More Work Stuff
Mar. 13th, 2019 01:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
singedsunThere's a lady on my team that was Team Lead when I started but it was quickly obvious she wasn't cut out for it. She'd been given the role in the interim before my manager was brought over from another team to be manager and they needed someone to help train me when I got hired. She and I have never really gotten along very well but she also moved into what we call a "Consultant" role a few years ago, so we haven't worked together too much. She's been with the company for like 18 years over all, she's just not very good at the people stuff -- and honestly I think a lot of why she was kept around for so long when she wasn't really good enough to be in the Team Lead role was just lazy upper management. It's kind of a known corporate hassle that firing people who haven't done anything other than be middling to low performers is really difficult. And managers hate to do it, because it means actually following up on what's required of a personnel manager.
When the manager role on our team came open a few weeks ago one of the big reasons I thought I might get shot down if I applied was that she would talk against me. She's been an advocate for getting external hires because she likes to think that better industry knowledge is going to translate well to what we do. (I disagree, but that's a whole other topic.) Plus, I've only been at this job for five years (six in September) and I've moved up from a contractor to the Team Lead. So I get that it can be hard to see me as someone who might be right for management. I get it, even if I don't feel like that's true (in most cases, not just mine).
Since we're kind of on our own with the team right now, as the two most senior members, we've had to start working really closely together to feel like we've got a hold on what's happening. We've been meeting together a lot as well as meeting with the team, just hoping that by the time we get in a new manager, the team is in a good place. I want a new manager to come in and feel like I've got a handle on the day-to-day. And honestly I want to prove that even though I'm not applying for that manager role, I'm more than capable of handling it.
Today we had a long team meeting to go through some training and processes and afterward, she gave me a very nice compliment. She told me that if our opinions were being asked for in the management hire process (in a perfect world, they would be) she'd want them to know she thinks I'm more than capable of the job. She talked about how she's seen me in the past month or so since she's had to sit back on my side of the day-to-day job and doesn't have a doubt that I could take over if they wanted to give me the chance.
I still don't feel like they'll do it, but coming from her that was really, really nice to hear. It made my day honestly and made me feel like maybe I am doing something right in this transition period by not applying for the manager role.
When the manager role on our team came open a few weeks ago one of the big reasons I thought I might get shot down if I applied was that she would talk against me. She's been an advocate for getting external hires because she likes to think that better industry knowledge is going to translate well to what we do. (I disagree, but that's a whole other topic.) Plus, I've only been at this job for five years (six in September) and I've moved up from a contractor to the Team Lead. So I get that it can be hard to see me as someone who might be right for management. I get it, even if I don't feel like that's true (in most cases, not just mine).
Since we're kind of on our own with the team right now, as the two most senior members, we've had to start working really closely together to feel like we've got a hold on what's happening. We've been meeting together a lot as well as meeting with the team, just hoping that by the time we get in a new manager, the team is in a good place. I want a new manager to come in and feel like I've got a handle on the day-to-day. And honestly I want to prove that even though I'm not applying for that manager role, I'm more than capable of handling it.
Today we had a long team meeting to go through some training and processes and afterward, she gave me a very nice compliment. She told me that if our opinions were being asked for in the management hire process (in a perfect world, they would be) she'd want them to know she thinks I'm more than capable of the job. She talked about how she's seen me in the past month or so since she's had to sit back on my side of the day-to-day job and doesn't have a doubt that I could take over if they wanted to give me the chance.
I still don't feel like they'll do it, but coming from her that was really, really nice to hear. It made my day honestly and made me feel like maybe I am doing something right in this transition period by not applying for the manager role.
