Stuff They Don't Tell You In Those "Succeeding In Business" Books
Yes, "80 percent of success is showing up." The other 20 percent is bludgeoning the guy whose job you want and hiding the body from the authorities.
Stuff They Don't Tell You In Those "Succeeding In Business" Books
Yes, "80 percent of success is showing up." The other 20 percent is bludgeoning the guy whose job you want and hiding the body from the authorities.
I have the possibility to step up to management somewhere in my future.
I'm a techie -- I hired on to be a tech person. I have thought about it and now have decided -- No way in hell do I want to be a manager!!!
In the 50's, 60's and even into the 70's -- being management meant less hours and prestige. Now it is just unremitting BS dealing with staff, senior management that doesn't get me anywhere.
Jim P. at December 25, 2010 5:33 AM
I am currently reading this book which has been quite enlightening.
All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis
I blame it on the fact that management these days is even more about ass kissing than knowing anything about anything. And our dumbed down education system has ensured that even a Harvard MBA does not know as much as they think they do.
Isabel1130 at December 25, 2010 10:39 AM
Good for you, Jim. I was in sort of a management job for about a year (I'm a techie, too), and I ended up doing a lot of tech work and quasi management, and so I'd get interrupted all the time by stuff that frequently in my opinion didn't need management input as well as by people who needed tech help, so I felt like I never got anything done (I didn't mind the stuff that actually needed my input so much). Plus I found out that highly paid, college-educated adults act like little kids sometimes (this was the toughest part). Not fun. Also, filling out evaluations is painful. People whine about stuff. It didn't help that I didn't really have much authority but was still supposed to make a difference managerily. Hard to get people to do stuff when you can't affect their job or pay much.
KrisL at December 25, 2010 1:23 PM
I despise being managed.
Pirate Jo at December 25, 2010 2:46 PM
I despise being managed.
PJ,
If you know your job, and do it, you don't need to managed. The problem is that many people either don't know their job or won't do it without prompting. That is the issue.
Jim P. at December 25, 2010 3:38 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/12/25/the_stuff_they.html#comment-1808771">comment from Jim P.Some people will manage others whether or not those others need to be managed.
Amy Alkon at December 25, 2010 4:11 PM
If you've played the game for years -- you learn how much BS your manager has to fill the squares. You know how much BS you have to do to make them look good -- and you do your job.
I lightly keep in touch with my last company -- no one likes the manager that canned me -- including her boss. They just have no reason to get rid of her. She has two people under her and can't hire anyone.
I can deal with being a former employee.
Jim P. at December 26, 2010 12:28 AM
My experience has been different. Most of the "managers" who don't do their job well and right don't last.
Who do you think runs interference with all the mutually conflicting requirements to do "the most important thing" now? When is the last time somebody came to you with a request that could wait? Who foregoes their raise to make sure the most deserving team members get one? Mock it if you like, but the Marines taught me that the troops come first. It sucked a bit for me but I had a couple of superheroes. They made us look good and I made sure everybody knew it.
Who makes sure you get the training you need to do your job? Who stands up for you when you do make a mistake or something goes wrong? This is a zero tolerance era, and human error is not acceptable around here. I've been around long enough to know even the best make a mistake every decade or so...
I know you are all above average, but believe it or not, there are people who will slack off or do lousy work. Sometimes there are unavoidable RIFs, and some people have to make the hard call about what names to put on the list. Those people have families, too. How do you think that would make you feel? Be sure to keep morale and productivity up among the survivors while you give a co-worker with a family the boot.
Eighty percent of success is working a little harder and a little smarter than the rest of your peers. The other 20 percent is luck. People are much harder than the technical stuff. Most people can't do it. It took me a long time to get it.
I'm not even a real manager anymore, due to having too few direct reports. I'm just the team lead. I get to do the same technical job as the rest of the team in addition to the leadership role.
Manager is actually a poor description of the job. I only hire professionals. My job is to lead, prioritize and develop them. They don't get in the door if they need to be managed.
