, and basically say to her in dip diplomatic terms as I could that, you know, your team is just not cutting it, and they're not, uh, my team is getting frustrated because you guys are sending over these, these press releases. On, for example, customer wins, horribly written, um, I mean, they're calling, they're calling COVID corona. Um, and, um, and, and this is just not stuff you can, you can send out to journalists. Um, and so, it took a series of months until, um, you know, I had conversations both with her and a couple of her direct reports, where there were challenges, where they were sending over mediocre work. Um, it was, it wasn't, it wasn't easy because she's extremely protective of her direct reports, um, which is good, you know, managers, uh, it's good for a manager to be protective. Um. But frankly, the situation had to change. Um, I let my senior management know that I was having these conversations. Um, and she, frankly, by the, by the end of the 3rd meeting, she, she frankly just revealed to me for the first time, yes, she's having challenges with a couple of her direct reports. Um, she's not sure if she's gonna be able to fix it. But that she didn't wanna, she didn't wanna, um, uh, throw, throw them out. Um. And, and just, um, you know. I forgot the expression, sorry, but she did, she didn't wanna, um, not defend them, I guess is what I'm saying. Um, so behavior got better. Um, essentially, the only reason it got better is she started reviewing all of their work, uh, several times before it went over to my US team. So it did get better, um, and, um, the culture is different. So culturally, um, She wouldn't admit to me that there was a problem, but she was working on it behind the scenes, so I learned myself how to deal with different cultures over during that incident.

I, appropriate, I don't think appropriately from what we expect in, you know, North America or the US, uh, because I didn't think it was fast enough. Um, I think, you know, I'm, I'm all about speed and, um, And being um customer-focused. So, if you're, if you're taking, if it takes 3 to 4 meetings for, for the situation to be resolved, and in the meantime, like, who's, um, who's being impacted, it's the customer, because it was the customer, these were customer wins that we were announcing that were subpar. Um, by, by inter, interpersonal standards, I think, yeah, I think it was a success because I had to respect her culture and the fact that things were, things in Europe are done differently than things in the US, um. Yeah, so, I guess, I guess it was balanced, where I didn't necessarily think by US standards, it was, it was dealt with, uh, fast enough, but if you look by international standards, it was.

I think in a similar way, um, I wouldn't wanna get it. Uh, and I, I actually didn't think my people handled it well, like in terms of being passive aggressive over email. So I would have liked to receive it a little bit differently where she came to me at, right at the right at the beginning, didn't let it, didn't let it fester for a while, because in my, in, in the reverse situation, it festered for several months. So I would have like for her to come to me sooner, um, have it, have that open, direct, direct conversation that allowed me to deal with it immediately. Um, and, um. And I think I would have been more, um, I would have been more honest and straightforward. Um, and I, while still protecting my people, I think it's important for a manager to, to, To defend their people, um, but, but I think I probably would have taken action quicker. OK.