God damn office politics

fields5069

They pile it high here. The latest is that there are 2 new Principals in a peer team, which we only found out about because our manager forwarded the congratulations email. In it, the peer manager thanked everyone for their interest, in 2 jobs that were just really in-job promotions. The sort of in-job promotion which we were assured did not exist any more. However, no one heard of any vacancies, despite everyone being thanked for their interest.

So I'm still a Senior, an expert in my field, and I'm constantly told I need to be more visible in order to become a Principal. Half of my colleagues had never heard of the 2 new Principals, such is their visibility. My wife thinks I should act like a difficult dick until they give me a promotion to shut me up, it's either that or start performing down to the level of my current position instead of trying to do loads of work and getting a £20 voucher every 6 months.

Aren't offices fun?

chillidoggy

I'd have tipped off the boss prior to sending anything further up the line. I've long since learned that the hierarchy don't like surprises, or being circumnavigated.

Wolfetone

I would have copied her in on the way back up to ensure that she couldn't unjustifiably claim input and that you could account for your time.. She sound's insecure but perhaps she should be? Why didn't her boss copy her in?

roundthebend

If my boss asks me to do something....hell, I realise I'm working for someone instead of with them.
Talk to your 'boss' and try to understand why they needed the heads up. Maybe there's a good reason for it, and maybe you're getting the heat when the CIO should be.

Wolfetone

fields5069 said:

They pile it high here. The latest is that there are 2 new Principals in a peer team, which we only found out about because our manager forwarded the congratulations email. In it, the peer manager thanked everyone for their interest, in 2 jobs that were just really in-job promotions. The sort of in-job promotion which we were assured did not exist any more. However, no one heard of any vacancies, despite everyone being thanked for their interest.

So I'm still a Senior, an expert in my field, and I'm constantly told I need to be more visible in order to become a Principal. Half of my colleagues had never heard of the 2 new Principals, such is their visibility. My wife thinks I should act like a difficult dick until they give me a promotion to shut me up, it's either that or start performing down to the level of my current position instead of trying to do loads of work and getting a £20 voucher every 6 months.

Aren't offices fun?

Sounds like you need a company that values you.

fields5069

Wolfetone said:

fields5069 said:

They pile it high here. The latest is that there are 2 new Principals in a peer team, which we only found out about because our manager forwarded the congratulations email. In it, the peer manager thanked everyone for their interest, in 2 jobs that were just really in-job promotions. The sort of in-job promotion which we were assured did not exist any more. However, no one heard of any vacancies, despite everyone being thanked for their interest.

So I'm still a Senior, an expert in my field, and I'm constantly told I need to be more visible in order to become a Principal. Half of my colleagues had never heard of the 2 new Principals, such is their visibility. My wife thinks I should act like a difficult dick until they give me a promotion to shut me up, it's either that or start performing down to the level of my current position instead of trying to do loads of work and getting a £20 voucher every 6 months.

Aren't offices fun?

Sounds like you need a company that values you.

Thanks. I guess I may have an inflated view of my value, you never know I suppose. At the very least it doesn't breed confidence in "the management".

Neill

I'm well, well, out of it now but when I was a wage slave this used to happen to me all the time.  I could never understand why the director didn't observe the chain of command.  

It didn't come to light until after I left, but it turns out the two people concerned, the director and my boss,  hated each other whilst giving the impression to all around they were best friends.  The rest of us were just getting caught in the crossfire.  Eventually my immediate boss - was forced to leave.  

I'm sort of retired now but I've been self employed for over 20 years and I just wish I'd seen the light sooner.  

p90fool

roundthebend said:

If my boss asks me to do something....hell, I realise I'm working for someone instead of with them.
Talk to your 'boss' and try to understand why they needed the heads up. Maybe there's a good reason for it, and maybe you're getting the heat when the CIO should be.

This has been exactly my attitude, whether I've been the boss or not. We all work at the same place, with the same objectives, just with different roles.

Anybody below me OR above me who thinks their childish "hierarchy" is more important than the actual goal gets treated with the contempt they deserve. 

It actually works better than you might think, I've been promoted a couple of times after telling managers "above" me to grow up and concentrate on the task in hand. 

