Re: gaining control of a dysfunctional environment?

Subject: Re: gaining control of a dysfunctional environment?
From: Dick Margulis <margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:26:36 -0400

Diana Ost wrote:


You know what insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over and
expecting different results. That's usually what I think of when I have
that DUH! Moment )(slaps forehead). Time to go......

It may or may not be time for the anonymous poster to go. It's certainly time to be _prepared_ to go. But here's an approach that may prove fruitful.

Instead of treating it as graven in stone that you report to the development manager, proactively approach the CEO (it's a small company and I assume you are on speaking terms with the CEO) with, first, a scheduled informal discussion (that is, request time and make an appointment) and then a written proposal, the point of which is that having you report to the development manager is not the best organizational approach at this stage in the company's growth.

Don't put it in negative terms (we don't see eye-to-eye; I'm having trouble working with him; etc.). Instead, point out that the manager has his hands full with his main priority--development--and that your functions would contribute more to the company if you took responsibility for managing them yourself.

Offer to set up a department of one (you) offering communication services to the company's other departments. In management lingo, you would be a resource manager providing resources (shares of your time) to other managers' projects. That way you are responsible to your own department for the quality and consistency of the output and to the development manager only for meeting deadlines for deliverables. The way you sell this to the CEO is that you offer to provide services to marketing and sales, too.

That strategy worked for me for about five years before I finally got absorbed into a marketing department (leading to my eventually leaving). So think about it.

Dick
http://ampersandvirgule.blogspot.com/

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RE: gaining control of a dysfunctional environment?: From: Diana Ost

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