[Closed] Political Bobbins in the workplace

Office Politics = Strategy

You need to work on your strategic skills.

Is punching someone in the face not an option.

I think you might need a career rethink, if you don't want to be like these people. Start rowing or get out of the boat, type thing. Some organisations foster this kind of thing, divide and conquer and keep tham fighting to get good results. It usually comes from the top. Look for jobs in other companies with a nicer culture that suits you more ?

Do you feel their machinations are advancing the interests of the company, or just advancing their own interests?

Is punching someone in the face not an option.

You need to speak directly to your CEO. It sounds like you are bottling it up and he's probably not a mind reader. Try to do this chat in a positive way but also it sounds like you need to stand up for yourself a bit more a the board meetings.

Right, and please don't take this personally...as I'm only going on reading your responses to various threads on STW - and only in the chat forum generally. I would say that from reading them, you're not exactly the most diplomatic person in the world. Now, that's all very well, I know and have time for plenty of people who aren't either. But in the corporate world, I often find that alongside all the technical skills needed, you really do need some soft skills - I think the CV words would be "interpersonal skills". I think it's an often perceived thing that "geeks" aren't often blessed with diplomatic skills - whether that's true or not, I don't know, but stereotypes come from somewhere, right?

So, either you try to brush up on these skills, but it sounds like you might be a little too late for that in your present role. Or you accept that you're not destined for greatness. Or you just **** off from this lot and go and do something for yourself - be master of your own destiny. That's what I did. It'll never make me a millionaire, but I love what I do and that today, I chose to have a lie-in and I'll get started when the traffic dies down.

Please don't take my comment personally (well, you can, but don't be angry, I am trying to be helpful 🙂 )

Change company.

Jack it all in and cycle round the world.

These guys are definately focused on their own personal objectives. I do not see a lot of company focus in their actions. They'll do it when they know it improves their standing but it's usually coincidental.

You could have a point hels, but the closer I get to the top, the more I want to change the whole system and the more I feel I could do. As my influence increases, the closer this objective feels. Obviously that's a political ambition right there, but perhaps one that the manager of a charity shop would come up with.

Pretty much on the money dd, and no offence taken.

It's precisely why I left plc life in 97 and set up on my own. 80/20 rule kicked in 80% of time spent on company politics or trying to work out who was doing what to whom and why, and 20% doing the job I enjoyed.

If I were in your position I would begin to look around, speak to some headhunter companies/consultants - proper ones not just recruitment companies. You seem to be a senior player and they will be better placed to offer you vacancies that are suitable.

It is worth speaking to whoever is most senior in your organisation, but be sure you have a fall back if the conversation does not go as you may wish.

Good luck.

Jack it all in. Work in a bikeshop for a little over minimum wage selling thousands of pounds worth of kit for your boss. Then at night go home and smoke weed. Repeat this until you are 50. 😆

seems that all places are like this, whether it be McDonalds or Goldman Sachs. Where I work, half the team have given up and don't give a crap, whereas the other half (including me) try to push themselves and progress. unfortunately the management have single out one person who gets first dibs at learning all the new stuff and getting sent overseas, said person has latched onto a new person and is filtering stuff to them constantly, leaving the likes of me to do all the grunt work while they swan around enjoying the benefits.

I'm just looking round for another job because th management just don't care......they will however when their team consists of these two people.

Sounds like favouritism. Its not based on ability but partly looks/appeal to a person.

You spend all day in meetings then do eight hours work and think you are good enough to be at the 'top' - surely you need to learn to delegate and manage your 'team' better so that when you come out your all day meeting, you can bask in the glory of the great things your people have done. It is quite possible to both get the 'brownie points' and acknowledge the contribution of the guy who did the work.

