That which we call an office
In an environment where office politics are rife, there are people who would bad-mouth others to get ahead in their career. There are some appears genuinely nice to you and next you heard, they were back-stabbing you to your boss.
A couple of months back, the group of us (including my asst manager "AM") was out for dinner. We were talking about work and the topic somehow swerved to this new guy "SU" at work. He had only joined us about 2 weeks ago. This girl "R" started blabbering about how she overheard SU complaining (yes she used that exact word) about AM, about how he felt stressed and pressurized by AM. The AM was obviously not too happy to hear about all these. Her face literally turned black. Personally I don't like R all that much. Always think she's out to play office politics. I politely pointed out to all that SU being young in the department should be given some time to adjust and that he could as a matter of fact be feeling stressed, but I doubted it was anything personal. It was more like one of those harmless ranting. The AM, after cooling down agreed and that was it, end of conversation. All those while, I didn't even want to look at R. I was feeling disgusted within.
Somehow, SU was assigned to my team and I was made his mentor to show him the ropes. I gladly took the challenge, feeling glad for him that R wasn't made his mentor. In a perfect world, SU is proactive, willing to learn and diligent. He seeks clarification when in doubt and makes an effort to note down new procedures & policies.
Reality knocks. Hard and fast. As of now, he's been with us for more than 3 months. No basic phone etiquette (picks up the phone with hello instead of a proper greeting), forgetful, disorganised, shows no initiative and lazy. I nicely pointed out to him yesterday tht he should demonstrate proper phone etiquette when picking up the phone. He protested and said that was never done at his old job and yada yada. I explained the rational to him but I doubted he took it in a nice way. Anyway, i thought it is basic phone etiquette at work? no? Next I heard, he told a colleague that he felt I was picking on him. I was more disappointed than angry when I found out. In all honesty, I really want to see him progress and I felt the need to point things like that out to him.
I went through some procedure with him today after lunch. And with a real example, I told him to apply that procedure and let me know if he has any question. This procedure, btw is not a new one, but I wanted to revise it with him cause he didn't seem too sure about it. Halfway, I asked if he had any issues. He said he was fine. Well I wanted to find out if he's disgested the info, so I asked him to briefly explain how he plan to execute the whole work flow.
"I am not trying to make fun of you by testing you. I really want to know if you have understood the procedure. Can you proceed to finish off this work request and tell me what steps you would proceed next, after you look through it?"
He couldn't and showed me an agitated face like I've just asked him to do the impossible.
"SU, I just went through the procedure with you less than 6 hours ago. You can refer to your notes to check. I hoped you took notes just now?"
I received a blank look as he fumbled for scraps of papers. Someone came over to check something with me. I told him to take time to think and get back to me. He listed some steps of the procedure and they weren't complete. The thing about procedures is they have to be complete!
"Are you sure that's it? Anything else you would like to add?"
He replied indignantly that it was it. Nothing else.
"How about the final step?"
I don't know why I refused to give him the answer. I gave him clues and finally he recalled!
"There, I know you can remember! You need to remember all these. Think of a best way that works for you which would make all these info easier to retrieve"
It was a rather tiring process but I was glad i didn't regurgitate the answers to him when he's stuck in the midst of problems solving. Though somehow, I didn't think he appreciated me "picking" on him. I've heard some feedback on his work both from AM and my boss; and I sincerely wanted to help. But I am getting tired of playing the baddie. Why should I care when all other seniors are leaving him in the lurch to sink or float at his own peril? I feel maligned at times.
Maybe I should have a talk with him tomorrow. WWJD?
A couple of months back, the group of us (including my asst manager "AM") was out for dinner. We were talking about work and the topic somehow swerved to this new guy "SU" at work. He had only joined us about 2 weeks ago. This girl "R" started blabbering about how she overheard SU complaining (yes she used that exact word) about AM, about how he felt stressed and pressurized by AM. The AM was obviously not too happy to hear about all these. Her face literally turned black. Personally I don't like R all that much. Always think she's out to play office politics. I politely pointed out to all that SU being young in the department should be given some time to adjust and that he could as a matter of fact be feeling stressed, but I doubted it was anything personal. It was more like one of those harmless ranting. The AM, after cooling down agreed and that was it, end of conversation. All those while, I didn't even want to look at R. I was feeling disgusted within.
Somehow, SU was assigned to my team and I was made his mentor to show him the ropes. I gladly took the challenge, feeling glad for him that R wasn't made his mentor. In a perfect world, SU is proactive, willing to learn and diligent. He seeks clarification when in doubt and makes an effort to note down new procedures & policies.
Reality knocks. Hard and fast. As of now, he's been with us for more than 3 months. No basic phone etiquette (picks up the phone with hello instead of a proper greeting), forgetful, disorganised, shows no initiative and lazy. I nicely pointed out to him yesterday tht he should demonstrate proper phone etiquette when picking up the phone. He protested and said that was never done at his old job and yada yada. I explained the rational to him but I doubted he took it in a nice way. Anyway, i thought it is basic phone etiquette at work? no? Next I heard, he told a colleague that he felt I was picking on him. I was more disappointed than angry when I found out. In all honesty, I really want to see him progress and I felt the need to point things like that out to him.
I went through some procedure with him today after lunch. And with a real example, I told him to apply that procedure and let me know if he has any question. This procedure, btw is not a new one, but I wanted to revise it with him cause he didn't seem too sure about it. Halfway, I asked if he had any issues. He said he was fine. Well I wanted to find out if he's disgested the info, so I asked him to briefly explain how he plan to execute the whole work flow.
"I am not trying to make fun of you by testing you. I really want to know if you have understood the procedure. Can you proceed to finish off this work request and tell me what steps you would proceed next, after you look through it?"
He couldn't and showed me an agitated face like I've just asked him to do the impossible.
"SU, I just went through the procedure with you less than 6 hours ago. You can refer to your notes to check. I hoped you took notes just now?"
I received a blank look as he fumbled for scraps of papers. Someone came over to check something with me. I told him to take time to think and get back to me. He listed some steps of the procedure and they weren't complete. The thing about procedures is they have to be complete!
"Are you sure that's it? Anything else you would like to add?"
He replied indignantly that it was it. Nothing else.
"How about the final step?"
I don't know why I refused to give him the answer. I gave him clues and finally he recalled!
"There, I know you can remember! You need to remember all these. Think of a best way that works for you which would make all these info easier to retrieve"
It was a rather tiring process but I was glad i didn't regurgitate the answers to him when he's stuck in the midst of problems solving. Though somehow, I didn't think he appreciated me "picking" on him. I've heard some feedback on his work both from AM and my boss; and I sincerely wanted to help. But I am getting tired of playing the baddie. Why should I care when all other seniors are leaving him in the lurch to sink or float at his own peril? I feel maligned at times.
Maybe I should have a talk with him tomorrow. WWJD?
posted by Shazza at Tuesday, July 06, 2004
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