Meeting at its best…

Caution: This is a light hearted read and bears no resemblance with any true person living or dead or any situation. Although some of my friend find it very near to their experience but still contains no reference to them. For best read all the individual contributors are advised to read as per their current role and all the managers are advised to read this as reportee as they too have managers. Dont forgot to read Bol Bachan section… Enjoy…

Let’s start with excerpts of communication between manager and employee where employee seems to have some issues which he wanted to report.

Emp: Hello Sir. I need to talk to you regarding some of the issues do you have sometime to discuss.

Mgr: (Almost always busy) Sure but I have an important meeting (which ones are not important) right now so need to rush we can talk later in the day.

Emp: Okay Sir. Thanks (Almost always humble do they behave the same with their spouse)

Okay after sometime and some negotiations they both agreed to meet in a meeting room. (Keep in mind market is still bad and there are very few opportunities outside)

Emp: Sir as communicated to you earlier this work is getting monotonous and I wanted to have some more opportunities and work which best suited my experience.

Mgr: Great but you know this is what you have agreed to and we already communicated for next couple of years you have to persist with this and as soon as there is opportunity arrives we will consider you for that.

Emp: But Sir its already been long for me to work on this project and there is no new development and activity happening on this project which encourages me to keep interested in day to day activities and work with zeal. (I believe after every 6 months everyone starts feeling the same can we have project change every 6 months. Can assure you this isn’t feasible)

Mgr: I can understand (really?) but I don’t have any thing right now which suites you. Let’s give sometime and think about it. Please try to find any improvement/initiatives in this project. I will definitely support you for those…

Emp: Okay Sir

Mgr: I have to rush for a important meeting (again?) will talk to you later. Let me know if you need any help… (What else?)

God help those who help themselves so even after the dreadful market condition this guy managed to get a superior opportunity and now with boost of confidence he wanted to have a meeting with his manager to formally inform about his decision to resign from his services…
Let’s see how it goes…

Emp: Hi Mgr (Name) I wanted to talk to you do you have sometime now to spare (look at the confidence man)

Mgr: Hey Emp (Name) Sure I too wanted to talk to you regarding some important decisions but couldn’t managed time. Lets grab some coffee and continue our conversation (Guess what I don’t know how but managers always get allusion of what’s happening next. Is it Sixth Sense?)
After grabbing coffee and in a meeting room…

Emp: Sir actually I wanted to inform you (interruption from manager)

Mgr: Hey Emp (Name) before you say anything let me tell you some good news remember our last conversation regarding your dissatisfaction for this project I talk to senior managers and they agreed to put you on two new projects. One is you can take team lead opportunity for XYZ project that we are just rolling out and other is you can go onsite on the same role for 2 years...

Emp: (No Speaking Only Thinking) Were they waiting for me to put papers umm…

Mgr: What are you thinking dude (change of guards) let me tell you whichever project you take them both have high visibility to senior management and have great level of appreciation if you do well…?

Emp: (Still Thinking) Was the project I was doing was having no visibility…

Mgr: So what’s your take on this…

Emp: (At last speaks up) But Sir I have accepted opportunity with another company and I came to inform you about the decision regarding the same…

Mgr: Forget about resignation dude we don’t want to loose indispensible resource like you. I will talk to senior management to give you confirmation as soon as possible you just have to let me know you choice (suddenly Emp became indispensible and decision is getting quick instead of waiting for next few years)

Emp: But Sir I have decided to perceive this opportunity and its best suit my interest…

Mgr: Okay why don’t you take some time to think about this and let me know your decision later on (Now this is called smoothing or withdrawal technique and used to confuse you)
Both depart. So at end Emp is back to ground zero with lot of confusion and indecisive about his career.

Till I end this post I too was not able to decide what the best course of action for the employee is but I still have my thinking hat on and will continue conversation in next post if I get there…

But if you have identified what it is then please let me know through your comments…

Bol Bachan:

Career cannot be decided in meeting like this you have to plan it and act accordingly. Before you even start any conversation make your decision and be firm on it but leave some space to accept new ideas and opportunities that come your way.

None of the projects in the world can keep you busy and interested forever it’s your responsibility to look for continuous improvements and initiatives that not only recognize you as individual but also benefit the project and organization. Heard about KAIZEN it’s “small improvements”. Kaizen strategy calls for boundless efforts for improvement. It comes from the Japanese words “kai” which means “change” or “to correct” and “zen” which means “good”.

So guys and girls let KAIZEN.