KYM - KNOW YOUR MANAGER
Myths & Truths About Managers
Living as we do in a technology based and technology driven world where associates working in corporate environments are known to leave managers rather than organizations it would not be altogether out of place to examine myths and truths about managers and the influence they exert on the lives of people and organizations both.
This piece was initially conceptualized as a brief one pager in point form, keeping in mind the fact that the present younger generation is known to exhibit a rather limited span of attention and prefers crisp 5 minute reads to lengthy articles. However, as my mind travelled back in time, the article grew proportionally after a series of updates, so as to accommodate the entire narrative. Am not sure how many people will set aside 30 minutes to read such a detailed account of managerial work life. The objective of the exercise is to preserve a very honest and candid account of work in the context of managers who often perform a thankless job amidst the trials and tribulations of life.
Experience is often the best teacher and work life offers great insights in to Organization Behavior , more commonly known simply as 'OB' if only you take the trouble to stay vigilant. Life is first about people , then about communication and then about work. The best managers in my living memory have been individuals who demonstrated the priceless gift of listening with intent to understand rather than with intent to reply.
Am sharing observations acquired first hand from over 25 years of work life spread across multiple sectors and functions - audit services, manufacturing, banking and finance ,IT and L&D. In doing so there is absolutely no intention to be judgmental or critical and definitely no intention whatsoever to poke fun at anyone. Rather it is an honest and factual narrative of experiences at work with different individuals in different organizations plying in different areas of work. What emerges is a rainbow of managerial behavior patterns and work styles, ranging from the professionally excellent to the tragically insufficient.
So here goes.
Due Diligence and Enhanced Due Diligence both are required when you examine your own criticality to your manager /organization from a revenue generation or strategic perspective. You need to work towards becoming critical from a revenue generation perspective.
Managers are generally of two types – those that freely disseminate knowledge to reduce hard dependencies on themselves and those that deliberately withhold knowledge to retain hard dependencies on themselves. Some managers are inherently collaborative whilst others can be meanly competitive. Your networking skills will enable you to increase your options when you are faced with less collaborative managers. Sometimes it may so happen that both your manager and yourself are at the same location onsite ,either on different projects or on the same project. This can help in forming a positive bond at work long term.
Your manager in turn will also have a manager and may also likely be labelling him 'good' or ‘bad’ . Moreover your team may or may not necessarily have a very positive opinion about you as a manager either. It is all a matter of perception. Perception should always be validated with facts. Managers invariably need to make tradeoffs and cannot possibly please everyone. Many times you will find your Counter Signing Manager to be very professional and understanding, reprimanding directs as required thereby serving as a balancing influence. Sometimes two Counter Signing Managers working in two different geographical locations may well face off with each other when their respective subordinates get in to a conflict at work. This is known to happen in an 'on shore - off shore' engagement model.
Formal professional qualifications are not necessarily a pre requisite for becoming a successful manager. In the best organizations it is not uncommon to find highly qualified professionals reporting in to a Department Head or a Business Unit Head who is a graduate at best or in some instances not that even. It doesn't matter. There is more to life than academics. I have seen managers who wore many hats - some were good singers, others played classical instruments / drums, still others had been good cricket players in college. There was one who was an outstanding cook. They extended this versatility to the work place as well. One of my managers was Visiting Faculty at the prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management in Mumbai and encouraged me to continue my Visiting Faculty engagements as well , assuring me that he would obtain all the necessary HR approvals. He did too.
We need to appreciate that life does not always give every individual an opportunity to pursue formal higher education early in life and he or she may be forced by circumstances to take up a job to support his or her family. However that individual may nonetheless add value by demonstrating great skill at work ,combining it with an ability to connect the dots, recognize the big picture and understand the business from a grass root level over many years. As a result the organization rewards him for his loyalty and commitment with steady growth over a long period of time. Some managers genuinely love their office / work more than they do their home and are seen working from 8:30 AM to 8:30 PM, making people wonder how they would fare mentally during retirement. Moreover they do not expect their directs to do likewise and are by and large quite popular by virtue of their dedication to their work. Some are perfectionists, others will say they are happy even if you perform a task 80 % right.
Hence an MBA /equivalent does not automatically confer a right to be a manager. You need to prove yourself. Post graduate degrees give an individual neither common sense nor intuitive business sense. Nor for that matter do they impart strong communication skills or the ability to understand people. These have to be developed through hard experience over time. Some of the most successful businesses have been started by school or college dropouts. In fact you will begin to appreciate the words 'manager' and 'management' much better when you start your own enterprise from scratch.