If you really don't want to give up getting your hands dirty with the technology then either find a way to get back to that as the main job (while in many places the route to riches is through the management train, many smart employers realise that really good technical people are essential, and will pay top £ for people who do great jobs - indeed it is often a mistake to promote those people as managers) OR go and work somewhere else where the balance is right; e.g. in smaller organisation the top IT guy probably still has to do some 'real work' and spends less time in seemingly pointless meetings.

Let me go alittle leftfield for you here.

Remember Band of Brothers? The attack on Foy? Remember when Winters was about to run forward to take control of the faltering charge (where loads of men where needlessly suffering, sweating and dying for the war?) and Colonel Sink told him to stop? He delegated.

The management stand back, the workers go forth and sweat hard 😉

You seem to have a lot of passion about this Mark 😉

What is greatness? It sounds to me that you've exchanged your soul for a nice salary. There's nothing great about that.

If you enjoy the technical stuff, why not stick with it?

I've had the delegation thing from my boss too. All my team work ridiculous hours, we're completely overloaded. Clearly that's my fault as well.

how about suggesting a "back to the shop floor" programme for people at your level to round out their experience of the company, one day a week maybe.

a skills matrix showing which area's of the company people have direct experience of & identify the areas they are lacking in.

could be good for broadening peoples horizons and understanding, all that type of balls that bosses love.

could also be good for getting a few people out of their depth and showing them up to be throbbers to the maximum number of people possible.

Your experience happens quite a lot from things I've read over the years, whilst you have my sympathy at the end of the day you just have to accept it and play the game or move on and hopefully end up somewhere with a different culture. A lot of the problem is the slick sales and marketing guys talking themselves into positions way above where they should be and the only way they get away with it is to foster all the political BS.

What tech background did you have? If it was server/networking stuff (rather than coding) then I'd look to move into a senior position at a Cloud service provider if I were you. They need business savvy people but the infrastructure stuff is complex enough that having a tech background should be a big help.

Get another job.

All my team work ridiculous hours

Get a different job. In EVERY industry there are 'cultures' of work hard, play hard. Where you work hard and your boss saves employing more staff so that he can play hard with the pile of cash.

Not every company is like this. At the interview ASK about the culture, ASK how often people work over. If this question means you don't get the job as the tosser 'questions your potential commitment'- it means the company is the sort of place where you'd earn 'X' but in reality your hourly equivilient is s**t.

Make your staff work harder, bleed them, rinse every ounce out of them. When they complain say to them 'I question your professionalism in the work place'.

Z11 - am liking this a lot, may suggest this in a client meeting later this week. I could see a couple of comfy execs becoming a lot less smug.

Been there. Done that.

Ask yourself this - if you and your team are all working ridiculous hours to keep up with the workload, why would anyone in senior management want to increase your level of influence?

Either learn to say "no" and stop being such a pushover, or find a technical role that you can do without having to manage other staff.

Don't hit or threaten people. This isn't the factories. "Car Park Now!" just doesn't go down so well in white collar work. The political types will twist it into harassment cases against you and have you out on your ear with no references. Plotting to set up your workmates, to catch them draining the company is also not the best idea in the world either.

If you can't carve yourself a niche where you are indispensable and later on push for a pathway/wage restructuring exercise based on what you can do that others can't then possibly looking for another job is appropriate.

Have you seen Devil’s Advocate?

Stick by your own values.

Many thanks for all the responses guys. One thing, I want to stay here at least another 18 months so leaving isn't an option short term. To be honest, politicial stuff aside I really like it here. I like the work, I like what we do as a business, I like the site, I like the autonomy I get in my role, the money is OK, the commute is fantastic and I really want to keep my current job title for a long enough period for my CV if I do choose to leave.

I obviously just need to get better at stuff which will no doubt progress my career but I'll just have to hate myself that little bit more.

oh, and go contracting.

Do work, get paid, go home.

