NEWCOMER AT OFFICE “FIGHTS BACK” WITH SENIOR COLLEAGUES, WANT DO THINGS HER WAY

Help! How to deal with such colleague?

I’m currently working with a Malaysian colleague and we joined the company around the same time. She’s of the same age as me although my job rank is higher which is most probably due to having more years of working experience.

She likes to do things her way, which are not appropriate as it doesn’t follow certain professional standards. I always try to give guidance on the proper way to do things but she likes to “doubt”/“fight back” my ways even though I always provide the reasons factually. I would also ask her to explain her pov so I can understand her hesitance.

Even when it’s clearly wrong (with evidence and reasoning provided), she would still try to undermine me. Of course I’m not trying to be a dictator and I know I’m not 100% right all the time. So I always try to understand from her pov. However it’s just getting frustrating because based on her past working experience I would expect her to know all these basic principles of our profession?

Our team is very small and both of us report directly to our HOD. But sometimes only both of us are on the project and as the lead of the project I feel responsible to guide her and ensure our work is done professionally.

But now I’m feeling like if she’s not keen to learn, should I even be wasting my time to guide her?

Any advise on how to deal with such a colleague? What’s the deal with her?

Netizens’ comments

1. Just handle your interactions with her professionally. If she is still reluctant to follow or listen to instructions just escalate to your HOD and let him / her deal with it.
   Also can get your HOD to officially announce you as the lead of the project (and thus fully responsible for the deliverables) so she will need to follow your instructions.
   • (OP) Yeah all my interactions with her are professional, though I’m trying really hard not to lose my cool. Thankfully, it’s mostly virtual.
     And actually it’s already officially announced but she still behaves like that. It’s like she thinks I’m not capable or knowledgeable enough to lead her? Not sure if it’s because we are of the same age.
     Trying to see if there’s any better way to deal with this since my team is small and I don’t want to make things sour or awkward between us. 🙁 you can say I’m a people pleaser sadly lol