In fact it has been observed that managers who rose by dint of sheer hard work rather than any academic qualification demonstrated an absence of egotism. There was a Branch Manager who wouldn't think twice before filling in for a clerical staff member who was on leave. He would sit in the clerk's chair and interact with the bank's customers over the counter , filling in their passbooks, handing them cheque books and additionally perform data entry tasks. However his directs resented being made to fill in for an absent clerical staff member, even once in a while and this invariably led to flared tempers.
Managers as people have distinct personalities and auras. Some exude warmth and possess charisma, coming across as very genuine individuals. One of my managers invited the entire department staff to his residence for dinner one evening and we were treated to excellent food which the gentlemen had cooked himself. We remember finishing the sumptuous meal with ice cream and dessert. That was an amazing experience. He left the organization not long afterwards, leaving us wondering whether he had quietly thrown a farewell party. If a manager is very people -centric he will tend to be social, as was the case with a gentleman who invited the entire branch staff to his residence for a religious function and took great delight in showing us his collection of music albums. These are simple folk for the most part who take delight in the simple joys of life. There was this gentleman who would smiling respond with , “ Very ,very good morning !” and wave at you when you wished him whilst passing by his cabin in the morning.
Understanding non -verbal communication is a gift that few managers are blessed with and from my experience it needs to be developed through practice. There was this manager who introduced me to his successor and indicated to me non-verbally that I would likely not hit it off with the new manager. I remember catching the hint at the time. He was proved right. On another occasion, this time onsite I remember feeling a trifle embarrassed when a colleague pointed out as we drove in a taxi to ‘Sarvanna Bhavan’ that I had gained weight and his manager ,after maintaining studied silence for a while as he looked at the sights through the window responded softly with, “Maybe it is a family tendency.” Such managers are much sought after by their peers for guidance at work and I have seen them having 1*1 's during breaks just to lend a helping hand or offer moral support.
Managers who have worked globally are seen to demonstrate a better understanding of office attire and its impact on work. One of our managers was always very nattily dressed and would express his annoyance with people who did not appreciate the impact of dress code on work atmosphere. In general, he was a very self - reliant individual who dabbled in insurance business besides his regular job and he was always dressed for the occasion. In fact individuals who place a high premium on physical fitness and professional attire are seen to be more successful than others as managers.
Most managers bring their personal problems/issues to office and are influenced by them at work without realizing it – don’t aggravate those problems and add to the emotional negative baggage your manager carries with him or her . You are of course not expected to know what these personal issues are but it rather helps to maintain awareness that your manager may be coping with personal challenges. There was this manager who ,incredible as it may seem, actually expected his team to have a lunch break of 90 minutes instead of the normal 1 hour ,then stay back late in the evening to make up as required. He would get visibly annoyed with those who didn’t fall in line. It appeared he was struggling on the personal front and was at odds with the organization's culture. The other instance that springs to mind was during a Management Development Program when a senior manager indicated to us how disappointed he felt at not having been able to achieve weight loss targets and that he found it a drag at social functions, adding for good measure that in married life husband and wife do not always reveal everything about their respective relatives ! He was observed working out on the treadmill in the company gymnasium and he did eventually succeed in his endeavors.
Whether you like it or not there is something in this world known as ‘fundamental dislike for reasons not known’ – it may so happen that your manager may instinctively dislike you for no apparent reason. Sometimes a Business Unit Head may dislike your department and may try and intimidate you and/or your colleagues by saying in a somewhat menacing tone ," You will do what you are told to do." . You can do nothing about it except maintain vigilance and continue doing your work to the best of your ability. During my retail banking days there was this gentleman who was famous for never offering a chair to those who happened to enter his cabin for work related discussions. He quite literally kept them standing as the discussions progressed. It was a classic case of bad manners and also hard luck , I guess. Looking back ,it appears unreal but it happened all right. People didn't find it funny at the time, I can tell you.
