Saturday 20 April 2013

Grrrrrrrrr is for...............(and it's not a grissly bear!)

Friday I was back in the office having had a wonderful 4 days on leave and then 2 days in Newcastle.  91 emails isn't so bad and normally I can plough through them in a couple of hours, separating the wheat from the chaff quite happily.  I was happily doing this until I happened upon a weekly update email that everyone gets in the department I work in, including my 2 immediate bosses.

Highlighted on both the email and more so in the update itself was a note about 6 vacancies for qualified accountants at the grade above mine.  Normally I get quite excited about this and print off the said vacancy and spend an exorbitant amount of my free time at home writing competency examples for the application.

Except on this occasion I can't because the closing date is FRIDAY, as in the day I first found out about it, as in YESTERDAY. As work have very recently changed our performance framework I cannot tweak and use my previous competency examples so it was impossible to apply for the post in time.

To say that I was annoyed was a slight understatement and I banged off an email to both managers asking them if they would be so kind as to notify me of any future vacancies that are published while I am on leave.  As the application can be submitted on an internet site (as in not on our work intranet) I can make an application while on leave if I so wish.  It is not as if both managers did not know I was actively seeking promotion.

To her credit my line managers manager immediately called me and said she would note it for the future and although she did not specifically apologise it was very much implied and for that I have respect for her. 

Maybe I am expecting too much and maybe this would not happen in most other work places but I am a firm believer of treating people how you would want to be treated.  If I had staff (and I have had a lot in the past) I would know which of those wanted promotion and besides ensuring that their work was tailored to give them the best possible evidence and examples would actively let them know if a suitable vacancy arose that they could apply for.

Granted I was on leave but a quick text message does not hurt, offend or take 2 minutes to send.  This could just be a genuine oversight or a deeper seated (either realised or not) need to keep me on the team because there is NO succession planning or they want to develop me to take over my managers role should she leave - after all, she is also actively seeking promotion.

Either way; I am annoyed, upset and feel that their needs have been put above my development which goes against every part of my own manager/leader beliefs.  

There is no point staying angry and I will certainly be taking up the need to a) obtain a lower graded resource as I am being paid far too much for some of the work that I do and the resource I put into it detracts from my development and ability to do higher level strategic work and b) have some succession planning.

It is a good job I am not a grissly bear (and a good job my immediate line manager was not in the office) because I would have likely ripped someone's head off and how much trouble would that have gotten me into?
 
In the meantime, Hubby whisked me off to our favourite restaurant last night, Sapori, where we had our wedding reception to make sure I relaxed, sounded off and drank enough alcohol to help me put these feelings aside (somewhat) until next week.

As ever it was delicious.



 

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