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Subject:Re: Salary review help From:kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 31 Jan 2002 17:21:08 -0700
Are you saying you need to figure out who on your team deserves a raise?
Or that you need to convince your superiors to give raises to your team
members?
As manager of the team, you should have a clear idea of who your top
performers are, unless you've just recently moved into this role. It's
your job as manager to define HOW those writers succeeded and excelled in
their work. If you're new to management, that's stuff you want to pay
attention to. It's not the people you like the best, it's the people that
made a difference for your team, and in doing so, for your company.
I agree with Mr. Posada that just doing your job well is not reason enough
for a raise, unless your company is particularly flush right now, and is
handing out cost-of-living adjustments.
If you're acting as an advocate to get your superiors to give your team
raises, then you need to show them why. How did your team make a
difference? Did they cut costs, raise profits, facilitate an early
release? Something other than showing up for work and making the usual
deadlines is in order.
Many doc managers are either former writers who find themselves ascending
into a management position by seniority, or managers from other
teams/fields who are asked (or forced) to take on responsibility for
managing the doc team.
If you are the former, you may need to get up to speed on management
skills - a quick trip to a bookstore is in order. Many writers are not
used to thinking like that - the tone of your post suggests such concepts
might be new to you.
If you're the latter, you may need to take a while to figure out what your
team's value-add (to use a buzzphrase I hate) is, which may be tough.
Doc is not often a profit driver, but it sure is necessary. Many doc teams
work long hours in the trenches to produce those "manuals nobody reads."
Take a long hard look at their efforts, and see if there is a way to
QUANTIFY their contribution. Remember: numbers talk. More pages? Less
support calls? User compliments? Less complaints? Anything that shows that
your team <SOUND OF BROKEN RECORD> makes a difference </END SOUND>.
Anyway, apologies if I've misinterpreted your situation, but if you're a
manager, it's time to do some managing. Good luck!
-Keith Cronin
who sometimes posts simply because he's got some clever new sig line he
wants to share.
But not this time.
Obviously.
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