Managers are human beings first and then managers. It is not surprising then that your profile , experience and success have the potential to unsettle your manager and make him/her insecure. For this reason some managers tend to surround themselves with associates who make them feel secure and comfortable. Some managers demonstrate high levels of Emotional Intelligence ( EI ) whilst others do not seem to possess it at all. However EI is one area you will have to develop consciously so that in the event your manager suddenly says something very unusual very casually such as , " I don't like you." /" It's my call." / " I hope the organization sacks you." / " We have plans for you." / “ Who hired you?”" Nothing personal." / " We were not setting you up for failure." ,you will know how to react or better still, not to react at all. These things happen.
Don’t let a negligent boss make you a negligent employee. It is not uncommon to find an associate willingly accepting the manager’s password and filling in his time sheets if the latter has forgotten to do so himself on a Friday evening. This is not an acceptable practice though and both are equally in the wrong – the manager for sharing the password and the associate for accepting it to fill in his manager’s time sheets as directed. There have also been instances where an offshore associate has collaborated with an onsite manager to the detriment of a very trusting offshore counterpart and/or has provided false negative feedback to HR about the offshore manager during an exit interview ,despite the latter having mentored/protected him or her during difficult times. Such is life and managers have to accept it philosophically.
Then again there are managers who are aware of limitations you may possess at a certain point in time because of your previous job/role and will actually help you. There was this instance I remember when an associate innocently asked his manager how to open the perforated sheet of paper containing his internet banking password and gave the sheet to the manager. The manager smiled and held it tight whereupon the associate pulled at it initially then let go, indicating that he trusted the manager. When the manager subsequently asked him a few questions about internet banking he replied bluntly," I don't know." The manager replied," Good." Over the next two months the manager mentored that associate and ensured he settled in to the organization. Such managers are rare. When your manager trusts you he will keep you in loop when he feels the need for moral support whilst replying to an email stinker such as ," We need to talk." ,sent by a dominating counterpart. The most memorable instance of supportive managerial behavior was when a manager went the extra mile with HR to ensure that an associate’s erroneous work experience details were duly corrected in the organization's records and he was promoted to reflect the correct experience band. Supportive managers have also been known to encourage subordinates not to cancel leaves that were planned for taking professional examinations and instead take the attempt saying," No one is ever fully prepared for a professional examination.". Back in 1996 we remember a manager granting an associate 3 months study leave because that particular attempt in June was to be the last under the old syllabus and the manager wanted that associate to give it his best shot. That was really very generous of him and we remember it to this day. Another manager quite literally pushed an associate to the examination center telling him in all seriousness that he had an intuition that the results would be positive regardless of the associate's level of preparation. The associate passed !
Do not get in to a spat with your manager on instant messaging because when tempers are flared up the tone of the chat can be misinterpreted later. Use instant messaging only to seek a formal appointment and then say what you have to during a 1*1 meeting. Some managers have been known to paste instant messaging chats in emails and forward them to multiple stakeholders when they feel cornered or jittery. It is natural to have differences of opinion. However if a manager resorts to harassment then HR involvement needs to be astutely pursued. HR can be very helpful - there was this young HR associate who put her own job and increment on the line by refusing to toe her manager's line and helped an employee who was being unfairly victimized by his manager. The employee emerged unscathed in the end. That was great to see. Indeed if HR suspects foul play it will appoint an independent committee to look in to the matter as well.
Managers also tend to be good teachers ,despite demonstrating unusual behavior patterns and idiosyncrasies. It should not make a difference unless it impacts work life adversely or if ethics are being compromised. There was this gentleman who deliberately did not cooperate during an audit saying he was busy having tea, another who repeatedly said to an employee that he liked 'Chicken Handi with beer' hoping that the latter would eventually treat him to the Indian curry, a third who was observed telling a client that he rather liked 'Chicken Lollipop' ,again hoping that the client would eventually treat him to the well-known Indian 'tandoori' starter , a fourth who had this habit of saying," Good ,we shall do and we shall see!" at the end of every meeting, a fifth who indicated to one of his subordinates to come by his desk by wagging one of his fingers towards himself, a sixth who quipped that shocks happen in life, a seventh who marked an employee present for work with a 'P' in blue color then marked him absent by converting the 'P' in to an 'A' , half of the alphabet in red color, an eighth who started to speak his mother tongue Bengali in a British accent after spending a few months in the UK, a ninth who pronounced the word 'phenomenal' in a bombastic manner each time he used it and a tenth who would say publicly that he was in love with MS Excel ! Sometimes you will get to witness a manager’s exasperation with a counterpart first hand as he says aloud that the counterpart should be shot !You may as well learn to observe and enjoy the humorous side of managerial behavior , especially when managers inadvertently commit communication howlers such as starting every sentence with the word/s 'actually' or 'typically what happens is' or talking to foreign visitors in a 'put on' foreign accent or innocently requesting a lady secretary to come in to the room with her pad ( instead of note pad) or pose as someone extraordinarily important , pretending to look at their mobile handsets as they see you walking in their direction or spread the word on the floor that they are 'in talks' with a counterpart from another department. Even so, it make no sense to burn bridges ,for it is a small world and there is no knowing when you may run in to the same individual later in your career.
