Dead Man Walking

With the noted staff reductions still to come, it’s evident that there are people that have been given some bad news. While there have been tears, there are others who have held their dignity and ploughed on with their work.

Those in the latter category seem to be in a good place emotionally; they’ve got jobs or other plans. I feel sorry for the ones who have struggled with the news. In particular, I know someone who is being targeted, with the sole intention of being pushed out of the business. This person has been pressured to work long hours and with no possible hope for success. During our hallway discussions, there is enormous pressure being mounted and the only dignified option is to leave.

The worst thing is that I’ve heard from other sources that the manager had been bragging about performance managing the employee out of the business. This is questionable ethics in times of great uncertainty and difficulty. One can only hope that actions like this have a sense of kismet about it.

Bad Hiring – Totally My Fault

I’m a little bit frustrated with my latest hiring decision. I think it’s because I’m too easily convinced by people who can answer one good question really well. That singular answer taints the rest and I lose a little perspective.

The current hire was a very convincing. He spoke well and gave very clear and effective answers to all the questions posed. My fault was that I didn’t probe him sufficiently and took everything at face value.

As I’ve mentioned before, the work I do is heavy on the numbers and that means some heavy duty Excel work. My fault was not to probe deep into this. Although Excel can be taught, it takes time to acquire the level that I’m looking for. The Hire has good analytical thinking. His main deficiency is in condensing that into something that stands on its own – without him having to explain it.

The moral here for me is that if I have the luxury of time, compromising is possible. If not, then I should have asked the questions that would prove that a person could hop into the job and run. In this instance, at this very point, I’ve screwed up royally.

In these troubled times……

Courtesy: dilbert.com

… it becomes necessary to tighten our belts and to lose all reason.

Our CEO declared a few weeks ago a number of cost-saving initiatives:

- All travel has to be approved by him (recently loosened – approval needs to be at Director level)

- No coffee or beverages to be purchased for customers or agencies should they come to visit our building; they need to pay for themselves, die of thirst, or drink tap water

- No Christmas parties for all departments; there will be a single Christmas party to be held in training rooms 1 and 2 on Christmas Eve (duration 2 hours)

- Made 44 jobs redundant last week as part of an “efficiency program”; he sent a company-wide email last week stating that the program will continue to run into the New Year.

Yes, I agree that tough times means tough measures. I’m not sure that it’s necessary to arbitrarily suffocate the joy out of life.

Following The Right Leader

Finding true leaders in business is rare. By true leader, I mean the type of person that is not only incredibly intelligent/wise, but also honest, personable and savvy. What you see on the surface is exactly what you see if you peeled away the suit, the Blackberry and the corner office. Is this person the same in business meetings as in a family gathering? I’ve had a few managers in my time and I couldn’t pinpoint one who had it all. There was always a flaw that undermined everything. One was an amazing networker but completely untrustworthy. Another was scarily intelligent but couldn’t relate to human beings. A more recent one was amicable, a political animal and brilliant but you couldn’t always believe his level of commitment to you. He was made of teflon, making commitments and promises but nothing stuck.

Am I seeking too much? And can I ever fully complete myself so that I’m not perceived in the same way?

Obliterating History

I used to work in a department that numbered over fifty. We were formed through the merger of two companies and the thinking of three people. Our goal was to market the company’s products in a way that hadn’t been done by the organization before.

In the beginning, things were exciting. I had a great relationship (or so I thought) with the Director. I thought I had a great mentor to boost my career. Then, things changed. I don’t know what started the chain reaction, but soon people started losing their jobs. Two of the department’s founders were pushed out. Departments were sliced apart, thrown to Sales or left to fend for its existence.

Today, only a handful of those fifty are still in the company (including me). The Director barely speaks to me as he heads up the department he was after. The lesson here is to see the wave coming and plan for it. Pick a horse whose direction you know.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

There used to be a regular bulletin circulating through the sales and marketing departments of my company announcing whenever someone had joined, left or if there was something worth celebrating.

These days, these announcements are only sent to those departments affected, given that they’re mostly about departures. The HR team mentioned that these had to be kept “in house”. Okay, for a large organization I can understand that the team in supply chain wouldn’t give a damn about the latest departures or arrivals in the call center. It would be junk mail to them. In my opinion, if two teams are separate but have sufficient reason to be connected (like Marketing and Sales) then I think the announcements should still be shared.

In any case, if a person from Marketing decides to leave and only his/her immediate team receive the message, it would be pointless. Everyone knows that they’re leaving anyway.

My suspicion here is that due to the number of departures, the company doesn’t want to paint a picture of a ship slowly losing its passengers. The question here is whether this is a sound strategy. Is it good to know if other departments are unhappy? If so, for whom?

Say What You Mean, Do What You Say

Environmentalism is a deservedly popular trend these days. My company is no different from others in trying to flash their green credentials. So, a “green report” was produced to demonstrate how much less water was being used in the manufacturing process and that there was great progress in achieving carbon neutrality.

The release of the report was through email with a link to the corporate intranet. Within days, paper copies were sitting on all the desks at head office.

Now I wonder, did anybody in PR actually understand what the environmental cause was really about? Head office people are always on their butts, reading email and thumbing their Blackberries. Who needs a paper copy and isn’t this contrary to the overall cause?