RE: RE: When you hear the Axe in the dark...
No. So I'm a contractor. I have never met a manager >that could handle workload increases very well.
Well, maybe I don't handle workload increases very
well, either, and that is the reason why I try to
nip them in the bud before they happen...
I've worked with nervous people who worry about job cuts and push their people (and blame them for errors) to >work harder in an attempt to avoid lay-offs and business >closures.
I worry about them too. If you think being RIF'd from
a job is an unpleasant experience, try being the one
who gets told that you're going to have to RIF x number
of people and you have to pick them, or that someone
else has already picked them without your input, that
you'll be delivering the bad news to them and, oh yes, don't breathe a word to anyone until HR is ready to do
it.
However, I've learned from experience that you can't
avoid layoffs and closures by pushing your people,
unless maybe it's in the form of gentle nudges to remind them to keep their resumes and network contacts up to date at all times.
For the rhetoric side of things, I know that there are >positive interpretations of the word, but I was looking >for an appropriate word to describe what I read in your >points.
Not being a politician, my preferred definition for
"rhetoric" is "the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience." For the politics-
related contexts, my preferred definition is likely
not suitable for posting to an open forum.
I don't think that is disagreeable to want to come into a >position as someone that just wants to go with the flow >and always have that flow be steady and predictable. I >really didn't know if that is how you wanted to sound or >if you were trying to make a profound comment.
"Profound" I don't know about. I do like to have a
steady and predictable flow. I'll look for a place
that has one, or a place that wants to have one and
thinks I can help them create it. That probably is
(and IMO, should be) "non-threatening" to other
managers who feel the same way. But I *was* once in
an organization where the CEO stood up, yelled at the
management team for their chaotic workflows and then
pointed a finger at me and said "Gene's group has it
all together, what the **** is the matter with the
rest of you?" And I suspect that there were a number
of people in the room whose feeling about that could
have been called "threatened" even though they were
in totally different departments and there was no chance I was going to "steal" their jobs.
Now you do show that you have some willingness to >communicate to management that they are pushing too hard >and this can be a good a quality because you will help >management avoid making a faux pas of overestimating >resources and you sound like you will never change >management's way of doing things.
I think badly managed organizations are like people
with drug or alcohol problems. They can change, but
only if they have the will. Otherwise, you can't
change them and have to concentrate on getting away from them while minimizing the damage they do to you and those you feel personally responsible for.
Since I don't know if this is how you want to sound, I >don't know you find my perceptions derogatory. I know >that for myself, I would not want to be described as >somebody that will "fit-in."
There are two ways I am willing to "fit-in." One is
by finding a place that already fits me, the other is
by changing a place until it fits me (see above for
how practical this may or may not be). Changing
yourself to "fit-in" to a place that is fundamentally
a bad fit for you will just make you feel very bad about yourself and is something I've learned not to do if I have any choice in the matter.
The corporate world tends to look dysfunctional to me.
I would say your perception is largely correct. There
are, however, moments when one is able to beat small corners of it into something resembling submission.
It's the simple things in life you treasure.
Gene Kim-Eng
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