You have to be good at what you do to get away with it though.  

tampaxboo

if your CIO is male and your immediate boss is female it may be fear-of-boys-club paranoia. some insecure women view the universe through patriarchy glasses and suspect that if ever they spot two guys are talking it's a conspiracy to shut them out.

this is coming to you from behind the curtain.
some of it is entirely justified. it's depresingly common for some backwards alpha male guys to only want to deal with other alpha male guys, and regard women in the workplace as an inferior subspecies, which i have absolutely no time for. it's 2017 not 1957.

but there is the other side, which is insecure women feeling they have to be invited to every conversation between two guys or they are not being respected. that's not reasonable or practical.

if you think that might be something to do with this situation, maybe cc her in to this one from now on, just to tick the politeness box and make her feel important, if she is feeling left out. insecurity is like a disease. very tiresome.

TheBigDipper

Emp_Fab said:

Just be honest with her...  point out that her boss asked you to do something and obviously you did as you were asked.  Ask her what else would she have had you do ?  Question her bosses instructions by running it past her first ?  Tell her that the real issue is not you not consulting with her but why her boss didn't go through her to pass the instruction to you.

This. 

mellowsun

Always best to keep your boss in the loop. ‘C’ level execs are notorious for bypassing project managers etc and going straight to devs to try to get something into a product without following proper procedures.

It causes chaos and you should push back. Best approach is to say to your boss before agreeing to anything ‘CIO has asked me to do this, whaddya reckon, want me to loop you into this?’

capo4th

Professional courtesy to your boss. You should have gathered opinion before forwarding potential hand grenades further up the chain. Your actions are a little naive. 

Have a frank conversation with your manager live and learn.

Wazmeister

Teetonetal said:

I would have discussed with immediate boss first out of professional courtesy.

Bingo.

Always go through the chain of command.

capo4th

Great minds....

prowla

The management in my company is like a sack of frogs.

Two people have a private conversation and expect everybody else to know their decision, whether it's been communicated via an "as you know" mail, or just not at all; unfortunately, my telepathy gene is deficient.

A couple of months back they sacked both of the other people doing a similar role to me and then when something went wrong started tellng 3rd parties across the world to talk to me.

As a result, I decided to quit and gave them 2 months notice (I was only contracted to 1 month, but didn't want to leave them completely without a paddle). They asked me to stick around to carry through a project, so I agreed to stay there a couple of months longer.

The latest trick is the Christmas meal this week; it's in another town 16 miles away, so the communique went out:
"For those of you coming into the office initially, we will be providing transport at 10.30am from the office.  However if you wish to make your own way to Thames Tower independently we will not be reimbursing travel or car parking costs.
We are envisaging that the lunch will finish at approximately  4pm, if you would like transport back to the office at 4pm, please can you let me know by 6th December.  If there is enough I will organise a taxi/mini bus back.  For those of you wishing to party on, we will do what we have done in previous years, which is to make your own way back, by taxi or public transport we will reimburse the taxi or fare home"
So, my choices are:

• a. If I want to have a drink with the meal (and in the bar before) then I have to get a taxi home and then figure out how to get to the office next day (there isn't direct public transport).
• b. If I want to drive home then I can't have a drink and have to get a coach back to the office.
• c. I pay my transport to go to the meal.
• d. Or I just skip it (I'd rather spend my time & money otherwise and I'm going out for another meal the day after and am entertaining over the weekend).
• (The company is also paying for folks to stay overnight and flying a number from other offices.)
  

The above is fairly indicative of the way things are run.

capo4th

prowla said:

The management in my company is like a sack of frogs.

Two people have a private conversation and expect everybody else to know their decision, whether it's been communicated via an "as you know" mail, or just not at all; unfortunately, my telepathy gene is deficient.

A couple of months back they sacked both of the other people doing a similar role to me and then when something went wrong started tellng 3rd parties across the world to talk to me.

As a result, I decided to quit and gave them 2 months notice (I was only contracted to 1 month, but didn't want to leave them completely without a paddle). They asked me to stick around to carry through a project, so I agreed to stay there a couple of months longer.

The latest trick is the Christmas meal this week; it's in another town 16 miles away, so the communique went out:
"For those of you coming into the office initially, we will be providing transport at 10.30am from the office.  However if you wish to make your own way to Thames Tower independently we will not be reimbursing travel or car parking costs.
We are envisaging that the lunch will finish at approximately  4pm, if you would like transport back to the office at 4pm, please can you let me know by 6th December.  If there is enough I will organise a taxi/mini bus back.  For those of you wishing to party on, we will do what we have done in previous years, which is to make your own way back, by taxi or public transport we will reimburse the taxi or fare home"
So, my choices are:

• a. If I want to have a drink with the meal (and in the bar before) then I have to get a taxi home and then figure out how to get to the office next day (there isn't direct public transport).
• b. If I want to drive home then I can't have a drink and have to get a coach back to the office.
• c. I pay my transport to go to the meal.
• d. Or I just skip it (I'd rather spend my time & money otherwise and I'm going out for another meal the day after and am entertaining over the weekend).
• (The company is also paying for folks to stay overnight and flying a number from other offices.)
  

