Join or sign in Register for your free TechRepublic membership or if you are already a member, sign in using your preferred method below. Use Your Email Use FacebookUse Linkedin

No Process in the workplace

Locked

Hello everyone:

I am battling with being hired as a high-level architect with nothing to do. Although the place is in dire need of my skillset.

I have a boss who refuses to stay out of my projects. He refuses to let me manage my teams. When I started my position he stated how much he needed me. Now that I am here, he wants to prove that he can out-think, out-do, out-design me in every way.

I am tired of starting a project that becomes his. We are not following any processes at all. Everything is fly-by-night! I feels like I am in trailer management rather than IT. The kill of all is, this company keeps screaming we need to do things based upon Sarbanes-Oxley’s theory, but we can’t do the simple things right. We are in competition with each business unit rather than performing as a team. I can’t get a word in and I am constantly battling with working with unprofessional, uneducated, uncivilized people. The positive side to the madness is, I love the CEO of the company. He is booming in business and knows how to get things off on the right track. HR is working hard by setting new standards, but the people with credentials are working for the one’s without them. It feels like there are a lot of Jonah’s on board of this ship, and the sad thing is, they are blocking the real talent from getting the job done.

I really would hate to see us fail due to this ignorance.

Any comments?

Topic

You have issues

In reply to No Process in the workplace

You are not in an ideal environment, but realise that every workplace has its problems. The companies that I have worked for that had their act together, only accomplished that once they had made huge mistakes, recognized them, and worked towards ensuring that they had some system in place to stop them from making the same mistake again.

Your boss sounds insecure. You might be able to modify your approach and get his buy in so that he isn’t in your face all the time.

If you question the organization in terms of process, make sure that in all the things you do, you appear orgainzed and to be following a process.

Instead of bemoaning the lack of teamwork and the challenges between teams, try building some bridges. Surely you can create some informal relationships between the groups to enable you to function.

Lets face it, from your position, its hard to influence except through example. All you can hope is that you do your job well, and that others see it, and that they strive to follow your example.

Good luck.

James

I have tried…and continuing to explore patience

In reply to You have issues

James, I have tried to get my boss out of my projects and I had some temporary success, but he’s a control freak and he loves to say, “I can do this or that because, I am the boss.” He is also a male Chauvinist too. He is very condescending when it comes to women, but he seems to enjoy using my education, experience, and skills to poke at his peers. I might add, he does that to the graduate level male collegues I have too…It’s sad, but true. I know that I am challenged to exert some patience, so I am trying to take it in stride.

I also appreciate your candor and comments regarding leading by example…that’s true. However, I can’t lead by example when my superior jumps in without skills to do the job and breaks the right process with the “good old boy” routine. Because he can! It’s crazy, but that’s what I have to deal with…

I must state, today, he told me that I received rave reviews on my work and upper level managers want everyone to practice the same process…I wish he would take the first steps and follow me in areas were he is weak…instead of going back to the old way of doing things that he actually complained about during my interview.

Patience is a virtue…I must try hard to be virtuous in this matter…

Thanks for your comments…

Cheridee

I’ve offered this suggestion many times

In reply to No Process in the workplace

You have a personnel problem. Not the usual kind because the “problem person” doesn’t report to you, it’s the other way round. But it’s still a personnel problem, a difficulty establishing a good working relationship with someone so that they give you what you need, starting with respect.

It sounded like it was just one guy, but then you gave it away with the line about “unprofessional, uneducated, uncivilized PEOPLE.”

You don’t say whether you’ve talked this over with your friend the CEO. I guess you haven’t or you would have told us what he said. If not, why not?

Frankly I’d guess the only resource that will get you through this is patience. Try working for the government for several years and after that you can tolerate just about anything involving organizational dysfunction.

At any rate, your next step is to pay your own money and consult with a psychologist or psychoanalyst who specializes in management consulting. They can tell you things about your boss, just from listening to your story, that you wouldn’t have recognized. They might be able to give you some good ideas on how to heal the relationship, or at least how to get what you want. If not, they may at least be able to advise you on how to make the most of a bad situation and minimize the stress it causes you.

I’ve done this and it worked. I wish I had done it twenty years earlier.

My only other advice is also one that I have given everybody: Spend more time with your dog. A dog’s love makes everything better and it makes the company of people more tolerable.

