Experience Versus Seniority

Working with new people can be difficult. If you are the new guy hired in with experience to work with someone with seniority, this can be intimidating. However, there is a reason you were hired, and you can’t ignore your worth.
There is negativity that can come with articulating your knowledge. Those with seniority my not be as welcoming.  You have a choice to make. You can remain introverted as not to make any waves, or be comfortable with displaying your experience.
I recently had the pleasure of working with autistic students on an assignment. The class was assigned an aide. The aide had been with the school for a few years and established a flow that worked for her. When I came in, I was excited to not only follow the lesson plan provided by the teacher, but also to use my skills as someone who has worked with special needs kids (including my own son) for many years. She was not really open to this change. I had to decide; 1) Do I allow her to run the class as she is comfortable, or 2) Do I follow the lesson plan using my own skills and knowledge. I chose what was natural for me to do, which was provide the lesson using my skills and the resources provided. The bottom line is, her method was based on calming the room to make her job easier. Sometimes easier is just not better.
It was important for me to use the experience and be respectful of her seniority. This is a choice many of us must make in our professional lives. There is a strategy that that can allow this transition to be easier.

• Remain professional when in the working environment. You want the person with seniority and those around to know you for you experience based on your professionalism.
• Be prepared to at least listen to all ideas on the table. You may have experience, but there may be other ideas that can work well with what you know.
• Use your experience to inspire and not intimidate. Although we don’t work to win a popularity contest as in high school, it is important that those around us can stomach working with us.
• Be confident in what you know. Your ideas and experience will only be taken seriously if you are confident in what you are doing.

As always, this is a journey to build on communication strategies and learn communication styles. Don’t be afraid to fail or stumble. You certainly can’t be successful if you don’t even try. Use your experience to build your platform, and you will find success. 

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