Hello All
I also am a graphics/art (guru? of sorts) in my company, facing a certain
amount of "that's not the way we do it don'tcha know, and pressure, not
so much from management (who are about halfway through this process of
proving they mean what they say-in an attempt to overcome the inertial
generated by years of theory X/territorial (I consider it "medieval")
management, I get the push back from the art groups themselves who think
I'm stealing their work, or not cooperating with "the way we do
things"... So the following comments strike a chord with me,
Except...
I somehow can't give in and feel dispondant about it. I've written some
comments in amongst what was previously written, because I feel that
while the writer was relating a sad story, I feel we have reason to hope
and be encouraged. There is a way to fight the systems that beat people
down. That's one of the functions this LO list serves. But the fight is
not an offensive one-with weaponry etc. It's a quiet one fought with
vision and emagination. so, As follows:
> Jyotsna Pattabiraman said:
> "It's not because I am a typical change-resistant type. In fact, I
> like to think of myself as an entrepreneurial type, open to ideas and
> change. But I find that when I put forward ideas, I am given answers
> that are either excuses or typical enthusiasm-killers. That's when I
> find myself thinking, "why do I bother ?". I have to agree with Archie
> Kregear on this account. A non-receptive authority figure can kill
> initiative and learning."
So go underground. There is a saying written on my wall (by some
management consultant somewhere that says: Stay underground as long as
you can, open initiative triggers the "corporate immune system". Some of
us are blessed with a management structure that is at least talking about
change, but for those of you who don't have that, get or stay involved
with the underground support networks that are in fact the core
components that keep corporations alive and vital.
Remember your customers. (those who use your output or work). I find
that while they won't necessarily go to bat for you, they will be the bit
of enthusiasm you can focus on to keep your own emotional and creative
balance.
> I managed an excellent group of technical writers and graphic artists
> for years. We all were doing just what we wanted to do, and did such
> good jobs that we gave presentations at two international conferences
> about how we worked. More importantly, our customers told us over and
> over that we did a wonderful job. We even had corporate headquarters
> come to us for help instead of their own local groups. We did this
> through a lot of attention to our customers' needs, and doing the job
> right the first time. Our group worked as a team -- if one of us had
> trouble, we all did, and we all chipped in to help. I didn't just
> manage, either. I had projects, too, which my group liked, because I
> knew what our concerns were first hand. We did some great work.
So you were a pioneer or ground breaker... It's hard to be in that
position and get positive recognition. Nothing scares the typical
management type more than something they can't control. You gave the
apearance of loss of control (of course you and I know better but..)
So you scared the (fill in the appropriate term) out of them.
> What was the monkey wrench? Our local management got frightened at how
> good a job we did.
Ah yes... FEAR, the mind killer...
> Over eight months, I was harassed and pestered
> because I didn't manage by the outdated, authoritarian methods so
> popular throughout the rest of the company. I was told I shouldn't
> trust my group, because they'd stab me in the back. I was told I
> shouldn't allow people to be so creative. I was told I was a
> troublemaker because I prepared my people for promotion. And on and on
> and on.
The medieval craft guild mentality is showing here (don't teach anyone
your job, they will take it from you...) NOT TRUE-the more I teach, the
stronger my position and skill level becomes.
> I took a technical job in another group because I couldn't stand the
> goading any more. After I left, the group continued to be harassed,
> and half of them were laid off. The rest quit, and my replacement was
> hounded out of our district, to a less senior position, because he
> couldn't stand the stress, either. Two other managers in our division
> were subjected to the same treatment. Our problem, it seems, was
> competency, and respect from our peers, colleagues, and subordinates.
This sad story is played over and over again in most cirporations.
> The two positions I've had since have been much more humane, but I
> don't want to manage here again. I still do the best work I can as a
> "word and pictures" guru and consultant, but I don't trust management
> to deliver on anything. I don't trust them to be honest or fair.
> Hundreds of ideas about how to make things better were shot down with,
> "It's not the way we do things," or someone fearing I might look
> better than them to some nebulous, never-present corporate rep.
I don't trust either in that sense, but I trust the greater ideals. So
somehow I have hope, even when they the local rooster (in our corporate
chicken yard) starts strutting and crowing.
> Is it any wonder I don't make so many suggestions any more? I don't
> put in the overtime I used to. I detach from the artificially urgent
> schedule grind, because I always get my stuff done ahead of time. Yes,
> I'm angry about this. But I'm also angry because over and over one of
> the world's biggest companies punished many people for ideas and work
> that made us better. I don't understand how my managers never managed
> to see that tragedy.
Don't suggest to management, but DO share with your customers and fellow
workers... (you'll start a wave-and no one will know where it came from).
>
> I don't complain about all this. That would attract the kind of
> attention I've already had enough of. I do what I can to keep my work
> as good as I can make it. But trying for more than that... the
> benefits don't outweigh the shellacking.
>
> To this day, I still get compliments for the way our old group worked.
> Too bad my management chain wasn't strong enough to bask in the glow
> with me.
In my teans, I discovered that this scenario was a main driver in most of
the structures (education, corporate and military) in america. At first
it hurt me deeply. I couldn't face the prospect of being a wage slave in
some corporate chaingang-especially since america is supposed to be "the
land of the free"-so I explored every alternative I could. As
time went, I managed to dis-connect my self worth from my job in the
sense that I could stand for what is right, in the face of a certain
amount of management headwind-I guess due to a growing "fire in the belly".
The management pressure that you described as being nothing more than
psychological warfare (like is applied to prisoners of war) and
I just flat resent and refuse to yeild to it. Of course that requires
your intrinsic motivation to be exceptionally strong. I'm sure I would
have eventually been driven out too, after all... My health and sanity is
important, I have a wife and child who want me around for a while longer...
In many ways I picture myself as a quiet revolutionary who wishes to
break down the control mania-if for no other reason-to give better
control. But also a kinder control. If people can figure out that
"love" (for your fellow man, your job, your self) is the strongest
"power" there is-and stop beating their heads into mush trying to
dominate the universe into submission-They will find themselves having
the things they fight so hard now to gain.
Sometimes I'm the one who has to point out HOW it is they can win-and how
giving freedom also frees them... It's a hard concept for some of them to
swallow, so I find myself introducing some of it in small pieces, but
someone has to do that. Again, I'm fortunate because most of my current
management is ahead of me in this change game, but I remember times and
places it wasn't so, and I had to lead by inspiration.
Management is being forced to change. It's corporate profit that is
exacting the pressure, (you know... change or die...) While I doubt
that any of us (much less me) will be standing up to replace them,
I intend be standing among those who will help the change be as good
as it can be. So have hope. (get hope, borrow it.... whatever it takes)
There is a future.
later.....
--Michael Erickson <sysengr@atc.boeing.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>