Managers especially in India come from varied cultural backgrounds and carry with them unconscious biases against particular communities or people. It is not surprising therefore that some are seen to demonstrate parochialism in the matter of hiring ,growth and performance evaluation. There was this gentleman who would deliberately keep his favorite staff members away from the Clearing function which in most cooperative banks moved to different individuals by rotation and which most employees dreaded in the days of manual clearing. It is also true that some managers actually do no work themselves , delegating tasks to subordinates yet manage to take credit for the final outcome. Truth is these individuals are working but on something very different - having delegated tasks, they spend their time garnering the latest grapevine and playing mental chess at their workstations, thinking of possible scenarios and power equations that may unfold at work as also the best possible reactions to these scenarios. So yes, they work as well depending on which way you want to look at it. The best way to deal with such individuals is to checkmate them by keeping the Counter Signing Manager and /or Business Unit Head in loop when you share appreciation mails that you may have received from the client. There was this manager who ruefully expressed his disappointment to one of his directs that in 12 months of work he had not been able to find even one mistake in the latter's work !
Managers come from different work environments and bring to the table accumulated work habits garnered from those environments. Some come from product companies, others from service companies, still others from captive units that are part of the 'onshore - off shore' model and there are those that have spent a lifetime working in home grown organizations. In India private sector and Government organizations have very distinct work cultures. Managers are still addressed as ‘Sir’/'Madam' in non-IT companies whereas in IT the prevalent culture is to use first names. The work culture in India's cooperative sector is still more different. Finally, there are those who have worked globally and will say," If you cannot do your work between 9 AM and 6 PM there is something wrong with you." or " If you are held up in traffic and will likely be late for work, let us know.". Moreover ,it is seen that some departments within an organization are better places to work for managers than others. Some senior managers are frank enough to say that they work at an altitude of 25000 feet ,so to speak ( gesturing that it was like flying at very high altitude in an airplane) and that this made it rather difficult for them to know what was going on at grass root level in the organization. That is a pretty fair and reasonable sentiment to express. Some managers are seen to micro-manage, others prefer to give their directs freedom, micro-managing only if really required.
The most motivational statement I ever heard from a manager was ," If you want to gain respect and prestige in life because of the manager's position then don't bother about acquiring professional qualifications but if you want the manager's position to gain prestige because you occupied it then be professionally qualified." Some managers are keenly observant. We remember a gentleman who told one of his directs upfront that the latter was ‘risk averse’ because he had not driven to the organization’s Annual Day venue fearing there would likely be no parking space! The best managers are known to share their personal experiences with candour as did one who revealed that his friends filled in his MBA entrance test application ( although Tata Institute of Social Sciences was his preferred first choice ) and that while he made it to B- School , they paradoxically didnt ! We also remember him telling us that the late actress Smita Patil studied in the same college ( after Standard 12) and that it was only much later that they came to know of her fame ,first as a newsreader and then as a theatre/film personality. The other memorable learning we received was when a very senior manager replied ," Not all the time. I tweak things a bit when required without harming anyone's interests.", when asked whether he always spoke the truth. Finally, a senior HR professional once told us that when, as a child he expressed his disappointment to his father for having bought him an HMT watch instead of a digital Casio , the latter had queried ," Does it tell a different time?''. That said, few managers are exemplary and will propagate their own interpretation of flexi timing, WFH and half days ,especially in India where many managers sincerely believe that they are born to get work done by others and not do work themselves. Be that as it may it is always beneficial to be a 'hands-on' manager. It is neither advisable nor sustainable being only a 'people manager'. It never was , as a matter of fact.
