Dear TJOW: I've been with my current company going on 10 years. I've been promoted a number of times but I am now close to the top of this division. My manager will be retiring in the next couple of years and I want to position myself as his replacement. What brilliant suggestions do you have?
Ambitious in New York
Dear Ambitious: Brilliant suggestions? Us? Haven't you been reading this blog? Brilliant is a stretch, don't you think?
Self-deprecation aside, we do have a number of suggestions for you. None brilliant; all practical.
1. Produce outstanding results in your job. Do not settle for good or even great. Blow through your goals and demonstrate that you are a terrific performer. If you can't do this, no need to read any further.
2. Become a thought leader in an area essential to your organization. As an example, if improving product quality is essential to your division's future success, become fluent in how successful companies have increased product quality, how they've measured these gains, sustained their gains, and develop ideas about how to improve it where you are.
3. Act the part. If your company has a set of defined values and/or behaviors, live them. More importantly, demonstrate them daily. Be the person who everyone sees, especially your boss's boss, as the logical successor to your manager.
4. Have your successor in place. Identifying your replacement and having that person fully ready to step into your job now will make it easier for you to be promoted when your manager retires.
5. Dress for the part. It's a useful idea to dress for the job you aspire to, not the job you have. How does your boss and his or her peers dress? While we don't subscribe to the notion that you can tell a book by its cover, or that conformity is the key to success, we do support you to look like the executive you hope to become.
6. Stay cool. Few admire and fewer like those who jockey for promotion. Be enthusiastic about your current job and consider the brilliant suggestions above. If you're worthy, your day will come.
Dear TJOW: I have a decent job and work for a company with its heart in the right place. My problem is with my manager. She is a stickler for time. 'Judy' insists we be at our desks at precisely 8:30 every morning and never leave work until 5:00 at the end of the day, even though we're salaried employees and do not punch a time clock. What 'Judy' doesn't realize is that this is encouraging me to spread my work over the entire day, rather than try to get it done faster. She is also encouraging me to think about finding another job, since she's making me feel like I'm in grade school again. Any suggestions?
Irked in Arizona
Dear Irked: Yes, we suggest three things:
1. Show up on time and stay until 5:00. Since thems the rules, we suggest you follow them. You might even think about showing up a bit before 8:30 to demonstrate how very responsible you are.
2. Depending on the relationship you have with 'Judy', you might consider asking her about her time demands. She's bound to tell you that punctuality and working a full day are essential to the success of the department, especially in these demanding times. Try to explain how this makes you feel less like a trusted adult and more like a child. Having the conversation may help you understand her motives and help her understand how her actions impact you. Don't expect her to change her tune.
3. If you get your work done before 5:00 p.m., ask 'Judy' or your peers if there is more you can do. You're being paid for a full day's work. Might as well do it.
Dear TJOW: I'm part of a leadership team, or so I'm told, that isn't given much chance to lead. The typical pattern is for the team to be presented with a pressing business issue by our boss and, in the same breath, the solution to that issue. No discussion, no involvement, no consideration of options or alternatives. Worse, no one on the team says a dissenting word -- even if the solution seems headed for failure. What's a guy to do?
Disgruntled in Atlanta
Dear Disgruntled: Our first best suggestion is to talk about it. Begin by asking your peers about their experience on the team, if only to determine if your views are shared. If they are, you might ask your peers why no one broaches the topic during team meetings. If your views are not shared, you might consider monitoring the situation a bit longer to determine if your observations about non-involvement are sound. Assuming they are, consider approaching your boss and sharing what you have shared with us. Positioning the conversation as 'a way to improve the effectiveness of the leadership team' might go along way to helping make the discussion productive and not a personal affront to the leader's style.
Dear TJOW: Our department of 45 people is a complete mess. We have no real standards -- except to get the job done. Decisions are made but are almost never carried out. We rarely talk about the problems we're having. Our last customer survey showed that their satisfaction is at an all-time low, but nothing is being done about it. I've talked with HR but they don't have any good suggestions about how to fix things. I feel like a failure. Help!
At My Wits Ends in Boston
Dear At My Wits Ends: You are clearly living in a difficult and damaging workplace. Issues widely experienced but not acknowledged or discussed is, at its core, what defines dysfunction. Worse, this dysfunction appears to be taking its toll on you -- as it usually does, diabolically so. Your feelings of failure are a direct and unfortunate outcome.
We suggest the following:
1. Attempt to convince yourself that this situation is not of your making. This is not about you. This is about what is happening at work. You are in it, but you are not causing it.
2. Approach your manager to discuss the situation. Depending on the relationship you have, try to have this conversation outside the office, perhaps over coffee or lunch, to allow for a more relaxed discussion. When you do, consider outlining your observations in the context of 'difficulties I am having at work' so as not to appear to blame your manager for the problems. Try to determine if your manager is similarly frustrated.
3. If you can, encourage your manager to contact HR for support in addressing the issues the department is facing. If HR is able to help, great. If not, consider outside support.
4. If you get nowhere with your manager and the problems persist, consider seeking work elsewhere. Dysfunction has a nasty way of undermining one's sense of self-worth. A poor-performing department is one thing; being damaged personally by work-place dysfunction is another thing entirely.
Dear TJOW: (In response to last week's blog about humor) Amen.
Laughing in Palo Alto
Dear Laughing: We couldn't have said it better had we tried. (And we did!) Thank you!
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