uber.la

Earlier in my career a manager asked me, "So what are you good at?"

Now this is after this person was my "official" manager for say 6 months or so… We're talking weekly 1 x 1's. Multiple projects in flight. And my ONLY VOICE to the next level of management. But the tragedy continues with the follow on. "Besides passion, I mean?"

I hardly knew what to say. The company was in the process of RIF (reduction in force) and my flippin manager was asking me what I was good at!? Wow, I was toast, as far as I could tell.

Without too much of a gasp I responded, thank goodness this was over the phone, "Hey, let's get together on Monday and go over that. Cause I really DO need you to have a good answer to that question when the time comes."

There was a chuckle on the other end.

My brain was buzzing. How could this –person– be my one true voice to upper management? How had I fallen so far into a hole? What were my odds of making it through the rough patch?

We made the date for the following week. My former manager (not mentor) rescheduled that meeting twice before it happened. And I did not take the warning shot lightly.

Over the next five days until we met I did several things.

1. I wrote a personal performance statement. Here is what I have accomplished while at said company. Here are my successes. Here is what I am GOOD at.

2. I rewrote my entire performance plan to factor in the changing environment and reposition myself as a winner in the new ROI-is-all-that-matters culture that was quickly being preached.

3. I sent the personal success/performance statement to my other "bosses," people with whom I had successfully worked with or completed/launch a project for.

4. Continued to ask for the follow-up meeting with my manager until it happened.

And here is the rub. When all was wrapped up over the next few weeks, the recommendation provided to me by my manager and his executive leadership was for me work somewhere else. A different company. With honors, cause they really loved me, but…

Epic fail. My part? Okay. My managers part? Fer sure! My executive team? Even more so, and let me explain.

In the following weeks as the plan was put in place and the exit of a couple hundred of us was determined and accepted, I made an attempt to connect with my manager's manager, the executive running our entire division. And here is the response I got.

"From the assistant of xxx_xxxx, Mr/Ms xxx xxxx has an extremely busy schedule and is not available for the time you requested. Is there any way that this can be handled via email?"

Ouch!

I responded, "No. It cannot be handled via email. I believe I am worthy of a 30 minute meeting with the VP and I was not asking for a specific time, but ANY TIME between now and 6 weeks from now when my employment will be complete."

And I am sure you can guess the first response. Zip! Nada! Nothing!

But see if you imagined this one. My manager, later that day, rejected my request to move a previously scheduled 1 x 1 to the following day. And when asked if we could do the meeting via phone, my manager said, "No, I'd like this to be IN PERSON."

Ha! I bet this was not about my passion.

And dutifully at the end of our 1 x 1, which contained nothing but pleasant schedule-related discussions, my manager said, "So on that meeting with xxxx… They are really, really busy." [I swear it was like a child was telling me the story. I had a hardtime filtering out my imagined Office Space scene, "Uh yeah... About that meeting... Yeah... Well, it's not gonna happen see, cause, my boss is SO very busy. Yeah... So...:] "In fact, they are SO BUSY…" [uh, how busy are "they"] that they are even canceling 1 x 1's with me." That was it. They were SO busy they were even canceling meetings with my manager, who was staying put, BTW. Wow, that IS BUSY.

Ah brilliant! Got it. Therefore the logic goes, much too busy to schedule an "exit interview" with me. Much too busy. And thus I left the meeting and the company with little more than a "oh so sorry, so busy" email from the assistant of the VP of the group that I was in and a "they are SO BUSY" excuse from my FORMER manager.

And get this, I repeated the same request with a VP in another group, one that had proven quite troublesome for me and the projects I had been working on over the "new-manager-ed" months, but this executive and leader didn't even feel it necessary to respond at all. And it wasn't like this person did not know who I was, or was not engaged with the projects I was working on. But… This executive no longer needed anything from me. In effect I was out of the way of his progress and had never been a part of his "team."

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/in-adversity

And sevearal posts that might be of interest:

• The Lifetime Value of a Mentor – Business is One Thing, Deep Trust Is Another Thing Entirely
• "We Googled You" : What You'd Better Know About Your SERP
• What Is Your "Always On" Technology? How Should I Reach You Right NOW?"
• Rockin the Tweets: Twitter Tools, Twitter Lists, Stats, Discovery #Twitter
• Sometimes We Miss: Other Times We Are Like Birds on a Branch Together
• I'm Tired, Impatient, and AVID: My desire sometimes gets the best of me
• 3 Ways To Reset When the Day Seems To Be Getting Away From You (Work-Life In Balance?)
• Creating Passionate Teams – Managers Hold the Spark

A blurb I found on the Harvard Business Publications site:

Habits of Highly Effective Managers:
"Just 10% of managers really move their organizations forward: They zero in on strategic goals and see them to completion; They fuel breakthrough innovations in products, services, and processes; And they tackle heavy workloads under tight time constraints. What about the remaining 90%? Short on self-awareness, they don't ask themselves the hard questions required to examine–and improve–their leadership skills. Overcommitted, they succumb to the temptation to concentrate on short-term tasks when pressure mounts. Blurring their focus even further, many accumulate "monkeys" on their backs by taking on subordinates' problems. How to ensure you're in the 10%–not the 90%? Regularly take stock of your effectiveness as a leader, rather than waiting for others to give you feedback. Rivet your attention on efforts that support your organization's long-term objectives. And throw off time-hungry monkeys. The payoff? You redirect your energy to where it exerts the biggest impact: your company's strategic priorities."

Tags: 1 x 1, all for one, be prepared, brain, cya, do your best, epic fail, executive leadership, executive team, face to face, followup meeting, handled via email, in person, leadership, leadership failure, my boss, my bosses boss, my exit, not mentor, one on one, one true voice, passion, performance plan, performance statement, personal performance, personal success, regroup, reorg, replan, rough patch, screening, seven dsyfunctions of a team, success performance, the executive, upper management, vp of our entire group