No politics, team briefings, personal appraisals, buying in to a new logo behind reception, away days or any of that dross.

if you want to stay techie and skip the politics go contracting, more money, less 'management/company' stuff etc

do you (and sorry if this goes down the wrong way or if it's not the case, however I'm asking as so,so many people don't esp in IT[personal experience and personal learning]) understand basic management maths.
Management Maths
5 person team, manager kills himeslf to get deliveries in on time etc, working at 140% effort (*and will probably burn out after a while with possible quality/team issues), this will probably result in a less than 500% effective team as the rest of the team are probably badly managed etc etc and down to 80% effective. Alternatively manager manages really well, he's down to 90% as doing management, team however are at 100%. Which is better for the team and the company (and the manager). I truly have worked for people who were too busy to delegate.

If you can delegate you will have more time to be political.

(*I went contracting)

These guys are definately focused on their own personal objectives. I do not see a lot of company focus in their actions. They'll do it when they know it improves their standing but it's usually coincidental.

This is the key. At a certain level, and in organisations of a certain 'maturity', advancement, and indeed just treading water i.e. keeping your job in tough times, means that the focus shifts from delivering strategic objectives for the company's benefit, to meeting targets for appraisals.
Putting in all the hours in the world, exceeding budgets and delivering stuff left right and centre will not help you unless you also manage to meet the more important personal targets in your personal objectives. Typically these will include bullying your staff into delivering high scores for you in staff satisfaction surveys, ensuring that regular newsletters are published using the correct font and that you participate fully in management away days.

You're on a hiding to nothing trying to change the system- you're on the fringes of a corporate Bullingdon club- either go contracting or find a smaller or newer company to work for.

Personally,

I've always subscribed to Joshua's sage advice: "The only winning move is not to play."

Aside from the fact that I, like you, simply can't be ringed with office politics and silly buggers, I know full well that if I did try to play them at their own game then I'd lose cos they'd be better at it. I appear to lack the gene which turns people into self-serving pricks who'd eat their own young if the price was right, which is why I never went into Sales, Marketing or Middle Management.

Instead I choose to play to my strengths, trying to be good at my job and to hell with what everyone else is doing to each other. Whether that's always been the best thing to do from a career progression point of view is debatable, but it sure as hell makes work life considerably less stressful.

samuri are you the very same person who used to have a collumn in STW mag many years back?

If so, I enjoyed collumn back then, have you thought about writing more?

There are many such people in organisation because they are trying to hand on to their dear jobs because they have no other skills to offer. Even if they have those skills are not specialist skills or needed skills. Because of this they are very insecure and will try every Machiavellian tricks to remain in the job or get promoted. The best way to get promoted is by stepping on others or discrediting others.

They cannot push you around because they need you due to your specialist skills so trying to enlist you into their group to strengthen their power base.

At my place of work I have several of these maggots lurking around by constantly creating headache for others due to their own insecurity and laziness ...

Any nice girls in the office? You could always have office sex effectively whilst your boss is paying you.

Thanks ski, yes that was me. I just dried up to be honest. Producing something new regularly is really hard especially when it's usually an abstract perception on something. The columnists who can produce quality stuff over and over again have my utmost respect.

Plenty of nice girls, especially over in property services for some reason. Trouble is, I met Mrs samuri in the office so she knows my MO. 😉

The thing is youre working in your word long hours and putting in extra time above what others do, you drive a honda, they have Bmw,s something is wrong, obviously you may be a bit upset as you havent got a bmw, for some reason, or your face just doesnt fit in the company,and basicly youre seen as the tea lad,somebody who is there and does whats asked of him,and usually just ignored as being non core, and when and if you leave youll soon be forgotten as someone else will jump into the space you left.

Thats life in some companies, if you dont like it ,move to a better one or start youre own.

One thing is for sure as each day you relaise what is happening the more angry you become,then you loose the plot, i did,and left.

OP: So, you want a new car, and in order to get one, you're asking advice on how to be a dick? I think I'd keep the Honda...

