Generation Squeeze

 yup, sometimes I too feel stuck between the boomers who wouldn't give us their jobs and don't want to look after our kids.  Rebound effect still rippling from the WWII I suppose.

From The Globe and Mail: After the boomers, it's Generation Squeeze - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/after-the-boomers-its-generation-squeeze/article2205685/?utm_source=Shared+Article+Sent+to+User&utm_medium=E-mail:+Newsletters+/+E-Blasts+/+etc.&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links 

professional vs social recognition: and/or?

I'm acting two levels above my substantive position these days.
Uncomfortably busy, in that I am not "in control" of my workload - I'm constantly being chased after for approving this and that and responding to management requests, all of which is pretty much brand new to me, and I suspect I've left a few of the more quiet (and hopefully but probably not less important) files behind. Combined with lack of sleep and preoccupation with renovations that are going as should be expected, I've caught myself avoiding social situations and public image-making opportunities, probably out of concern of making a stuttering fool of myself. So today I forced myself to walk around more and take ownership of my current responsibilities in a hopefully not too transparent or suspiciously desperate attempt at claiming the requisite status.
But (throwing grammatical caution to the wind), that led to the most bothersome part of my day: trying to thank one of my colleagues during her farewell luncheon, and not being able to get a word in edgewise above the general din of miscellaneous conversations of the people I am supposedly leading. Another painful reminder that pursuing rank is counterproductive to social relationships/status. The words "It's lonely at the top" have never rung more true :(

Regardless, tomorrow's a new day and a quieter one at that. I'll have more time to talk to people, get things done, and continue building relationships one step at a time.

keeping your cool

funny email from government colleague who survived the great quake of oh-10
(names removed to protect the identity of the self-incriminating author)

Subject: FW: GOC Notification NT086-10 5.7 Magnitude Earthquake, Buckingham, QC

FYI.

This scared the crap out of me. When it hit, I was doing a presentation in a conference room in the basement of my office tower, discussing R&D testing that involved blowing up highway tanks...eerily enough. The first thing that crossed my mind was that something in the building had exploded...

Lessons learned from this - I don't respond well to these "emergency type" situations. I interrupted my presentation by yelling "OMG! What the hell is that?!" and proceeded to run out of the conference room, leaving everyone behind. I REALLY need to work on my emergency reaction skills...

Hope everyone is safe and sound. And I hope my bunnies aren't freaking out at home right now (or peeing all over their cage...poor things).

B

p.s. Everyone told me they will remember my presentation, but for the wrong reasons...

swimming against the current

Had an epiphany/d-uh moment over the weekend after accumulation of numerous rejected improvement recommendations at work:
Arguments are won with the heart, not facts.

I've always regarded the pursuit of knowledge, information, truth, and consideration of the bigger picture as fundamental, and assumed most people would share that interest in continuous self-/improvement.

Unfortunately, (most of) the rest of the world doesn't seem to work like that. Usually, the rest of the world (at least part of my work environment) seems to value collaboration and conventionalism in general. Relevance of any supporting facts presented is generally not (well?) understood, and many openly revel in being able to point out your errors and discredit you. It can become a competition of show-uppance. It's also very difficult for someone to accuse you of not being kind and considerate, regardless how mistaken their direction.

Looking past the probable negative outcomes of people's intentions and effectively reguiding their efforts is an ability I clearly have yet to learn to fake, never mind develop.

career coaching

I recently won a free career coaching session. Not sure what that entails, nor am I sure whether I'll be able to avoid digressing into philosophical over-analysis use it optimally.

Kinda reminds me of the stupid "Choices" program our guidance counselor offered in high school. It suggested completly random jobs like architect, politician, teacher, garbageman, hotel concierge, helicopter pilot and heavy-equipment operator. When I asked the guidance counselor for actual "guidance" (silly me), she merely reflected: Well, tell me what you want to do and we can do the test again with that in mind. Though subconsciously sensible, it's hardly a logical response and certainly did not impress my concretish way of looking at things (which inevitably led me down an engineering path). Thing is, dealing with imperfections, inconsistencies, public ignorance/apathy and other such irritants on a daily basis is a never-ending battle. On that, can anyone tell me how that finger-in-the-failing-dyke fable ends?

social graces

I believe shaking hands is an important formality to get right (i.e., firm, not limp dead fish, nor osteoporous-bone-crushingly strong either) when I meet someone, especially in a professional context. Once past the initial formality with colleagues I usually find it awkward though, sometimes even suspicious they're still trying to size me up or win me over like a politician.
is it just me?

supervisor vs mentor

called a meeting with my supervisor today. she clarified a few things (things I didn't but should know) and I explained a few things to her about her "management" style. She didn't see how respecting each others' jurisdictions and responsibilities might be necessary or even conducive to good working relations, but she could take into consideration.
why am i (the underling) coaching/mentoring a supervisor in management approaches... it's a question of survival, I guess, to make my day to day work (for her) less painful, but it's not giving me any sense of fulfillment.

grr

conflicting management styles/expectations suck.
professional self-restraint against blogging what's pissing me off sucks even more.
my only outlet/digestive aid is to email myself I guess.

another day...

I'm still reeling from a discussion I had at work today. I blogged (but haven't published) the anonymous details of the disturbingly ignorant response I was given to why we shouldn't be implementing a collaborative workspace to capture, standardize and improve upon our team's role in a complex government decision-making process. I won't be publishing the details here (or anywhere), but I am finding the inane stupidity and desperate shortsightedness of the control-freakish response profoundly disturbing, and I am not sure I'm going to continue enjoying working under that.

