A few years ago, while I was working in corporate America, I had the opportunity to go work for a company I really wanted to work for. The only catch was that I had to take a much lower position than where I was in my professional career. When I was debating whether to take the position, my eventual manager told me that all the experience I have under my belt would be an advantage for the position I would be taking. It will allow me to seamlessly transition into the job and be up to speed faster. So, I ended up taking the job.
What I didn’t realize at the time, was how toxic the culture in my new department was. Unbeknownst to me, before I started the job a lot of my new peers had been under the constant threat of layoffs. Months prior, the company had laid off a bunch of people and it was traumatic not only to the people, but the business as well.
Over the following months, the company would be hiring to fill positions they realized they should have downsized, and my role was one of them.
Because of my prior experience, my new boss, who honestly was a great guy, depended on me to take the lead of certain initiatives and I ended up stepping on a lot of toes on my team. He wanted someone who had fresh eyes and who could think outside the box. And I could simply because I wasn’t aware of how they had done things previously.
As much as my boss and VPs loved me, my peers began to resent me, and it became uncomfortable. And honestly, it was kind of lonely. I wasn’t there to make friends with people, I was there to do my job. But still, it sucked feeling like everyone else on the team didn’t like me. From their perspective, I was a showoff and thought I knew everything. From my perspective, I was just doing what management asked me to.
Looking back, I do feel like my experience there helped me grow as a person. And the advantage that I had going into it was beneficial to the team, it just came with a price.