This thread rather reminds me of the "School Reunion" one we did last week. It's funny how this forum seems to have a lot of folk who were just bullied/overlooked/picked-on and generally feel that life has been unkind to them.

you want a new car, and in order to get one, you're asking advice on how to be a dick?

If he wants a BMW then that's a mandatory question, shirley?

[i]Then we all finish the all day meeting we're in, they get in their brand new BMW's and Jags and go home early while I get in my tatty old Honda Accord and go back to work to put another 8 hours in.[/i]

Bitterness and spending too much time on here might be your issue.

It's funny how this forum seems to have a lot of folk who were just bullied/overlooked/picked-on and generally feel that life has been unkind to them.

I have a tatty car and a modest salary. I think life has been extremely kind to me. It depends how you measure success, I suppose.

Samuri -
I've had the delegation thing from my boss too. All my team work ridiculous hours, we're completely overloaded. Clearly that's my fault as well.

OK - take a step back and look at it from afar. Is it possible that your team are working long hours because you/they don't know how to prioritise, say no, or have some underlying issues with hardware/code that should really be solved but its easier to patch over? If your team are really right on the limit all the time, then your company needs to understand the risk it faces, eg. an otherwise insignificant technical failure will cause the organisation to grind to a stop for days, or if one of your team gets long term sick / killed you instantly have a major hole, or if someone quits.

Of course if you have surrounded yourself with good people and fostered a good working environment / healthy ethos then they will rally round your vision of a better, slicker operation within your department and help you achieve it. If you've got second rate guys who spend all their day surfing the net and then complaining about workload, who think you're an ejit from management then you are stuffed. You don't need to compromise your principles to fix the problem - you just need to be more effective at the job they are paying you to do (not the job you think you do!).

ransos - Member
I have a tatty car and a modest salary. I think life has been extremely kind to me. It depends how you measure success, I suppose.

[i]These guys are definately focused on their own personal objectives. I do not see a lot of company focus in their actions. They'll do it when they know it improves their standing but it's usually coincidental.

[/i]

Mate, it's the norm it seems - I was the same as you and consequentially the one who was laid off 🙂

You need to chill out, let them play their games and realise that they need to work twice as hard as keeping their jobs as they haven't the background/experience that you have.

And that their staff probably have very little respect for them, whereas yours will (I'm guessing), as you do your best not to drop them in it?

So, from experience, chill out and focus on keeping your boss happy - and let them get one with it.

And when/if you get laid off, your bank balance will be fine - esp. as you haven't spunked it on flash cars/suits etc.

You need a high end technical specialist job. They do exist. Decent wage, pure techie work.

It's funny how this forum seems to have a lot of folk who were just bullied/overlooked/picked-on and generally feel that life has been unkind to them.

I think that needs to be broken down a bit. Being overlooked or picked on seems to be normal human behaviour in our society nowadays. Bullying designed to cause emotional or physical harm is a criminal offence with a possible jail sentence and must be stamped out. Don't expect any help with these complaints, you're on your own. Don't rely on others' witness statements, just hold onto the paper trails.

You need a high end technical specialist job. They do exist. Decent wage, pure techie work.

Agreed, but (and I think you'd know Molgrips) they tend to come at a large cost to personal life and work/life balance. You'd be travelling the country in that BMW wondering where you'd left your bike.

The only effective way I've found of communicating an overwhelming workload is to not do some of it, and make my management choose what I (by me I mean my team and I) should drop. Apparently simply telling some people isn't enough :-/

[i]Bitterness and spending too much time on here might be your issue. [/i]

😉 I rarely come here nowadays for more than five minutes at a time. I was contrasting our mindsets more than our financial circumstances. I know most of them use their annual bonus to help buy themselves a new car.

I'm spunking my bonus this year on a macbook for myself, a big family holiday and a big shopping trip for us all and I'll keep my Accord for a few more years. I'd rather see my family smile than look smugly at the peasants from my shiny piece of overpriced German engineering.

