The Entangled Chain of Command
I’ve never been in the military, but if there is one thing I admire of it, is the chain of command. There is a C.O. (commander officer) for everyone, and even in the lower ranks there are Sergeants to run the smaller tasks; that’s how business should be run. I will give my life for my C.O. (metaphorically speaking), but I need to know that he would go to court martial for me.
In a business society where promotions are given like cake at a birthday party, it’s important to keep the eye in the true meaning of your title (rank), and where is that invisible line that you should never cross, or let anyone else cross.
More often than not you will run into people “demanding”, or using phrases as “I’m getting irritated at you”, “I’m disappointed”, “I need you to do this”, etc. Truth is Mr. You-are-not-my-boss, that if you need something from me, it’s my prerogative to pay attention to it or not. Unless it’s an order (and these have to come from my superiors), anything I do for you is just a favor.
Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying; you should always be nice and willing to help others for the benefit of the well being of the company, but don’t let yourself being told around by people with no authority over you; no one likes a push-over. It’s your right to draw the line when crossed and say so. With lines like “Sure, Mr. YANMB, I’ll try to get to it soon, if I find some room in my bottomless to-do list.”, or “Sorry Mr. YANMB, but my BOSS has me working in some other projects, that need my full attention right now. If you really need this done, you should talk to him about it.”, you can re-direct this tasks and let your boss filter them for you.
Sure, not every boss comes with balls included; that is something you can’t control, but there is some certain power we all have to teach and train our bosses into reaching their potential as managers. Let them know you need their support in order to work in the things that are important for him, and more often than not, people like to be heroes, they like to prove worthy of their management position, and will help you take care of these situations.
We are all over-worked and under-paid to our own standards, but some of this extra work comes from others trying to dump theirs on your desk; don’t let them, it’s part of being a good professional to prioritize your work, and I prioritize in this order:
1. Things that will help you keep your job: Your boss’s orders and his/her boss. (everything that will make you shine)
2. Things that will make your department grow and succeed.
3. Tasks that will help your company grow and succeed.
4. Things that will get you invited to go out for a beer after work, and picked at the volleyball tournament in the Summer. (work on your athletic skills)
That is my order, and I try not to lose track of it; the best way to do this is by drawing the line, and telling everyone about it.
Where do you draw yours?
September 8th, 2009 at 9:48 AM
In a traditional employment, a good manager helps the sub-ordinate to prioritize his/her tasks. In such a perfecty traditional world, the sub-ordinate can always ask (politely) the person trying to impose his/her will to talk to the manager so that the manager adds that task to the sub-ordinate.
In modern times that trend has shifted in some companies. With the “empowerment” trend, there is a shift towards giving the employee more leeway in choosing how to prioritize tasks in a way that maximizes shareholder (company owner) profits. Rationale is that if you do not get in the way of your employee, he/she may be more productive than if you micromanage him/her. He/she may find ways of cooperating with other individuals in the organization – and that “unmanaged” cooperation may bring better fruit than the micromanaged one. This works sometimes, especially if you continuously weed out the bad employees: those that do not align to company culture or working habits. At other times, it creates the opposite effect. Maybe that is why management is more of an art than a science.
I prefer to choose my own destiny, even when I was an employee. I just tried to align my goals to the company profit. (In the end, it is top level management that matters, everyone in between you and them is an employee just like you). If I knew that something was not going to help anyone, I lowered its priority. My manager changed often, but my perceived ability to provide extreme value lasts even after I am gone from that company.
Yet… sometimes you must come to the realization that you may need to bring that phrase: “*sight* … it turns into food.”