The above is fairly indicative of the way things are run.

This would be normal practice in most companies.

Why should your firm transport your ass round the countryside?

ewal

I hate when this line management bullshit rears it's head. If the CIO knew you were best placed to do the work, and you know that your line manager has confidence in your ability, then there should be no issue.

I would be more than happy for my Head of IT to go direct to the Digital Services Coordinator who works for me to ask questions about the website. My line manager would be absolutely happy for Head of IT to come to me to ask about my projects, data management, etc, etc, because she knows that I know the subject better than her.

However if I need something done which I know could be done by a few folk in the team, I would delegate and let her decide who to allocate it to.

Then there's the other side of the coin - the sort of manager who expects you to respect their seniority at all times, is normally nowhere to be seen and has very little helpful to say when you seek them out for advice and direction.

prowla

capo4th said:

prowla said:

The management in my company is like a sack of frogs.

Two people have a private conversation and expect everybody else to know their decision, whether it's been communicated via an "as you know" mail, or just not at all; unfortunately, my telepathy gene is deficient.

A couple of months back they sacked both of the other people doing a similar role to me and then when something went wrong started tellng 3rd parties across the world to talk to me.

As a result, I decided to quit and gave them 2 months notice (I was only contracted to 1 month, but didn't want to leave them completely without a paddle). They asked me to stick around to carry through a project, so I agreed to stay there a couple of months longer.

The latest trick is the Christmas meal this week; it's in another town 16 miles away, so the communique went out:
"For those of you coming into the office initially, we will be providing transport at 10.30am from the office.  However if you wish to make your own way to Thames Tower independently we will not be reimbursing travel or car parking costs.
We are envisaging that the lunch will finish at approximately  4pm, if you would like transport back to the office at 4pm, please can you let me know by 6th December.  If there is enough I will organise a taxi/mini bus back.  For those of you wishing to party on, we will do what we have done in previous years, which is to make your own way back, by taxi or public transport we will reimburse the taxi or fare home"
So, my choices are:

• a. If I want to have a drink with the meal (and in the bar before) then I have to get a taxi home and then figure out how to get to the office next day (there isn't direct public transport).
• b. If I want to drive home then I can't have a drink and have to get a coach back to the office.
• c. I pay my transport to go to the meal.
• d. Or I just skip it (I'd rather spend my time & money otherwise and I'm going out for another meal the day after and am entertaining over the weekend).
• (The company is also paying for folks to stay overnight and flying a number from other offices.)
  

The above is fairly indicative of the way things are run.

This would be normal practice in most companies.

Why should your firm transport your ass round the countryside?

Fair question...

Everywhere I've worked has covered transport if it is a distance from the normal place of work.

In this instance, they're flying folks in from elsewhere, will provide transport home (if you go out and get drunk), and will put some people up overnight, all paid for (including being transported around the countryside), so it's really only the people who want sleep in their own beds who are excluded.

There's also a meeting beforehand, so it's pretty much a full day's work in another town, with a couple of hours wasted getting from A to B.

All a bit of a faff, really.

m_c

ewal said:

Then there's the other side of the coin - the sort of manager who expects you to respect their seniority at all times, is normally nowhere to be seen and has very little helpful to say when you seek them out for advice and direction.

That sounds very familiar, although my current manager has less spine than a runny jelly.

ThePrettyDamned

mellowsun said:

Always best to keep your boss in the loop. ‘C’ level execs are notorious for bypassing project managers etc and going straight to devs to try to get something into a product without following proper procedures.

It causes chaos and you should push back. Best approach is to say to your boss before agreeing to anything ‘CIO has asked me to do this, whaddya reckon, want me to loop you into this?’

I'm new to office work and still getting used to the epic waste of time that is office politics. 

However, this recently happened to me - luckily, my manager is super understanding but she wanted copying in for the sake of sheltering me from a potential barrage of work that was not necessarily high priority, or even really my job. 

It's not always the worst.