(I'll just look smugly at the peasants over the top of my overpriced laptop)

Jon. We've spoken about this before. I'm sure there's much sage advice up there. But you know what to do. Kill them. Kill them all 🙂

Oh and what d'ya mean 'tatty' accord. That was in perfect pre-loved condition when I sold it to you. Granted it was five years ago and you keep driving into things, but even so. Barely run in!

*one* thing

And that was my wife's fault.

Samurai,

Sounds like you're working in the wrong place, mate. I have had similar experiences and I think there are some common denominators:

Size of organisation - The larger the organisation, the more opportunity for people to advance without actually doing anything of any worth.

Culture of organisation - assuming a large % of the higher management have either blagged their way up, or got lucky with being recruited in from outside, this becomes a self-reinforcing cycle. Lots of people who really don't know the 'nuts and bolts' seeking to look good rather than doing something of real worth.

Intrinsic value of organisation - believe it or not, there are companies and organisations that perform well [u]in spite[/u] of their management teams - they have always had a good product and loyal customer, so there is actually little they can do to really balls it up. Of course, in such circumstances the management should really be looking to rationalise themselves - but I can't remember the last time I saw turkeys voting for Christmas.

I used to work a FTSE 100 Plc Retailer. The opportunities for progress nearly always went to people who talked a good game. The main pre=requisites were a professional qualification (to protect the senior managers' consciences if something went wrong) and then, basically, skillful self-promotion.

I took on a department from someone who had been moved up a 'bright young thing'. I actually found that she'd papered over the detailed (but really important) problems, been economical with the truth to say the least, and associated herself with all the prestige stuff. Everyone who had worked alongside or under her knew her failings, but the brass neck approach seemed to work wonders.

If this all sounds bitter, it's because I was at the time. It really is shocking. You just have to hope that sooner or later all the bluff and bluster catches up with them. But then it's on a new company with a snazzy job title on your CV.

My advice is to move to a smaller organisation. More risky, perhaps, but the opportunities to actually do things of worth are more prevalent, because a greater proportion of the work will actually be of use to the organisation.

I moved to a medium sized retailer and have really enjoyed it. I'm not saying that it doesn't sometimes really hack me off (today being a good example), but in the end, the vast majority of my prospects and dangers are now self-inflicted (and so under my control). Generally speaking, if I do good stuff my 'stock' goes up, waste time or produce crap and it goes down.

Your organisation sounds a bit rotten. If the very top of your board are not able to see it for what it is, it's time to go. Not great timing right now, so maybe hang on for a bit if your organisation does OK in spite of the management, then at the first opportunity get out. If you're of an IT background you can always offer yourself as a 'consultant' later 🙂

Someone commented on people who come here reporting being bullied or exploited at work.

Isn't it obvious? Folk on here don't belong to the golf club.

Can sympathise with OP. I'm working my butt off with some ideas which could if handled correctly make the organisation a real stand out in the field but am now on version4 each being more watered down than the previous, version5 will be what we did 5 years ago but presented on PowerPoint. All the "workers" will recognise it for what it is but the bosses will want to go for it. Possibly lassoing that unicorn. Meanwhile I will look like a cock (to the people i like and have to work with shoulder to shoulder) for selling an old idea.

Hey-Ho.

Agreed, but (and I think you'd know Molgrips) they tend to come at a large cost to personal life and work/life balance. You'd be travelling the country in that BMW wondering where you'd left your bike.

Perhaps. However I tend to think that a few weeks here and there is infinitely preferable to a lifetime staring at the same ****g four walls. I can't imagine doing that now, makes me shudder!

I'm generally travelling for half the time, which I think is a fair compromise for the benefits the work gives me, and work are extremely understanding about sending us away from our families.

Anyway I always have either trainers or a bike with me, so it's not so bad 🙂

It's the reality of corporate life... especially at the moment as so many people feel insecure about the future. And don't forget it;s the people who feel insecure tend to play the games...

