Personal Development

[allanmac]

My works the same cant remember when it all changed I think it was when it stopped being the personnel dept and went to HR. Swapped from employee interest and well being to company boot boys.
An ex manager I worked for told me there are two types of people ones who need a cuddle and told how great they are doing and others who need a kick up the arse to perform at their best.
I suggested there is a third type the ones who need left alone and do there best all the time his jaw hit the desk when i said cuddling one of them would result in a broken arm. :laugh:

Cheers Allan

[APD_660Ten]

These things are a bit of a catch 22 for me. I have a little over 100 staff working for me

'for you or with you'

The difference and the mindset is MASSIVE & is transmitted down the chain. B)

Very good point! I'd say 'with' but if I'm been honest some there, try as you might end up in the 'for' camp for various reasons. There are about 10% in that camp. But having been here 16 years and started on the helpdesk working in every department in the business I have seen enough to know that some of those people won't change, I've work with them and FOR some of them.

My annoyance is I would do more for the people I work WITH (:)) but I also have a parent company above me that can limit what I can do at times.

That said. They bailed us out 12 years ago when the company was 1m in debt and if it had been a stand alone company we would have gone bust. ! Always two sides of a coin.

[Mike101]

Well true to form i come at this with a different perspective to a lot of you.

I am and have been a manager of large IT teams and depts for many years. The biggest challange is to get the right person for the right role. How many of you have ever seen somebody promoted not becasue they could do the job but becasue they earnerd it or somebody thought they might be good at it.

Every single person in the world has different strenghts and weaknesses. Some people are ideas people and some are happy to sit in the background and work hard at what they are given.

I am a good example of this. I am an ideas person..i can come up with new ways of doing things and solve complex problems. I am however not good at doing the same work day in day out. I get bored very eaisly and work better as a leader rather than a follower.

But that said..for every new idea i have i need people who will take my ideas and go and actually deliver them. Such people are just as valuable as i am to any business.

What does not work is when an idea person such as me is made to do teh saem day in day i or to get a 'team worker delivery' type person come up with new ideas.

So back to the point. Every team needs a balance of these skills and how do we do that....We have to test and assess each person.

I come back to Elle's post about her not wanting to push for the top...that is fine and i don't have any issue with that but knowing that would now ensure that she is in a role that does not need that a person who wants to push for the top.

If we bring this back to sport..say football..you would not put a striker in goal..or would you...two very differnet skills sets.

Mike

[-Ralph-]

This is what Performance Management is really about, managing under performers out of the company, or streamlining staff numbers without the need to pay redundancy.

It stinks, and I hated it (notice the change in tense)

I took a sideways move in the same company, so now I have no staff

Hammer, nail, head, wallop! Well done for getting out of a job you didn't believe in.

[Mike101]

This is what Performance Management is really about, managing under performers out of the company, or streamlining staff numbers without the need to pay redundancy.

It stinks, and I hated it (notice the change in tense)

I took a sideways move in the same company, so now I have no staff

Hammer, nail, head, wallop! Well done for getting out of a job you didn't believe in.

Sorry but i really don't agree. It can be used to do this but only for bad companies with bad managers.

Mike

[Tonibe63]

Personal Development Assessments
Anyone else get these at work?

Yesterday I had a meeting with my manager (a slimy toad with Teflon shoulders) & he went through a new assessment form sent by HR called the "Talent Matrix". His job was to assign me to a category & without any discussion he'd already decided I was "core staff" that needed further development.
He explained I would be given objectives that took me to the upper levels of "superstar".
I told him I didn't want to be a superstar, I was happy doing my job & having once been an IT manager, I didn't want another career path.
Apparently that attitude isn't good enough. I'm supposed to be ambitious & seek stardom.
It's all bollox, the company is on its knees & I spent a lot of time on the Internet.

I'm on the train for a meeting in Manchester & pondering all this, I realise my RTW desire isn't because I really want to do that, it's because I really don't want to do this.

Thanks for listening

'Talent Matrix'...................what a load of total and utter bollox

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Being a person that has always 'paddled my own canoe' I totally agree with you JB. Unfortunately when my Wife comes home from work (NHS) and offloads all the troubles of the day my answer of "just tell them to bollx" isn't realistic for her.
The problem is that HR departments are 'paper tigers' who will justify their own jobs by ticking the boxes of staff who will conform to Company policies instead of just kicking out the useless feckers that don't want to work (for fear of legal proceedings).