MarkD at December 26, 2010 7:24 AM
MarkD, it is significant that you learned about leadership through the military. I saw a BNET article last month that listed the traits of good managers. The comments by other readers were more enlightening than the article itself.
One fellow said he came from a military background and placed a high value on the lessons he learned. He said his most difficult adjustment to civilian life was the transition from knowing your teammates were watching your back to having to watch out for them stabbing you in the back. Another guy agreed. He also came from a military background and was used to looking out for his teammates. In the corporate world, his fellow managers viewed that as being in too thick with the down-lowers. He was supposed to throw his direct reports under the bus and look first to the interests of the other managers.
I don't have a military background myself but have pondered those comments a lot.
In my field, accounting and financial analysis, almost no managers get placed in those positions because they demonstrate managerial skill. Rather, they have demonstrated that they are good at being accountants. This gets them promoted to the level of senior accountant, and if they do well as senior accountants, they get promoted to manager. They're not after the job because they want to be managers. They mostly just want to make more money. It's how the company keeps them moving up the ladder, and there is status associated with being promoted.
The problem is that managing requires a completely different set of skills than accounting. These people are jerked completely out of their comfort zones and have a hard time letting go of it. This leads them to micromanage their direct reports and focus on petty issues that their employees should be sorting out for themselves, rather than strategic issues.
I've suffered under these people before - like I said, I hate being managed. I'm quite capable, hard-working, and organized. I do not need to be managed. But as Amy pointed out, some managers simply have no idea what they are supposed to be doing. (Better do something managerly! Make sure everyone knows they're being watched! Make sure everyone's a little bit miserable!) I kind of feel sorry for them. Most of them would be happier if they had simply continued being senior accountants. In a manager's role, it's like they've gone into a completely different career that they know nothing about.
I have no desire to be a manger myself, but wish the people giving and receiving these promotions would take a good look at the skills required. You must be able to let go! Delegate actual responsibilities, not just the tasks you don't enjoy in your own job. You've got to give someone the whole plate, not just the mixed vegetables. If you can't trust someone else to do the work, then don't. Keep doing it yourself, and let someone else be the manager.
MarkD, I wish you were my manager. If I found a hiring manager whose main objective was to "Find someone I can turn loose with the job and who doesn't need to be managed," I would take a pay cut. Instead, I find people who SAY that, but what they really want is, "Someone who is highly experienced and qualified, which means they will never make mistakes, and who will do the boring parts of MY job that I don't like." Needless to say, I don't trust too many hiring managers or recruiters anymore. If I *EVER* take another full-time position anywhere - and I might not - it will be with a company and manager who I have already worked with as a contractor. I'm my own recruiter now.
Pirate Jo at December 26, 2010 11:27 AM
If you're a techie going into management, then you must read "Peopleware". Actually if you're any kind of techie, read the book. It's enlightening.
I was a technical person (software developer) and went into management. It was a very dysfunctional organization, but the extra $30,000 in salary tempted me. I figured, I'd take a shot at it.
I might have liked doing it, but it turns out that I now reported to a manic/bi-polar boss who was such an asshole sociopath that I managed to absolutely hate my job. The guy became the CEO by bludgeoning people and hiding the bodies. And he kept the people under him in control by using threats and fear. The saying was "The beatings will continue until the morale improves."
He barked for 12 minutes in a company meeting because he noticed that somebody had spilled some coffee on the new carpets. His solution was to ban coffee mugs that didn't have lids on them. No... I'm really not kidding. And in that meeting, he questioned that if all of us "piggies" took care of our houses the way that we took care of the work environment that the department of health might have to be called on us.
I left the company. A year or so later, I heard that somebody came along and bludgeoned him and now he's out of there.
I'm back to being technical. I like it here. Don't know if I will every want to get into management. I am running my own company now, doing technical work. Not sure I'll every move back into a cube farm. But I know that I will not waste any time working in a dysfunctional environment run by clueless people.
MarkS at December 30, 2010 2:11 PM
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