IME, small companies have a lot less of this stuff, much harder to play games and hide from doing real work, more of a family feel (and no all-day meetings!)

Personally I would get out, the company culture is clearly one which doesn't match your values and you don't want to behave in a way which the organisation defines as appropriate ie: play games.

I did a course on organisational savvy at my current place where we were told that doing your job forms only 10% of the factors that get you promoted. The other 90% was your image and your reputation (based on research at IBM apparently). I still can;t believe my own employer told me to play games for 90% of my time and do my job for the remaining 10%... go figure!

Having only recently gone into large corporate and lost my job over not understanding the political game, I would recommend these two books:

[url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/21-Dirty-Tricks-Work-Politics/dp/1841126578/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338242616&sr=8-1 ]Dirty Tricks in the workplace[/url]

[url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Some-People-Have-Others/dp/0061789089/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338242657&sr=1-4 ]Power[/url]

Be aware of the games, stay out of them and remember life's too short to waste it in the company of adults behaving like children...*

* unless we're talking about grown men messing around on bikes with their mates at the weekend, that's perfectly acceptable 🙂

brooess - Member
I did a course on organisational savvy at my current place where we were told that doing your job forms only 10% of the factors that get you promoted. The other 90% was your image and your reputation (based on research at IBM apparently).

I did a course on organisational savvy at my current place where we were told that doing your job forms only 10% of the factors that get you promoted. The other 90% was your image and your reputation (based on research at IBM apparently). I still can;t believe my own employer told me to play games for 90% of my time and do my job for the remaining 10%... go figure!

That's properly mental.

I'm in a very similar sitution as Samuri, however, I would say my peers are actually generally not dicks, some of them are definately better at navigating the political bollocks than I am and I have spent a lot of time studying how they work.

Mostly they deliver results that matter, but crucially they are good are the narrative too, call it spin if you like, but there is definately an art to communicating (not bullshitting) with people in a way that both reaffirms their status but conveys your agenda.

If you're set at sticking it out for another 18 months then I would practice and practice.

Plus I would read The Third Discipline and Start with Why.

I still can;t believe my own employer told me to play games for 90% of my time and do my job for the remaining 10%... go figure!

All i can offer is my experience in this. For context i've been a CIO, CISO and CEO of various companies. I sit on a couple of boards and am a Partner in a large organisation. I too am from a technical background and I am also a human who can't be gassed playing politics.
I can see why you are frustrated and also am sympathetic to your stand, which is a stand, based on your own ethics. That is something you should not ever feel you are compromising - integrity, trust and ethics are all things that people see and remember. Snivelling, glory hunters with no gag reflex also will, over time, be outed. I have seen this happen in many instances. Subtle changes in management, ownership and culture could tip the boat in your direction. I also strongly believe in Karma and treating people the way you wish to be treated. A job is just that - being passionate, dedicated and available can be abused so you need to get some strategies to make this work in your favour. I hate the corporate bull and also detest large organisations - what I do like is a challenge and interesting work. I've built two companies from zero and sold both as I am a capitalist pig 😆 so I look at things from two aspects - one is what does this mean for me in terms of my life and my enjoyment, second is what can I do to influence and motivate others. All sounds a bit Stephen Covey but I quite enjoy the process.
All I can say is stick to your ethics, where possible try and put the anger and resentment aside and seek to understand what values are measured. One day the people you make look good will fall on their arse and you will be in the box seat. Once you are there you can do what you want, i do.

You have barely mentioned those who work for you and, by your own admission, are being flogged as well.

If you do nothing else, MTFU and present a well-structured case to management on why you need more resources / time / money and what you need and what returns it will have for the company. They are people too, you have a responsibility to them. They may well be on another cycling forum telling other forumites that their boss is wallowing in a small puddle of self-pity and not standing his ground.
It might help with some of the other issues as well. Don't just manage, lead a bit as well.

NZCol has it spot on.

