I am still quite terrified I will not fit in
Dear Office-Politics,
I’m a recent college graduate and have never really been very good at playing the office politics game. Sadly, I have already had two positions in the past year and the problems I ran across at both companies were politically-related. I don’t care about being the popular person, the department poster child, or the biggest and brightest (though I’m sure that will come eventually).
Right now, I’m just trying to learn how to apply my college education, get along with people, and grow into a position where I can become the biggest and brightest. I am very frustrated though as I have been very much underestimated in my past positions in the form of not being given anything to grow with, but when I’m not given those things, coworkers tend to develop the perception that I am not capable of the job because I’m not working on it. Even when I did ask for tasks or projects to be on, I was told there’s nothing for me (though there’s sure a lot for everyone else!). So, I can’t get the knowledge without the work, but can’t get the work without the knowledge. The past companies have dealt with proprietary software, so there were no Internet resources to reach out to and documentation (if there was any) was very outdated. I was let go as my frustration manifested itself in the form of open boredom.
I now have a new position I’m starting in a couple of weeks that I’m actually very excited about. More…
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Create a Circle of Eyes to Fight Back
When Ellen Roseman, author and consumer-advocate columnist for The Toronto Star, invited me to contribute to her new book, Fight Back, I was delighted. As you’ll read in my excerpted article below, Ellen was an instrumental pair of “eyes” in helping me fight back — and win!
I WAS FIGHTING A COMPANY over the faulty installation of a gas furnace and ductwork, which had caused major structural damage to our home. I wanted them to pay for repairs. The company had deep pockets and no fear of going to court. Its lawyer said in a surly email, “Go ahead. Sue us.”
Going to court could have amounted to financial suicide for our family, or at the very least, hardship. There was no way I wanted to fight this battle in court, or even in an arbitration hearing… Read more…
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The New Guy I Hired is Hated…
Dear Office Politics,
I recently received a promotion and hired my replacement; however, everyone who now reports to him hates him. He is a very talented manager of work, but lacks charisma and needs to improve on his people skills. We have lost a couple of good people due to his arrival, and a lot of other changes within the organization. I am working hard to help this manager develop but when do I give up for the sake of the team?
Please help.
Manager
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Leadership Lessons from Katrina for Hurricane Sandy Survivors
Hurricane Sandy, 30/10/12: Flooded Avenue C at East 6th Street in Manhattan's East Village; Photo David Shankbone Three Leadership Lessons from Katrina to Help Hurricane Sandy Survivors By Office-Politics Adviser, Dr. Greg Ketchum Like everyone else I’ve been watching the news coverage of Hurricane Sandy. As I’ve watched the images of devastation I’ve found myself experiencing vivid flashbacks of my time being trapped in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The chief emotions these images have evoked in me are anger, frustration, and even rage at the massive failures of leadership that happened during Katrina. Some of the suffering I experienced during Katrina could have been avoided had I done one simple thing; taken on responsibility and leadership to get myself out of New Orleans instead of depending on authority figures to do it for me. I waited for governments, disaster relief agencies, and the national guard to arrive like the cavalry riding over ...
Millennial eye rollers are grumbling
Dear Office-Politics,
I have been asked to manage a few coworkers on an ongoing reporting project that is fairly low scale in the priority of our division. These coworkers are younger, newer, and still learning the ropes, and I’ve been at this company for seven years.
Part of the problem is our work environment, which is generally tightly controlled and can be discouraging, and these newbies complain regularly about being micromanaged by our boss. I want to be flexible and encourage them to enjoy the project. When I suggest they take on a task they showed some interest in, or just encourage them to (gasp) actually participate in the project, I have gotten no reply, or some eye rolling, and/or have overheard conversations about moi like “he should have just assigned blah blah to do blah blah.” I have tried to delegate a la “Ok, Suzy, why don’t you tackle the blabbity blah?” and get … the same response. I give them deadlines and guidelines to keep them aware of what we need to do and how.
