I can do nothing more than laugh when I get asked this. Now  for those of you who know me personally, you already understand why this is fun to me, and maybe it is something that is just a simple communication problem that everyone experiences. My guess is the latter simply because of the way the economy is going and the way several people are responding to it. The other night at a Church function I was sitting next to a couple that I did not know very well when they asked this very question “So, what do you do?”. Sure if I was to be all literal about that, it would go a whole different direction but, even being that I understood what they were asking, I was still at a loss of how to answer. Shall I list out what  I do ( for income)?

At the time this was asked, I could have simply responded “my Full time job, I am an Engineer”. the sad part is that really says nothing. I was not a licensed Engineer but my employment position was the responsibilities of a Manufacturing engineer. Even this position was very limited sighting because not even my employee was able to give me an official title with limited grasp of all of the things I was doing for the company at that time.

Even at that, I know that often when that question is asked, it is in an attempt to get to know someone and, with their employment occupying most of their time, it tends to be a good description of who that person is and an easy way to open the door to conversation. For some reason, that has not been the case with me and has made it difficult to answer without killing the conversation altogether. Tips? let me know..

When a company is formed, the CEO or whom ever is responsible for the initial configuration of the company hires people.. usually because they need someone who already had knowledge in that area.. I am not sure what good it does for a CEO or Business man to Hire a Mechanic, IT personnel, HR, mechanical/ electrical/ Manufacturing civil engineer if the CEO is going to say “I want things done and it is my way or the highway” without allowing for input on how things are suppose to be done or, the time and resources it takes to get things done.

This is just one example of communication in the work place being less than effective. Often it appears that the communication or lack there of is due to lack of trust.  Rather than trust the people doing the work a leader in what ever position would rather Manage (micro manage) things them selves.  What this person may not understand is that they are really doing more damage to them, the company, and everyone the company deals with.

Another example of how this affects everyone. I recently encountered a company that their sole interest was sales. They contracted all of the other portions of the company’s operations to organizations that were already in place. Sounds pretty streamlined right? May not be as clear cut as that. The sales force worked hard and created ample accounts and recruited enough reps for a full sales team in several locations.  Sales were good until, the operations side of things kicked in. Months passed with no products installed. Customers were becoming edgy. This is where the communication comes in. over the months of sales. Training after training occurred. changes took place to ensure information from customer to corporate was smooth, accurate, and efficient.  In return Reps were fed information that was in turn given to customers on timeline, and how the process of installation works. All of the information being fed to the customers later appeared to be false. As this information’s validity failed, communication from corporate stopped. Rather than feeding accurate information to the sales team enabling them to properly manage the expectations of the customers, False information was given making things sound better than they are until it was too late.  Customers began to cancel accounts, reps began to leave the company. Accounts under contract were frustrated because they could not get an accurate update on the status of their install.  Because of all of the problems, Reps stoped turning in new accounts causing the company to loose hundred of thousands in sales.. All this because communication was no transparent and given to the people that needed it to do their jobs properly.

In summary, If you are one that hold information, are you giving it to those who need it to do their jobs? If you are the one that needs information and are getting radio silence, it may just be time to move on.. it is hard to say you are not getting information. Fraud, Hiding things going wrong, disorganization. Any of these problems usually end with everyone loosing unless communication is restored.

In my years of education, I was always told to make myself as valuable as possible so that I could be promoted as quickly as possible. For most of my life, that has been the case for me, moving from a base employee to an assistant store manager within 6 mo- 1 year. Going from customer service to manager of returns and then on to Logistics manager within 2 years. This all seemed to be “Just how it is” until recently when  I was told that I was not promoted to a position that was open simply because I was considered “too valuable where I was at”. Please keep in mind, much has happened since then, it was just a situation that I felt was odd and would possibly get you thinking.

As I thought about this situation there were several questions that came to mind:
Am I so under paid that it is not worth offering a promotion for risk of having to pay more?
What did I do so well at that they could not see the same potential for outstanding performance in a new position?
What do I need to stop doing to reduce how valuable I am so that I can get promoted and thus improve my finical situation?
This is all a situation that wither you know it or not, it is very likely that you have been the victim of this at one point or another. The real question is, is there something better that they are “Preserving” me for.  In the long term, is there a better option? So, here is the real question, have you had this happen that you know of? If so, what did you do and  what happened to resolve this?
As far as background, I will admit that I was one of those people fooled by the idea the a company promotes a person once they qualify and have proven themselves worthy. I have felt that there should be no need to ask for a raise. Sadly I can officially say I was wrong. Now the reality sinks in, that I was never taught how to “Properly” ask for a raise and/or Promotion. I know that there are a lot videos on the web as well as training materials that explain how this is to be done but they never account for the possibility that you actually know your boss. That may seem a bit odd but it is true. Often times, I have found that you know and get along well with the boss and asking for a raise may simply cause ripples or even on the other side, you don’t see eye to eye with your boss and although you are great at what you do, you don’t want to cause them a reason to let you go.
I do want to clarify something. In a recent position, I had no desire to be promoted and that is different. I had worked my way up the ladder to a position that I enjoyed, and looking up I did not see any positions that I felt I would enjoy or be “good” at. At that point in my mind, it became time to start looking outside the company for the opportunity to move up in another in area or function that would be considered “exciting” , “fun”, or more “Fulfilling”.