Coincidentally, yesterday's Dilbert:

disturbingly stupid

In the vein of stupid manager comments, this one still has me reeling.

Context: a group of approx 15 young (and youngish) professionals managing projects, each lasting over 3 years with new ones launched every quarter. Although nearly identical in process, they vary greatly in scope, and the number of stakeholders/interrelationships, statutory time constraints, and potential economic impacts makes them quite complex. There is also a very strong reliance on other teams contributing and participating (it is government, after all), and some of these other groups have complained that our mini-projects are all being managed differently. Mistakes are being made, over and again.

If you've ever heard of iso9000 or six sigma (or been around one long enough), that ought to raise a sympathetic smile as you recognize the desperate need for some process/policy/decision-making/guidance/aide-memoire/SOMETHING documentation and share it with our sister team to provide a more standard and professional service.

So, I proposed (again) a collaborative tool (e.g., wiki) to capture and build upon lessons learned, checklists, resource descriptions, templates, best practices, tips and tricks, etc., with all the obvious associated benefits. The supervisor shot it down (again), this time with the following arguments:

training you guys is my job

I've been through it once and I know what you need to do

all the things you need to do are in the schedule (indeed, the deliverables and approvals are identified...)

everything's been done before, just grab any existing file and use it as example (and repeat the same mistakes with the same stakeholders? no thanks)

you are all professionals, professionals don't need to follow a standard/accepted process (what?)

as professionals, you should already know what resources are available and how to use the various tools, even if parachuting in from another department (double what?)

furthermore, the (sister team's) manager doesn't agree that we should be doing things this way and if she wants to do it her (lazy) way when it's her turn, well she'll just have to learn from her own mistakes. (triple-salko what?)

I was stunned, but still strong enough to counter that as professionals we SHOULD absolutely be following a standard/accepted process, work out the solutions to the little things ourselves, capture and share them with each other (you know, "professional development"?), so that she could focus on making sure we have the resources we need to do the job on time and intervene only for the problems (unfortunately managing by exception seemed to be a completely foreign concept). "We can do that with a wiki," I added.

That seemed to push her over the edge. Increasingly impatient, she blurted out, with some degree of desperation:

"If you want a wiki, I'll be your wiki. I am your wiki!"

I'm still reeling from this exchange, increasingly unsure I'll be able to continue enjoying work with her around.

reorgs

the whole division is in upheaval with the creation of two new sections and restructuring and people moving around to fill new positions and the domino effect that usually ensues (well, granted may not be so usual in the private sector). anyway, when i heard my supervisor was taking a management position, at least temporarily, I said i thought it was too early for me (being rather new to the department) to backfill his position; he said he thought our new manager should make his new team.
Yesterday, I revised my position to say I would consider it. I still feel I don't have enough "time in".
Today the director general put on a video "so you think you want to be an executive" . a short while later, in our unit meeting, he announced officially he was leaving (temporarily) and I felt the leaving manager's eyes on me but I didn't say anything.  New baby on the way, I'll be away for 9 months.  Timing just isn't right.

professional introspection & resistance to change

I'm beginning to realize that I am slightly more competitive, ambitious, enthusiastic, conscientious and intelligent than most in the workplace. which also makes me more resented than most by some in the workplace. (it's only taken me, oh, 30-odd years to figure this out, which i suppose also makes me more naive than most.) not realizing my "superiority" in that regard has made me expect others be just as capable as me; naturally, those expectations don't do anything to alleviate the aforementioned resentment.
Now, if only i could figure a way to get the senior members of the section (same age, but who've been there for 8-10 years compared to my 7 months) to recognize that some of the things they have been doing "forever" desperately need to be modernized...

mgmt hypocrisy

I'm a contrator/consultant/temp/etc. The (client) department I work for is under strong pressure to keep headcount down so they hire contractors/consultants/temps/etc like me, then impose restrictions on our job conditions to avoid appearance of employer/employee (ER/EE) relationships, which could put them on the hook for benefits/pensionable time etc. Avoidance of ER/EE rel'ps is also advantageous to independent contractors who pay taxes at corporate (as opposed to personal) rates. I'm not independent so that doesn't apply to me.

A few weeks ago the directorate sent an email asking all EEs to submit their personal contact info for emergencies. I ignored it believing that it wouldn't apply to contractors, and if I complied, it would counter efforts to avoid ER/EE relationship appearance. I thought it was in the managers' best interest and left it at that.

Yesterday my boss' boss blasted an email at three of us contractors (cc: our bosses) accusing us (inappropriately strongly) of not being team players and inconsiderate because if we're in an airplane that crashes they will phone the body shop and hit a machine after hours so they won't be able to inform our families.

WTF? Besides the fact that scenario is stupid for a number of reasons, my boss, all my colleagues and the boss' boss' secretary all have my personal coordinates.

And today I find out that in 5months time it won't matter anyway because rather than contracting with one or two body shops to provide a team of professionals, they will prequalify a number of body shops and award each individual position to the lowest bidder.

So they give us shit for playing by their own friggin rules, with a patronizing note stating we've caused "very deep disappointment" because we're "not team players." Meanwhile, they've been secretely crafting a new structure for a follow-on professional services contract that will make it very difficult to get re-hired as a team.

Double WTF.