whining comes to a head
Apparently while I was playing golf, something happened in the workplace. I didn't witness it, but one of my favorite whiners blew up.
This is part of the continuing emmy plaque saga. That's where some of us who worked on a project that won an emmy got these nifty plaques while others who had lesser roles did not, and they weren't happy. While I was contending with a jerk and hitting little white balls, somebody made a public display of their displeasure. This led to Monday morning when I got to work and saw I was supposed to meet with my boss's boss (and yes, there are a few bosses above him. I'm not real high on the totem pole) Tuesday afternoon.
He either heard about or witnessed the incident. I don't know exactly what happened, just that it did. He wanted to know if this was an isolated thing, or the straw that broke the camels back, or what the deal was. He just knew morale wasn't all that great and wanted to know what we should do about it, so he and I had a long talk in what was supposed to be a fifteen minute discussion.
I gave him my take on the plaque thing and a whole lot more. I told him a lot of people are working very hard and not feeling very appreciated for it. The plaques were cool for those of us who got them, but not so cool for those that didn't. Yes, some are more prone to complaining and can be loud about that, but I think that's where it stemmed from but it started long before that. I told him (and I don't think we're very alone in this regard) that we work our asses off and all anybody ever talks about is what we can do to improve, and what we did wrong. Nobody I know in our whole department, not just the part under my boss, felt like they walked away from their last annual review feeling like it was a pat on the back. Everyone came away feeling like...we aren't doing all that great, and this is what we need to do to get better. Nobody ever says we did a great (or even good) job. You walk away thinking...it's never good enough. If you work all weekend to hit a deadline, nobody ever says, "You busted your ass and got it done. Take Monday off and we'll start fresh on Tuesday." No, Monday morning you're starting on another 10 hour day to get the next thing done, and you're probably already behind. I survive in this environment because I'm confident enough in what I do to know when I did a good job, even if I don't hear it, and if something bothers me, I tell someone and get it resolved before I let it eat at me. Just whining amongst your peers won't get you there.
I told him he needs some rumor control, because people hear wild stories about what other people in this company get or got to do, and there's a lot of "Why do they get to and we don't" stuff going on and half the stories are just that..stories. I sat there for a good hour, but yeah, the last 15 minutes or so were spent more talking golf than work.
Afterwards he thanked me for being honest and made me feel like he liked the input because it helped him see what we need to work on. We'll see if anything comes of it.
This is part of the continuing emmy plaque saga. That's where some of us who worked on a project that won an emmy got these nifty plaques while others who had lesser roles did not, and they weren't happy. While I was contending with a jerk and hitting little white balls, somebody made a public display of their displeasure. This led to Monday morning when I got to work and saw I was supposed to meet with my boss's boss (and yes, there are a few bosses above him. I'm not real high on the totem pole) Tuesday afternoon.
He either heard about or witnessed the incident. I don't know exactly what happened, just that it did. He wanted to know if this was an isolated thing, or the straw that broke the camels back, or what the deal was. He just knew morale wasn't all that great and wanted to know what we should do about it, so he and I had a long talk in what was supposed to be a fifteen minute discussion.
I gave him my take on the plaque thing and a whole lot more. I told him a lot of people are working very hard and not feeling very appreciated for it. The plaques were cool for those of us who got them, but not so cool for those that didn't. Yes, some are more prone to complaining and can be loud about that, but I think that's where it stemmed from but it started long before that. I told him (and I don't think we're very alone in this regard) that we work our asses off and all anybody ever talks about is what we can do to improve, and what we did wrong. Nobody I know in our whole department, not just the part under my boss, felt like they walked away from their last annual review feeling like it was a pat on the back. Everyone came away feeling like...we aren't doing all that great, and this is what we need to do to get better. Nobody ever says we did a great (or even good) job. You walk away thinking...it's never good enough. If you work all weekend to hit a deadline, nobody ever says, "You busted your ass and got it done. Take Monday off and we'll start fresh on Tuesday." No, Monday morning you're starting on another 10 hour day to get the next thing done, and you're probably already behind. I survive in this environment because I'm confident enough in what I do to know when I did a good job, even if I don't hear it, and if something bothers me, I tell someone and get it resolved before I let it eat at me. Just whining amongst your peers won't get you there.
I told him he needs some rumor control, because people hear wild stories about what other people in this company get or got to do, and there's a lot of "Why do they get to and we don't" stuff going on and half the stories are just that..stories. I sat there for a good hour, but yeah, the last 15 minutes or so were spent more talking golf than work.
Afterwards he thanked me for being honest and made me feel like he liked the input because it helped him see what we need to work on. We'll see if anything comes of it.
John put this out here at 7:25 AM
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