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Managing Sticky Situations at Work

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52 <strong>Managing</strong> <strong>Sticky</strong> <strong>Situ<strong>at</strong>ions</strong> <strong>at</strong> <strong>Work</strong>P<strong>at</strong>ricia usually e<strong>at</strong>s lunch <strong>at</strong> her desk, alone. The rest of thebuyers never ask her to join them when they exit for lunch or whenthey take off for Friday afternoon happy hour.Two days l<strong>at</strong>er, their boss calls P<strong>at</strong>ricia into his office. When shereturns, she announces to the others th<strong>at</strong> she’s going to Paris thisyear after all. She secured the top place in the office once again.Laura stares <strong>at</strong> her, stunned. She’d nearly wrapped up the dealwith CW and th<strong>at</strong>, combined with her other accounts, gave hera solid lead. Wh<strong>at</strong> happened?It does not take Laura long to discover th<strong>at</strong> P<strong>at</strong>ricia hadtricked her. She’d lured in an old crony <strong>at</strong> CW by telling himshe had a line to show him th<strong>at</strong> would ‘‘blow him away.’’ She’dstolen Laura’s notes and followed up on Laura’s leads with gre<strong>at</strong>care. Then, she told their boss th<strong>at</strong> Laura didn’t have wh<strong>at</strong> it tookto be a top buyer. She explained th<strong>at</strong> she’d helped Laura and stillLaura couldn’t pull it off. She showed her boss Laura’s work, pretendingit was hers. The boss ordered P<strong>at</strong>ricia to take over. Shesewed up the deal and won the trip.APPLYING THE SAY IT JUST RIGHT MODELDECISION POINTSLaura determines the costs. P<strong>at</strong>ricia’s treachery left Laura <strong>at</strong> thebottom of the heap. She has lost the respect of her boss. He had hiredher with enthusiasm because of her previous buying experience. Heappreci<strong>at</strong>ed her contacts in the industry and expected gre<strong>at</strong> thingsfrom her. P<strong>at</strong>ricia undermined th<strong>at</strong> confidence. If Laura does nothing,she allows P<strong>at</strong>ricia to win. Clearly, P<strong>at</strong>ricia is not a person whom Lauracan trust. Being <strong>at</strong> the bottom, Laura has nothing to lose in approachingP<strong>at</strong>ricia directly. As Laura sees it, P<strong>at</strong>ricia can do no more damageto her.Laura sets her limits. Laura decides she will talk to P<strong>at</strong>ricia in orderto regain her integrity. She plans not to corner P<strong>at</strong>ricia by insistingth<strong>at</strong> she admit wh<strong>at</strong> she had done or by placing blame. Instead shedecides to make it clear to P<strong>at</strong>ricia never to undermine her again.Laura examines the power sources. As is usually the case withco-workers, both have equal power on paper. P<strong>at</strong>ricia, however,has worked for the store longer and has established herself as a valuablebuyer. Laura, being new, has not established her reput<strong>at</strong>ion.Nonetheless, she came to this store with a flawless record and high

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