Work is f**ked up big time. It's not so much the work itself but the people I have to deal with. The incompetent dumbo's that I have to manage. F**k! I have a bunch of clients who are so f**ked up this time around. Some background....I was involved actively in a portion of the project and so naturally I was asked to train the client reps so that they could run this the next time around. Sorta like a transfer of knowledge from us to them. Me....being someone who is very low in 'control' according to my Facet5 profile meaning I don't like structures, details, processes and all the nitty gritty that comes with any piece of work took the trouble to ensure smooth delivery of the project as part of my personal development. I had decided last year to pay attention to more of this just to increase efficiency at work and so far I've been doing okay. I have not become too rigid to lose my flexibility but at least it makes working in a team much easier.
So back to the training story...I put all the necessary processes in place, even went to the trouble of being proactive and set things straight BEFORE it was required. Then the client sends in 2 young gals who i was supposed to train. What is the best training to provide newbies, who actually need to learn on-the-job in a very short time? Definitely hands-on, experiential learning with guidance. So, that's what I did...I did all the work for the first 2 days, then on the 3rd day I asked them to tend the calls and guided them on responding to the email queries. On the 4th day, their people requested for more information from them and we had to re-arrange all the data before sending it over to the people at the other end. It was not part of the agreement as we had previously agreed upon a set format for data delivery between my org and theirs. But since these newbies were asked to do it and it was part of the THEIR scope of work, I stayed back to HELP them complete the extra work. Not my work but theirs....
Then, at the end of that week, these girls' manager, surprises us with a visit, or at least surprises my colleagues and I with a surprise visit. Then she interrogated me, questioning my capability and what we were doing. I swallowed my anger and spoke to her as calmly as possible, all the while feeling like I was going to explode with rage at her audacity to question my ability. The whole reason that act pissed me off so much was because HER expectations/misunderstanding of the whole roles and responsibilities of both ends were screwed. BIG time.
Her idea of training was to get her girls to sit and observe everything. That would make sense if they were just gonna learn and not do anything. But the whole idea of knowledge transfer was that the girls would be running the whole thing by THEMSELVES by the 3rd week. So tell me, how much can one learn by sitting and watching other people do the work. And she wanted those girls to run the whole thing independently by the 3rd week. honestly even during the 2nd week i didn't think they were capable enough to handle everything. The turnaround response rate was too slow, they were not following the protocols of the damn project and were procrastinating everything because they were focusing on the minute unimportant details that did not impact the project at all. Idiots! So anyways I explain my part and she seems dissatisfied. So I told her fine, I will do all the work from then on and she seemed to calm down a bit. I was still pissed as hell though. It also doesn't help that my vendors screwed up big time - sent out multiple reminders to those who have completed the feedback. So had to manage the angry customers. Then I have a team member who was giving the rest of us attitude. Jerk just joined us and was pulling his weight. Kissed bosses ass big time but could not put money where his mouth was. Sigh* feel like stabbing them sometimes. But all in the name of sanity and so as to avoid a lawsuit or prison i keep my sanity intact by furiously typing away at the keyboard. Psst...they think I'm so engrossed in my work...heheheh
