Ever work for people that just don't get it? Not in a horrible, yelling all the time kind of way. But more of the 'really, was that necessary?' type....that's what I'm working with here.
Boiling it down:
A couple of weeks ago I was in 2 weeks worth of training that could have been done in 4 days, tops. I'd spoken to this trainer before about training philosophies and what her predecessor had neglected to do. Please keep in mind, I didn't 'hate on' the prior trainer like many (most) of my incoming class did. For real, they hated on that poor girl like she stole something. My feedback was all business, even had a few tips in there (for example, the woman said 'Ummm' a lot. Solution? Dell Carnegie classes, Toastmasters, etc.). Not one of my tips did this new trainer bring to her own training, and it sucked.
After 2 weeks of this training I and all of my teammates were given new accounts to work. The sheer volume is daunting. I've had two women I work with cry because they are feeling overwhelmed. Me? I'm more pissed, for the following reasons:
1. I got these accounts last Monday, but was not able to view them or talk to the previous account management team, until this past Thursday.
2. I was involved in a major accounts con-call on Tuesday. Yup, a whopping 3 business days to gather up info on quadruple the work. I'm not kidding about that. If I had 1X 2 weeks ago, I now have 5 x. And that's fine, but since it took me about a month to figure out 1x, with an awesome previous account mgmt team that wanted to help me, what fucked up math are ya doing to think that 5x with no help gets consumed in 3 days time? C'mon man!!!
3. I got the biggest account. By quite a bit. I love a challenge, but if no one will talk to me, and no one will give me any info, how in the world am I supposed to be able to update my upper mgmt.
4. What creased me? Being told that I needed to 'know my level'. In context, where I work I need to go thru 2-3 levels of mgmt to get to another side of my internal business. Meanwhile, I'm expected to be in contact with external C-level type folks. Title dictates behavior? Eff you it does. And to think, I got answers before I got my hand slapped. I'm sure that there is a perfectly good explanation for it, but I refuse to kiss the ring of someone just because they have a bigger title. Don't expect me to call on a CFO at a client of mine if I can't talk to a director level person here. It's beyond dumb. And the little hand-slap that I got? Set me off the deep end.
Now come the pep-talk type emails, after my team gets its collective dick kicked in the dirt. We recoup as a group, talk about things, laugh about how we think we're getting set up to fail, etc. Hell, there's almost a lull when I walk in today, like people are ready to roll up their sleeves and attack the work.
And then it happens....
The email from hell that lets us know that we're behind as a group, things are bleak, the sky is falling, but please note that we're there for you, blahblahblahblah. Awesome management techniques.
Look, I have no gripes with my mgmt folks, as people. They're more than fine. They are mostly understanding. But how does this type of email motivate folks?
I've led teams before, I know what folks have been up against, and this type of stuff sucks. Mostly because they have lost the ability to gauge the group. I've got 4 teammates 'out sick' today, and not for one second do I believe they're all ill. I'll bet 2 are fed up, one is wondering what the hell they signed up for and one is sick.
For now, I laugh slyly at this. Tonight? I start my job hunt again. I'm thinking it's time for me to run some things-I've got the brain and the skillset for it. And I know damn well enough when to leave it alone, when to push and when to pull the ol' "We're all in this together" mantra.
Today, we giggle in silence.
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