Do managers exhibit a herd mentality when it comes to supporting initiatives simply because they are liked by the majority? Well, yes sometimes. I remember an occasion during my retail banking days when all staff at the branch were made to contribute a certain minimum amount as a contribution for beer and non-vegetarian food at an overnight party atop the Sinhagad fort at ‘Tilak’s Bungalow’ , which originally belonged to the legendary Indian freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak but which is now officially rented for functions and parties. Many of us did not consume beer and/or non – vegetarian food, hence objected to any kind of forced monetary contributions but the manager opted to look the other way. That was an interesting experience, looking back in time.
Are managers apt to do acts that border on the bizarre just to grab the attention of someone important? Not for the most part but occasionally yes – we remember a gentleman who dressed himself as a villain named ‘Shotgun Murugan’ at the organization’s Annual Day. He looked the part too with a special moustache ,accompanied by a cheroot and a sinister laugh. Later in the evening he even performed a special ‘snake dance’ on stage and looked rather impressive. Then there was another gentleman who quietly organized a dance sequence by a pair of professional dancers ,again at an Annual Event without informing the organizer about it and ended up incurring his wrath. These are one off instances but yes, they do occur.
Some managers will follow rules scrupulously , others will openly say that rules are meant to be broken. Some will shrewdly observe what their manager in turn likes and dislikes – if it is a beer they will have one with him and if it’s a smoke then they will give him company at the roadside ‘tapri’ or tea stall. In India this behavior is known by various terms, each more humorous than the other such as ‘setting’, ‘fielding’, ‘manage’ and the Hindi ‘ jugaad’ which actually means ‘street smart innovation’ but has been misused to a point where it has gradually come to acquire rather a bad odor. Another ‘Hinglish’ term that is used in this context is ‘puploo fitting/tightening’ , which loosely translated means ‘ to fix a problem smartly by making proper adjustments ’ much like a mechanic would deftly adjust a car engine part in a garage and get the vehicle started. Some people in India prefer using the Hinglish term 'goody goody things' instead of simply 'nice things' !
As a general rule managers who like to see others succeed and proactively develop talent are few and far between. Consider yourself fortunate if you run in to one early in your career. There was a gentleman who was a 'Talent Development Manager' and he looked the part too back in 2005, observing individuals quietly and spotting talent. He nominated some of us for a 3 month course on Basic French from 'Alliance Francaise de Pune' , additionally spending time with us rehearsing for presentations, gently correcting us as required. There was another manager who would welcome newcomers to his department saying " Am sure you will do well." or encourage laterals with an assuredly positive and very genuine " Come and join us." .There will be occasions when your manager will stand by you solidly and protect you from the evil eye, so to speak. I have experienced this myself. By and large however, you alone are responsible and accountable for your career progression, not your manager. He is merely earning a living just like you are. Then again, not all managers demonstrate transparency. If say an IT project requires a Business Analyst to have 'solutioning' skills and the manager is aware of it he or she may not necessarily share this important fact with the Business Analyst from the outset and the latter may well realize the truth much later in the engagement, perhaps when he is working onsite at client location.
Feelings of envy and negativity amongst colleagues are inevitable in work life. A manager will not as a general rule set you up for failure on an engagement because his success depends on yours but he may well take sadistic delight in making things as difficult and even embarrassing for you as possible on a project ensuring that whilst you still manage to deliver successfully after much effort, he or she can nonetheless pull you down during an appraisal citing ‘calibration’ or 'behavior issues', pushing your growth prospects back by 3 years ( if not more) in the bargain. You have to be very alert and feel the pulse so to speak, proactively organize skip level meetings with the Counter Signing Manager and if necessary keep HR in loop if you start to smell a rat.
For many managers the role is their only source and experience of power, authority and respect in the world, hence the temptation and eagerness to unleash it on associates. While they are not the founder of the organization many like to behave like one, if only for a few years. It is for this reason that some managers revel in implementing the bell curve, victimizing associates by unfair means including brazenly speaking untruths during an appraisal, quite literally forcing them to accept a poor performance rating, 'managing' somehow to 'fit' them in the bell curve, whilst others will not do so. Managers with integrity will in fact never ever sever or injure the hands that worked hard for the organization even if it means damaging their own prospects of growth. Furthermore, they will blissfully ignore mischievous statements or taunts relating to the bell curve such as ," You don't understand the organization's needs." Talented individuals seldom if ever play politics nor do they stay in environments that promote it, giving up their respective teams if required to transition in to an Individual Contributor role.