[yoda]

How many of us on here can relate to this??
I worked for a good company local to me for 24 plus years, started at the bottom and was gradualy promoted over the years till i ran 2x workshops, the original owners where all hands on people who understood the job and their customers from the ground up and recruited people accordingly. They sold up to retire the people that then ran it where all college office types, well out of touch with the realitys of the work that needed doing but had all the usual b/s methods that other companys have been tripping over for ages. We then had, HR and appraisals and meetings and management courses etc etc. Suprisingly it started to fail from that point, most of the best people ended up leaving and places were filled by folk that were accademicaly very clever and could talk the job but ultimately couldn't produce the result. I was very demotivated by it all and when some redundancys came round i jumped, didn't have anywherwe to go but had got so down with it and hated trying to motivate depressed staff it was a relief to be out.
I had a phone call from an ex customers employee who had set up on his own, did i want to work for him. My interveiw was.." i'll give you two weeks, if you're no good you can **** off...ha ha" fair enough. Been here five years, the companys doing great, we moved to bigger premises this year and i'm happy at work again. I don't earn as much, but i don't have meetings to do, no appraisals etc and no Hr B/S to have to deal with, small company short lines of comunication and no where for b/s to hide. It a bit like when i started work at the first company..all the people were from the trade backgrounds and grafters so know what to do and get on with it not just go round in circles talking.

[geordy paul]

We also have to suffer Special High Intensity Training at regular intervals.

[Redmurty]

my attitude is "you pay me to do a job I will do that job to my best ability" then and only then if I am doing something wrong or you can tell me how to do my job better please speak to me, and if I am not doing the job right then don't pay me and sack me

I am now self employed the above reasoning may have a little to do with that :pinch: but in my last government job, I went in for my annual appraisal gaffer "we need to do your appraisal" me "why you unhappy with my work rate" gaffer "er no" me "you unhappy with what I do" gaffer "er no" me "then why the ...K am I here, oh your giving me a pay rise" gaffer "er no" me "right I'll pea off back to work then" never got another appraisal I later found out he just filled the forms in and sent them off :laugh:

We also had a "PDP" personal development profile where you had to list your strengths and weaknesses I wrote along essay as to why I would never fill out the "weakness" section as it had negative connotations I replaced the word with "area's for further development" which I stated would be seen in a better light, after some deep discussion the company changed their "PDP" books (thumbs)

In this world you get paid to do a job, you should do that job if your not happy or unwilling to do that job you should go else where

cheers Spud

[Mike101]

Personal Development Assessments
Anyone else get these at work?

Yesterday I had a meeting with my manager (a slimy toad with Teflon shoulders) & he went through a new assessment form sent by HR called the "Talent Matrix". His job was to assign me to a category & without any discussion he'd already decided I was "core staff" that needed further development.
He explained I would be given objectives that took me to the upper levels of "superstar".
I told him I didn't want to be a superstar, I was happy doing my job & having once been an IT manager, I didn't want another career path.
Apparently that attitude isn't good enough. I'm supposed to be ambitious & seek stardom.
It's all bollox, the company is on its knees & I spent a lot of time on the Internet.

I'm on the train for a meeting in Manchester & pondering all this, I realise my RTW desire isn't because I really want to do that, it's because I really don't want to do this.

Thanks for listening

'Talent Matrix'...................what a load of total and utter bollox

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Being a person that has always 'paddled my own canoe' I totally agree with you JB. Unfortunately when my Wife comes home from work (NHS) and offloads all the troubles of the day my answer of "just tell them to bollx" isn't realistic for her.
The problem is that HR departments are 'paper tigers' who will justify their own jobs by ticking the boxes of staff who will conform to Company policies instead of just kicking out the useless feckers that don't want to work (for fear of legal proceedings).

HR are not there for the staff. They are there to protect the company from the staff and their actions.

If you treat HR as the bad guys then nothing they will ever do will come as a shock. Look at them as a friend and you are heading for trouble.

Mike