I obviously just need to get better at stuff which will no doubt progress my career but I'll just have to hate myself that little bit more.

That's what they said at first....

I'd rather see my family smile than look smugly at the peasants from my shiny piece of overpriced German engineering

^This^ shows that you have your priorities right in life and therefore I'd say you have little to worry about. Having worked with you in the past I probably know some of the people you are talking about and I know who I'd sooner go for a pint with.

It's the reality of corporate life... <snip/>
IME, small companies have a lot less of this stuff, much harder to play games and hide from doing real work, more of a family feel (and no all-day meetings!)

Downside is that in a small company you are at the boss's beck and call, if you've got a good boss that's not a problem, if he's a tosser you're in trouble.

Personally I was in the same boat as you Samuri all last year - stupid hours, impossible targets, horrendous stress.. thank god I've changed clients this year! I'm now looking for a much more technical job with less corporate crap, and would suggest you do the same. Short term, though, you need to stand up for your team and get some realistic deadlines in place - the odd all-nighter can be a perverse sort of fun, but regularly working 50+ hour weeks just isn't worth it.

Agree, I started to actively put measurements into our performance metrics that disincentivised those that like to do 70 hour weeks every week. I mean, it's not healthy for anyone. So I measure output, not input. It's been a struggle to get the firm to support it but we've got +25% growth year on year and a very happy team. What it does though is drive out people who are lazy cn....not quite as motivated 😆 But it does this through peer pressure and not by me beating the carp into them with a big stick. **** me, I AM stephen covey amn't I ? Worrying.

Great stuff guys. I'm already on the resource stuff, took a stand a couple of weeks back and told my boss that the reason I'm not delivering some stuff (that his other reports were complaining about) was down to lack of sufficient resource. he was supportive but typically, just told me to get it sorted, the resistance comes from his practise manager who is watching his budget. i'll keep the pressure up there.

Just for info (and thanks Druid), this is a FTSE100 company we're talking about which is one reason why I want to tough it out. If I can come away from here with a good track record, I can find a move to a smaller, happier company quite easily, I don't expect to get on the board here.

Some of my peers are OK, but I wouldn't trust half of them in the slightest and I don't understand how a couple of them manage to get dressed in the morning.

I'll try some of the reading you've suggested, see if it makes me feel better/change the way I do things without compromising anything.

Many thanks.

And on a slightly related note.

I've just gone to get a coffee where I bumped into our MD who is a keen cyclist. He got telling me about a ride he did at the weekend which ended up with us laughing together and him patting me on the shoulder.

Over his shoulder I could see some of the guys I've been talking about staring at us slack jawed.

/Nelson
HAW HAW!

That's perked my day up. 😉

Awesome!

Time to organise a ride with the big boss then 😉

I'd rather see my family smile than look smugly at the peasants from my shiny piece of overpriced German engineering

The two aren't mutually exclusive you know.

now don't you be ruining my illusions. I like to think of the other guys families dressed in rags watching them drive off to work in their flash cars before heading off themselves to the local tip to scavange for the days food.

samuri - Member
Just for info (and thanks Druid)

Time to organise a ride with the big boss then

This sounds like a winner...at the very least, you get a bike ride, it's all good!

What ever else happens Samuri I think this is a really good thread and I suspect there are a lot of lurkers in a very similar position who will also benefit from the advice of people like NZCol.

Another suggestion from me - find a mentor, maybe even find time to talk this through with the MD and ask for advice, most people really really like to be asked for advice and will freely give it, this only works if you actually respect the person you are asking though.

I'd rather see my family smile than look smugly at the peasants from my shiny piece of overpriced German engineering

I try not to make eye contact.

I worked in IBM and that doesn't ring true. Like many large corporates, IBM valued technical ability and rewarded it very highly.

I think he meant research done *BY* IBM.

It is very depressing when management don't understand what makes a good and happy workforce. I think NZCol should start a company in the UK and employ some of us.