This is like the TV show, best week ever... or week in review?
This week was definitely an interesting one. I went into work with an amazing outlook of what I could do, how I could move forward and define my role and responsibilities and everything else in between. I walked into my 10am meeting with my 'new supervisor', only to find out half way through our meeting, she did not know why we were meeting (even though an agenda was set and I had emailed her asking if there were any items that she needed or wanted me to include, and that things were not finalized in terms of whether or not she would be my supervisor). "Great" - I thought. The meeting was successful -- I was at least able to update her and catch her up to what was going on with my program i spend most of my time managing, recruiting opportunities, and also I found out that I would be filling in for her (in her business analyst role) when she would be on a 3 week vacation/ or simply when she "didn't have the time to do the work".
My day after that was just preparing for the afternoon meeting with my manager, a supervisor now (since I had no idea who I reported to) and my director. The meeting, rescheduled to 2:30, then got pushed to 7:30am in the morning. And although an agenda was set, this meeting push back was a blessing in disguise b/c apparently my manager had other points he wanted me to speak about that were not "included" in the meeting request. I marched back to my desk, ready with PowerPoint and created a kick-butt presentation... though I stayed until 6:30 that night and had to come in at 7 to prep myself, I knew that this hard work could potentially earn me at least some credit since I seem to have been a wandering lost soul for the last 6 months.
I emailed the presentation to my manager, asking for any feedback he may want to give me before I actually walked in with presentation the next morning (upon his request) and I arrived promptly at 7am, strong coffee in hand, to find out he just said "thanks" to my presentation and didn't offer any comments or if he would even provide any before our meeting. I got up to see if his door was open and he did not arrive to the office until 7:25, as I was walking to the meeting around the corner. I was a little shocked that he had a window of 5 minutes to spare before the meeting STARTED and he just waltz through the door. I made copies for everyone in the meeting and one extra, and thank goodness because we had an extra person join us who I was not aware about. I dressed the part, blazer, button down collar shirt and nicely creased pants - ready to go and in action. The presentation went over smoothly - so smoothly that at the end of it, I received an acknowledgment for my efforts in quantifying something that no one had ever looked into doing for the last 12 years. My wild and crazy idea, turned out to be a good start for the program's future.
Later that day, I found out I would be included in a number of other projects including one right now where I am able to sit in to meetings with consultants regarding a project we may be bidding out. Though my role is just taking minutes and offering my view (since I had never been involved in such a process), it is very eye opening and almost exciting to see where I could have been if I had continued down my path in the consultant interviews and if I got hired and took a job there, versus where I am now and the things that a company of this caliber has in a meeting.
Now the juicy, Days of Our Lives stuff.
Thursday, a few of my co-workers went out to lunch together, while I was in a meeting. Apparently older consultant dad of younger consultant, who I have been "linked" to outside of work all had a chat of whether or not he had a girlfriend, if so, who she was, and if she "happened to work at the company" business that really shouldn't be discussed during an 8 to 5 timeframe. That was minimal damage.
I found out tonight about where I got "ranked", and how that works for our annual raises. The rank I got I think is equvilant of getting a C in a class. The lowest you can get ranked to get a bonus. The 2 lowest ranking individuals actually got their pink slip - not something I hope always happens, but happens in corporate America in this horrible time in the market. Here are were the cuts begin. And the worst part was, it seems as though since roles were not clearly defined to begin with, goals were not set with the multiple transitions of supervisors that I had -- had really hurt my chances of achieving more than the average (which you may know, average isn't really apart of my vocabulary...) AND if they like you, you may get ranked higher. So not AGAIN based on merit, just on how "cool" you are. I felt as though I got back to being in the 8th grade... or high school for popularity polls. Only one person can be named "most popular" and are you it?
In the book Basic Black, Cathie Black gives advice on individuals entering a new workforce as to "understanding your roles and responsibilities". I think it has a two way path - one, the manager, supervisor, whoever is in charge of the individual's performance should take the time out to explain these things to the new employee. What is the year end/mid year review process like? What are the criteria that someone can follow to do well? What do they do just to get by? What can jeopardize your job security etc. Perhaps not in all this detail, but either provide resources or point us in the right direction. Telling us that "this doesn't matter", isn't going to help you and your employees are a reflection of yourself. Like kids are often times reflections of their parents and the environment they grow up in, employees are a reflection of their supervisor/manager because how they perform can sometimes mean how well they are being managed, not micro-managed per say, but managed in an overall sense.
So, yes, I am disappointed in how I came out in the ranking system, but glad that I do have something to shoot for in the coming months. Yet this afternoon when I spoke with my manager and said "by the way, i am a little confused, i am not sure who my supervisor is..." he said, "yes, you don't have one... yet. so me for now..." WAS NOT VERY REASSURING in ANY SENSE. I was highly disappointed in his behavior in our meetings with our consultants, professionalism is not at ALL in his exceeds category on a ranking scale, and the worst yet, we cannot rank our managers/supervisors...which maybe I am naive and think that we should have the same opportunities to express how we feel we are being managed, because where are their P&Q's?? What standard do they have to follow? Is there none? Is it really a one way street and I am trying to go down the other way, while dodging cars and people coming at me in all directions?
Dog eat dog - it is all about getting ahead and leaving others in the dust. It's not about empowering or developing your employees right now with my manager, it's about how he can stay in the lime light for as long as he can and take advantage of all of the "kudos" before someone sees what the real story is. It is just so unfortunate because I feel like I work so hard to make him look good, or at least I try my best to present to him things that would possibly make me stand out as an employee, but when push comes to shove, there is incomplete information given to me, I sometimes wish I had a six sense to read people's minds in what they are looking for in whatever they are requesting or not -- and then say that they did... and wonder how the world turns...
No complaints. Just lots of interesting facts put together. Deja-vu today in our consultant meeting this morning... and getting ahead right now is really finding out who I report to, how I can define goals for myself as soon as they announce dept. changes, and how to keep my job! (My friend who is a new hire in another group got let go of and I found out Thursday that it was also her last day). Retention right now at the company of new hires is probably at a low point, though I am unsure of the statistics... and this market, more volatile than I really care for...
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