Thanks DC Guy

In reply to I’ve offered this suggestion many times

I have considered your suggestion before your reply. Unfortunately, I can not go to my boss’s supervisor and discuss this madness because he only allows me to voice my opinion in a group forum. I believe I blew it for me in that area too. Initially, he came to me and asked my opinion on my role and my boss’s. I (like an idiot) went back to my boss and told him what transpired(thinking I was team playing and showing loyalty), only to find out that the VP was confiding in me and now seems not to trust me. I am sure my boss went back to him and complained that he should not have communicated with me on the level he had…however, at the time, I didn’t realize that my boss was insecure. Now-a-days, I know his problem and just today, I went to him to discuss my issues and he stated, take advantage of this time you have, not to do anything…go and think of ways to market our team. You’re the expert! I am not! All in the same sentence he was scrambling over how he’s having problems performing in projects that were assigned to me. Now he wants me to do research on how to sell our technology to our clients, and research our piss-poor infrastructure setup within the company…No doubt, I will get it all organized and he will take it again. After all, he wants me to know that I am right under him in rank his, but he doesn’t want me to use words that describe my senior level. I can’t stand this type of behavior. He is so very patronizing and glib when he tries to cover up. The people that I was speaking upon that are unprofessional, etc…are both him and his peers. The light at the end of the tunnel is, I truly think the VP of IT is aware of there instability and seems to be trying to work this out without publishing his concerns directly. There is hope.

As far as my dog, I do have a nice little dog and I enjoy his love along with my daughter. However, after being divorced for over 12 years, I think it’s time Mr. Right finds me so that I can stop focusing on the intolerable in the workplace…
Again, thanks for your comments and advice.

Sincerely,

Cheridee

Just a thought, take it or leave it

In reply to Thanks DC Guy

To tie together two of the things you said… The vast majority of people meet the people they marry at work. After all, it’s the place where we spend the most time and where we get to know people the best.

If you’re working in a place where you feel bad and you even have poor relationships with some of the people, it’s not much of a resource.

You say in a later post that you were hoping to keep this job until you retire. It might be worth thinking about what that particular kind of stability could cost you in terms of making other opportunities less likely to encounter.

Stay or Go

In reply to No Process in the workplace

Dust off your resume. You seem to have plenty of skills and life is far too short to put up with your situation. Can you find another job?

If the answer is yes, I would discuss this with your boss. Tell him that you have been pretty miserable and unhappy, mostly because of —– (be very objective here, as it you were looking down on your situation from Mars). Tell him you are looking for advice from him. You realize that he probably can’t change and wonder if he has any recommendations for you. Tell him that you can’t seem to make a go of it and unless he can give you some good advice that you’ll have to consider a move. Your body language and tone of voice should reflect your unhappiness and despair. This may have an affect on him, but I would not count on it.

If you would like to give him an Ebook that will tell him how to manage people, I will give you a complimentary copy of mine so that you can read it and recommend/give it to him. Once again, this has a low probability of success, but one never knows. It is possible that the fear of losing you and the recognition that you are really down and out may affect him positively.

I wish you well, Ben Simonton
How to Unleash the Power of People
http://www.bensimonton.com

Thanks Ben

In reply to Stay or Go

Your suggestion was heart-felt. I am happy to report that I have already attempted to do as you suggested. My boss admits his failures all the time and say’s that he is going to make a dedicated effort to get better. However, it last all of 10 minutes. In that, I know that I am not in a win-win situation.

Just this morning, he called in after screwing up and not being in the rest of the week. He asked that one of my co-workers speak to me regarding the matter. I was incensed to say the least. It’s not that I think I am hodge-podge, over these people, but I am the highest paid and I train these people. I can’t believe he’d stoop so low to add another person into our business. I kindly told the person that I didn’t need his assistance. I would handle the situation accordingly on my own.

I also submitted my resume for two similiar roles and right away, I heard back from one of the companies in less than an hour. I had a phone interview with them and I felt good discussing my talent and skills to the interviewer. He was so impressed that he started asking me about their architecture and what I think of their practices. I enjoyed that! So we will see!

On a sad note, I really wanted to make this existing company my retirement job. I am sad that they just can’t let go of the old way of doing things that could only destroy the company eventually.

Thanks so much for your input and the eBook.

Have a happy Thanksgiving…

Cheridee

talk 2 ur boss and other team mates

In reply to No Process in the workplace

i would suggest that u talk 2 ur boss and other team mates and
cleary define the goals the process for ur project. Try to start
with a short term project so that by the time ur boss tries to
come into the picture it is on the verge of finishing.

Make him believe that he is the boss and he will always be ur
boss. It is the insecurity that drives bosses to do something like
this.

Handle ur meeting with care and not with anger/frustration.

Thanks raghu

In reply to talk 2 ur boss and other team mates

Thanks for your input raghu. I have done everything in my power to give my boss respect in his role. Upon hiring me, he admitted that I had the most education and skills. He stated that my talent was what he wanted and needed. He was so into my skillset and education (along with the other teammates that recently were brought on board) that he wanted us to set up a wall of fame. He wanted us to post our degrees and certifications on the wall. I was totally against it (and so where most of the others) because he himself doesn’t match up to most of our skills and education and I could only see it as a nightmare beginning to happen.

In closing, I really think we mutually like each other, but he has to get over the good old boy routine.

Again, thanks for your comments,

Cheridee

[Author]

Replies