By and large managers function within the limitations/frameworks imposed by their respective organizations, do not have anything personal against you and are driven largely by organizational compulsions such as the size of the financial 'pot'/budget and organizational growth rate. They have limited power to decide your rewards and growth. In some situations not being promoted may actually work in your favor because unknown to you the organization may be planning to lay off managers at the next level as part of a cost cutting exercise. You may as well stay where you are and enjoy a normal increment rather than get elevated and then eased out of the organization. In fact in many organizations it is easier to get a good increment every year than it is to get promoted to the next level with the result that you may actually end up earning more than your manager over a period of time. It is an anomaly to be sure but also a fact of life. It pays to stay focused on revenues. The other strange phenomenon one gets to see in some organizations is that promotions are not given even to deserving associates unless they first put in their papers ,as if to demonstrate that they have now truly reached breaking point. Then, having resigned they are duly elevated ! All's well that ends well , you may say.
The law of averages is seen to operate everywhere and if you are fortunate to work with professional managers for say 5 years then do not be surprised if you run in to someone not quite so professional in your sixth year – you have to take it in your stride and hope for better times ahead. Some managers welcome straightforward behavior, others will indicate that they find 'black and white' behavior without any shade of grey something of a hindrance. 'What you see is what you get' is a saying that applies to very few individuals. There are managers who possess the temperament to do well under pressure , others ruin their health coping with it – I remember observing a manager’s right hand shaking slightly as he read his morning email. Nothing in life is worth that. However, every now and then ,you may still find some real gems emanating from a manager such as, "Organizations have no souls. Remember this. " or "Do not get attached to a team that you have developed. It may be taken away from you during the next reorganization." Some managers are sensitive and will exhibit hurt if ,despite their best efforts to mentor and protect an associate ,the latter openly speaks highly of his or her earlier manager. That is natural I suppose.
All managers are employees just like you – as has been mentioned earlier ,they are not founders of the company where you work and it is unlikely they have ever done anything original in life. When the company does not need them they will have to leave. If you keep this truth in mind you will be able to deal with your manager more pragmatically. There was this hiring manager who explained to a candidate he was interviewing that the latter had given right answers to all the questions that had been asked but they had not sound 'experiential' to him and since the candidate had never worked at such a senior level in the past, he could not possibly be considered for the role now. That is like advising a national level tennis champion not to play at Wimbledon because he or she has never been there in the past! Such an interview constitutes an experience in itself.
Some malpractices that unscrupulous managers resort to ,especially in IT ,is not having a formal objective setting discussion with associates at the beginning of the year , not allowing an associate to have a 1*1 with the client, permitting a subordinate to suffer due to professional differences with a counterpart ,avoiding discussing positive feedback ,giving an associate ( whom you happened to have replaced on the project ) an early release from the organization without informing you sufficiently in advance, not providing the documents/ information/training/review support that is necessary for you to do your work on the project flawlessly ,directing you instead to get the remaining knowledge transfer over multiple calls from the person who has left the organization and is now working elsewhere, deliberately presenting before the client a completely false or an exaggerated picture of your profile and /or skill set (with a view to board you on to the project and ease the pressures created by heavy attrition) and in general turn a deaf ear to your remonstrations simply to preserve resource utilization targets. The best way to deal with such unprofessional behavior is to maintain detailed Minutes of Meeting and share them with all concerned stakeholders as required. If your manager wants to fib let him do so. Someone or the other on the project will call his bluff in due course. You don’t need to fib like him.
Some managers have also been known to trouble associates by deliberately scheduling meetings from 5 :30 PM to 6:30 PM ( knowing that the associate has an office shuttle to board at 6:30 PM) , hollering and/or putting down a meritorious associate in front of the team, scheduling a meeting and then not being present for it explaining later that it was 'not really a good day' or that he was 'travelling' , not taking swift and strict action against errant and even unethical peers then adding insult to injury by elevating them in the organizational hierarchy later. In India there are managers who are notorious for reporting in to work at 11 AM instead of at 9 AM and then staying in office till 8 :30 PM, additionally expecting everyone to do likewise. These are some of the games people play and often represent tricky situations. Nonetheless you will have to stay focused on your work at all times. As a general rule it is seen that such managers eventually get to experience the bitter truth that what you send out in to the world unfailingly comes back to you sooner or later. They invariably end up cooking in their own stew.
