Although you’re curious about the situation you decide to do nothing. After all there must be a good reason for it and it’s none of your business what other people’s salaries are. You know your manager appreciates your work and that you’re doing a good job. You trust that your salary will go up in the future. 

You ask to talk to your manager to understand why the new person is paid more, if indeed this is the case. You focus the conversation on what you can do to work towards the career development you crave and the rewards that may come with it. 

You decide your manager obviously doesn’t value your work as much as they say they do, and reluctantly start to look for a new job. Although you feel bruised and overlooked, you continue to give 100% because it’s important to get a good reference. 

You understand that sometimes companies have to pay over the odds to recruit externally, but feel that you deserve to be on the same level. You talk to your manager about why the new person is paid more than you and ask politely for an increase. 

You feel it’s unreasonable to ask you to do lots of work you didn’t sign up for, but you’re here now so you’ll get on with it and see what happens. 

You’re a bit nervous about whether you can step up and do all this new work successfully, but you are pleased to have been asked and think it’s an opportunity to prove yourself. If you find it tough you will talk to your manager and ask for support. 

You don’t mind what you do; after all you’re here to get paid. You’ll do the best you can and hope it’ll work out OK.  

You’re a bit concerned about being able to do all the extra work alongside everything else you have to do but you are really keen to have the chance to do something new. You arrange to sit down with your manager as soon as possible to plan how to manage your time and workload. 

You are convinced you’re onto something but are sure that if this was really a problem, someone would have fixed it already and don’t want to risk looking silly by raising it. Maybe nobody else thinks it’s an issue. You say nothing and continue to use the tool as it is. 

You talk to some of your more experienced colleagues about it and seek their opinion on the problem. If they share your view that you have identified a solution to a real problem, you’ll write a short summary highlighting the issue and your suggested fix, and discuss it with your manager. 

You are sure you can improve the tool by making your change, but don’t want to risk embarrassing your colleagues by pointing out something you are sure they should have spotted. You quietly make a few changes to the tool to test your ideas before bringing it up.

You email your manager telling him that you’re surprised no one has noticed before but the tool doesn’t work very well, and that if he wants you can fix the problem. 

You talk to the supplier and explain that the Project Manager is highly likely to approve the change when she returns from holiday, but that you are unable to sign off until then. You aim to negotiate an arrangement whereby you can delay the sign off but still secure the cost saving, by helping them to find a solution that will work for them. 

You decide that you don’t have the authority to sign off the change. Sadly on this occasion you can’t deliver the cost saving.  

You’re really keen to secure the saving but equally aware that there is a sign-off process in place for good reason. You don’t want to miss out so you talk to another board Director in the business to see if they can authorise the change in the absence of the project sponsor. 

You are certain that the Project Manager would approve of this change as you have worked with her long enough to know how she thinks. Given you don’t want to miss the chance to deliver a cost saving, you give it the go-ahead and will get the paperwork done when she returns. 

You seek out people who are contributing to other workstreams in the project and ask their opinion. You’re confident that if you can understand the wider project then you’ll be able to figure out what you need to do.

You talk to the manager who briefed you and explain you need more clarity. You will then use your experience and talk to other colleagues to plan the work. Finally you discuss your plan with the manager before starting work.     

You feel you should know what to do, and that you must have missed something when you were briefed. You’re concerned that it might look as if you weren’t listening if you go back and ask questions now. You decide to try your best and trust that you will pick it up as you go along. You’re usually pretty good at being able to get to grips with difficult things.

You speak with the manager and ask them to give you more information on what’s expected and how you should go about it. You ask them to explain exactly what they want you to do and how they want you to do it, to avoid any misunderstanding. 

You decide to focus on getting everything done and ensuring you do it to a really high standard, even though you know this will mean you having to get in early or leave bit later every day this week. 

You ask your manager if there is anyone else available to help you complete the work on time, so you can focus on doing it really well. 

You take a little time to review everything else you have scheduled for the rest of the week and move some less important tasks to the following week to create more space for you to complete the work in time without compromising on the quality.

You decide to try and do the best you can, get through the work quickly to hit the deadline, and hope that you don’t make any mistakes. You’re usually pretty accurate so you’re sure it will be OK. 

 You stop and give the customer your full attention, and do your best to advise them decide what to buy even though you are not completely sure what you are talking about. You know the Store Manager wouldn’t mind you being late if you’re helping a customer. 

You apologise politely to the customer, telling them you are running late for a meeting and that they should seek out one of the shop floor team who would be able to help, as they will have better product knowledge. 

You stop and take the time to understand what the customer needs. You explain that you don’t have the expertise to help them, but that you will find someone that does. Knowing they will be free, you go and see the Store Manager and introduce them to the customer, then start your meeting a little later. 

You listen to the customer’s requirement, take them to the till area and ask them to wait for one of the shop floor team who will be with them shortly, then briefly interrupt one of the team who is with another customer to make sure they know to deal with your customer next.

You sit down with them privately and hear what they have to say. Reassure them that they probably have nothing to worry about, that everyone goes through teething problems when they are new. Advise them to dig in and keep trying, and it’ll all be OK, but that they can talk to you again if they still feel troubled. 

You listen to their concerns, and advise them that they should talk to their manager. You don’t feel you are the right person to help and that it’s more appropriate that the manager deals with problems in the team. 

You take the time to understand what they are concerned about, and ask lots of questions to make sure you really get it. You offer to sit down with them and go through their work with them to see if you can give them some advice. You then offer to sit down again in a few weeks to see how it’s going. 

You listen to their problems and really want to help, but you’re not sure you have the expertise or experience to give them the best possible advice. You offer to talk to a more senior member of the team on their behalf, who you know has the skills to help them understand how to do this piece of work. You then keep talking to the new colleague to see how it’s going and do your best to support and encourage them going forward.