I have a conundrum. I've had it before, didn't resolve it, and now I have it again. It comes in multiple parts, which may be stated in various ways, but here's a precis:
If you work for people who hold to standards and methods that you think are stupid, should you -
-- go enthusiastically along?
-- stay and adhere to what you can stomach?
-- quit and go elsewhere?
I don't normally think about this, but it was brought forcibly to my mind when my new group manager laid a yearly evaluation on me. Last year, I was rated as above average. This year, below average. The change is due to three events; one is justifiable, one is not (according to me; obviously not according to them), and one is marginally justifiable (again, according to me). He said that I had a great year, but hey, there were those three things, so -- ka-chunk.
I tell myself they're idiots, and it doesn't matter, both because they're idiots and because I'm planning on leaving. Yet I also say that they may be idiots, but its their game, so I should nod humbly and try to earn their approval. Even though it sticks in my craw to do so. And it makes me feel like a weasel.
Except, of course, for the little nagging voice that says that maybe its me, not them, thats being an idiot. And reminds me that most other people seem to be able to handle it. They may not like it, but they handle it.
This will be resolved in 18 months, perhaps 12 months, maybe even in six. So I don't really need an answer.
Still, I wonder....
So, since I always expect that the answer to anything I want to know can be found in a book... and since I was at the library anyway... I picked up a copy of Work From The Inside Out. I've only just started, so I don't know how worthy this book will be, but there are already things that I like:
"It is in the arena of work, and particularly in our day-to-day work lives, that many of us experience the sharpest, deepest, and perhaps most bitter disappointments. We expected work to give back to us everything we put into it and more. We expected work to satisfy our inner yearning for meaning. We expected those around us to do their jobs as well as we do ours. We expected our company to take care of us. Occasionally, we even expected something just for showing up each day."
Yes.
5 comments:
That's a hard one... I can think of situations where I've plugged along, done only what I could stomach, and left to find employment elsewhere... I don't know if there's an ALWAYS answer to that question.
Bleh. Sorry.
The longer I've worked for and at this company, the more I've become the kind of employee who just comes in and does stuff and goes home. I can rationalize it, and much of my rationalization is justifiable -- for example, they do have a serious problem with communication; the day to day is seriously disconnected from the corporate philosophies. Yet I also understand that this isn't their problem, its mine. I have to understand how I am going to handle their management style. I have to understand how to make the environment better for me. The good news, such as it is, is that I don't have to do it for very long, but such is my belief in the concept of work as fulfilling that I want to be able to do it anyway.
I don't know if its possible. It might be like the old joke of the guy who sees a friend, asks how he is doing, and the guy reels off a litany of problems. The guy commiserates and goes on his way. A few weeks later, he sees the guy and again asks how he's doing, and the guy says 'great'. Surprised, he says that he's glad the guy is doing better, and the guy says he isn't; he just lowered his standard of what 'great' is.
I don't want to lower my standard.
I think if you feel you are lowering your standard by working there, you should quit today. Your work is a reflection of you. If it doesn't make you proud, I believe in finding something that does!
Now, there will be a bonehead at every job...
Standards? Hmm...I suppose I could joke about it, but truthfully, I haven't thought about standards for a job since, oh, twenty or so years ago. One of the reasons I'm reading this book is because it says that one of the ways to get past disappointment is to understand what your expectations are, particularly the ones you had when you first started to work, before it became 'just a job'. I never wanted to save the world, but I wanted to make a difference. I think that I have done that, but not very much, and not very recently, either. I'd like to address that.
My, I'm philosophical tonight.
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