Category: Corporate Games

When your boss is away
it is NOT time to play,
not if you’re trying for a promotion.

It is an opportunity.

For this week
while your boss is sunning her buns in Bermuda,
you report to someone else,
either your boss’s boss
or another manager at your boss’s level.

Treat this week
like it is your first week on the job.
No, don’t make the dumb ass newbie mistakes.
What I mean is work your hiney off.
Put in the extra hours.
Be visible.
Helpful.
Eager.
Speak well of both your bosses.
Be the superstar you are.

Show this replacement boss
why she wants you on HER team.

I recently was in a meeting
in which a contractor slagged the agency
he worked for.
Although I agreed with some of his points,
I didn’t speak up supporting his views.

Why?

Because I work for my agency,
not the client,
and I’m loyal to the company I work for.

But even if I didn’t feel I worked for my agency,
I STILL wouldn’t speak ill of them
in public.
I’m associated with them.
If I didn’t like how the agency did business,
I should sever the connection.

We like to work with people we trust.
If you heard me
speaking ill of
my employer, my coworker, my friend,
would you trust me?

Hell no.

On the other hand,
if you heard me
defending
my employer, my coworker, my friend,
would you trust me
and want to work with me?

Of course you would
because you’d assume
I would do the same for you.

Be loyal to those around you.

The company I currently work for
has a policy of walking employees out
when they put in their notice
if they are going to
work for the competition.

They cite concerns
about leaking corporate intelligence
as the reason.

This, of course, is bullshit.

The employee KNEW
she was putting in her notice.
She knew the reaction
her current company would have.
So if she wanted to scoop
corporate intelligence,
she would have done that
before handing in her notice.

The real reason
companies walk these employees out
is to stop other employees
from also jumping ship.
They don’t want the soon-to-be ex-employee
putting thoughts in
the current employees’ brains.

Which is kind of condescending.

If you want to keep employees,
create a satisfying work environment
filled with meaningful work.

If you want to stop secrets
from flowing to the competition,
hire ethical employees.

Walking leaving employees out
simply adds to the workload
of existing employees.

One of my new coworkers
is a rising star.
With the right mentoring,
she could have the top job
she greatly desires.

One thing that is holding her back
is her fear and lack of faith in herself.
The organization is undergoing changes.
Some employees will be let go.
Many employees will be shuffled around.

THIS is an opportunity.
Without changes like these,
an employee often has to wait
for retirement or death
to snag a better position.

THIS is when she should stand up
and stand out,
shouting her superstar status,
declaring her suitability for a promotion.
Folks that do this
seldom get let go
and often get promoted.

Instead, she’s scared.
She’s afraid of losing her present position.
She’s hiding.
Ironically, folks that hide
are the often the employees that get let go.

When changes come,
be brave.
Reach out and grab those opportunities.

We all know a micromanager.
Some of us ARE micromanagers.
Many of us have worked for one.

How does that feel?

It feels like you’re being used
like the photocopier.
No, worse than the photocopier
because your micromanaging manager
trusts the photocopier
to make a copy of her documents.
She doesn’t trust YOU
to make a copy of anything.

As Executive Guide
Barbara Frankel says,
“One of the consequences
of micromanaging is
people feel they’re being controlled.
They start not being engaged
in their jobs.
They feel their ideas
and knowledge have been dismissed.”

If you are working for a micromanager,
schedule regular, reassuring progress meetings.
If your manager approaches you
between those meetings,
try to gently suggest you talk about it
AT that meeting.

If you ARE a micromanager,
you ain’t got enough to do.
Seriously.
Take on some new projects
until you are forced to
take your nose out of your employee’s business.

I’m currently working for a company
with a corporate culture,
endorsed by its leaders,
embracing profanities at the office.

Everything is F-this and F-that
and because everything is accompanied
by a profanity,
folks tune the cussing out.

Which makes crisis situations vastly amusing.

When all hell breaks loose
in other non-cussing environments,
the leader will spew profanities
until ears bleed
and you KNOW you’re in deep shit.
People run.
All other work stops.

In this environment,
the leader spews profanities
until ears bleed,
and no one listens
because he’s always spewing profanities
until ears bleed.
He then makes a weak-ass
‘this is important speech’
which people listen or don’t listen to.
It is amusing and slightly embarrassing.

There are other reasons
why cussing at work isn’t recommended
but losing the ‘oh shit, she’s pissed’ factor
is reason enough for me.

I say ‘no’ a lot.
I have to
because if I didn’t say ‘no’,
I’d spend my life
working on someone else’s agenda.
Hell, I have to say ‘no’
because there aren’t enough hours in the day
to do everything everyone requests from me.

Jim Camp, negotiation coach,
advises
“When you have a solid purpose,
when you are on a mission,
no takes on a whole new meaning.
Discovering and embracing
your purpose in life
makes decision making much more effective
– and, of course,
no is a decision that
will protect your purpose, your job
and your ongoing efforts.”

Say ‘no’.
Don’t make excuses.
Don’t say ‘maybe’.
Give a flat ‘no’ and move on.

I am back to a business gig,
much to my relief,
not because of the money
or because my workload decreased
(it increased majorly)
but because I’m out of
that time-sucking transition period.

Transitions or changes
eat brain power.
Many of us worry during transitions
and that part of our mind
isn’t being used for more productive thinking.

Transitions also mess with ‘the plan.’
I live and die by my to-do lists.
I plan days, weeks, months.
Uncertainty means frequent revamping
of the to-do list.
I’m inefficient because
I’m getting the must-do’s done immediately,
rather than grouping them.

Change is part of life,
but try to limit the time-sucking transitions.

I interviewed two days ago
via a placement agency.
Knowing the hiring company
wanted the temp to start ASAP,
I expected a call from the placement agency
within 24 hours.

I didn’t hear anything.
Nothing.
Jack squat.

So, five minutes ago,
I called them.
(There was no answer.)

I shouldn’t have to call.
When you’re an intermediary,
your main role is communication
between the two parties.

If you have no updated information,
you call and say you don’t have an update.

If you don’t,
one or both parties
will assume the other party isn’t interested
(as I did)
and move onto the next opportunity.

I have a second interview
with a V-P and a manager.
My recruiter told me
I’m the only person being considered.

I told him
that’s bull shit
(in more politically correct terms).

If it was a meeting with the V-P,
maybe.
Some V-P’s like to
put their seal of approval on
new hires.

But the only reason
to meet with another manager
is because there are multiple candidates.

And that the hiring decision
is not being led by
the reporting manager
makes me suspect
that HIS leading candidate
has some sort of personal relationship
to him.
He gives the responsibility to his buddies
and his other buddy gets hired.

That means I’m fucked.
If I wow these decision makers,
I get the job
but my reporting manager will be pissed
and will be gunning for me
(proving that he was right).
If I don’t wow the decision makers,
I don’t get the job.

I’ll wow with the best of my ability
because that’s how I play
and hope for the best.