Not all managers or senior managers can keep their feet on the ground after being elevated in the organization and there have been instances when they have broken every rule in the book especially at the time of performance reviews to try and ease out associates who do not fit in to their scheme of things. Here again, meticulously maintained Minutes of Meeting or simply MoM's will assist associates in not only emerging unscathed but will also ensure that the concerned manager is eventually taxied out of the organization at an appropriate time. If your work is good and you are an honest professional who always presents his or her true skill sets/ profile/credentials to the client entity, you have nothing to fear.
Sometimes you may have to bide your time though, especially when an escalation goes to the highest authority in the organization. If your documentation / paper work is thorough truth will eventually prevail and you will likely get justice, possibly even from the CEO. The key in any escalation of this type is to remain very impersonal and professional , focus solely on the disputed matter presenting all available facts and being bold and fearless whilst presenting your case. If a manager has tried to inflict personal vengeance on you, he or she as the case may be will eventually get exposed through an analysis of emails and even instant messaging chats . IT Operations always preserve a record of everything. Having said that you need to first do your homework as to what is the quality of HR and the senior management. If past history is not positive then think twice before escalating to the highest level. If past history is positive then proceed without fear but keep the ‘good cop , bad cop’ principle in mind. It may or may not work in your favor. You may get justice yet find yourself without well-wishers or work that is aligned to your skill set. Managers on their part are also aware of an old maxim – You can fool some people some time, some people all the time but not all the people all the time.
Ageing parents, being a single parent yourself, being single or a combination of these are very personal issues/challenges . Managers have targets and deadlines as also project deliverables on critical engagements. As such they cannot be expected to accommodate your challenges beyond a point. If you feel you have reached a point in your life where you cannot carry your laptop to the hospital and work from near a hospital bed alongside a near or dear one then let your manager know ( if that appears to be his or her expectation) and initiate steps to leave that role . It’s not your cup of tea anymore simply because personal circumstances no longer permit it. You have to be pragmatic and face the truth. There is nothing derogatory in moving to an alternate way of life. After all at 60 you will have aged as well. There will definitely come a time in the life of every individual when he or she has to reset priorities and achieve balance between career and family responsibilities. These are very natural stages in life that call for repeated realignment and readjustment. Your manager cannot do it for you. You have to do it both for yourself and your family.
Remember that it is your life, your work and your career so don’t allow someone with probably less than half or a quarter of your talent and potential to take away the joy of working and/or talent unfoldment. We work as much for financial reward as for a sense of inner satisfaction and fulfillment. Above all , we need to maintain our grip on humanistic values. What would you do if your manager calls you at 8 PM to say that the organization terminated him as part of a layoff ? You extend all the support you can to him, of course. Similarly , if you are managing a talented but immature associate you guide him as best as you can, keeping in mind his or her potential. That is what managers are for.
As a general rule professional managers will always offer you sagely advice even after they have moved on ,as for example suggesting that in the event you have hit a dead end in an organization and are planning to leave then do proactively explore the possibility of severance pay. However I personally feel it is better not to walk down that road. If you have received an acceptable increment in your latest year end appraisal you should leave on a high note on your own terms. It will then be your call whether to return to the same organization as a rehire case or blaze your own trail elsewhere.
In summing up this very lengthy narrative it would be fair to say that your manager is not your eternal manager – someday you may well rise very high in life, though not necessarily in the same organization and he/she may spend the rest of his/her life looking up at you. Then again, he or she may also go places and you may look up to him / her as well.
Sometimes you get to work with collaborative managers who inspire you to do great work on interesting projects. Other times you may have to inspire yourself to rise above mundane or even unhealthy environments created by less inspiring managers. It's a mixed bag really and it would not be fair to make generalizations of any kind.
We do not live in a perfect or ideal world ,hence we cannot expect managers or clients to be perfect or ideal either and if you are inherently apolitical by nature then you need to learn how to navigate safely past organizational politics without getting involved.
I would like to reiterate that in sharing this narrative no offence is meant and if anyone reading this piece feels hard done by it then apologies for the same. That is not the intention. Life is a series of experiences that may be preserved and shared for the benefit of others. That is the idea.
Develop yourself continuously as well as holistically so that in the event your organization and/or your manager are no longer able to fulfill your career aspirations you can always move on to something better in life ,including gainful self-employment.
The important thing is to enjoy your work, treating your manager impersonally for what he or she really is - a cog in a wheel.
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