Look for places where you have Favor

I watched recently how a young male intern was fussed over by the male manager of the team. I think this manager was preparing him for a paid job with the organisation. I know another woman in the department who said that no matter what amazing solutions she comes up with, she is overlooked and if it is really a brilliant idea that they just have to use, there is a grimace on their faces that the idea had to come from her. I know how dispiriting such a situation can be.

Always look to be where you are in favour; where the favour of the bosses, directors and mangers is with you, or at least there isn’t an obvious disfavour operating against you. If you enter a situation where you know there is a general dislike of you and what you have to offer, and you know you have done your best to be a team player, to be an asset and yet there is this coldness towards you, start thinking of your exit (yes even in this economy!).

This is one of the reasons why some of you need to have your own businesses and concerns. Some of us are not meant to work too long for others. Brilliance can make some people feel threatened.

I was re-reading one of Steven Covey's (RIP Sir), books and came across the bit where he talked about adding value to your job and how it makes you stand out, get the promotion etc etc. Have you ever noticed that in some of these companies cited in such self help books, they are always just desperate for the right workers, but they just cant seem to get good ones lol, which is cue to telling us the readers, that we need to sharpen up and we will achieve the dream job. Well, the truth is that more often than not, you get work teams where a very good worker is actually more of a threat than an asset and can be pushed out! This is more the case with government work and work than is not exposed to strong forces of competition or that is not 'rationalized' by the profit making objective. I have seen brilliant workers pushed out because the work teams were not really looking to elevate their practice no matter what they profess and recite, and what snazzy fashionable jargon they are spouting about, 'best practice', 'value for money' etc. The talented worker would have likely shaken things up and thus proved a threat to their relaxed way of working.

It takes a really evolved boss to handle talented people without feeling threatened as a manager. It takes a person who is sure of themselves, where they fit in and their own unique value, and how many of those do you think there are around? Not as many of we would like.

I remember working for a woman who I believe was certifiably mad. When I took the job I remember thinking (when it got all crazy with files flying across the room, door banging, workers insulted), that 'the need for her to meet her contractual 'targets', would eventually, somehow put a limit to her undermining the workers. My calculations and assumptions were however wrong because her job -and the project as a whole- was not operating within the context of any expected results in other words, she was never called to the carpet if the project didn’t reach the targets it signed up to, and why was this you ask? Well this was during the time of the Labour government in the UK, when they were literally throwing money at 'black' organisations and would not dare question their work outcomes (least they be called racist) no matter how ramshackle. In fact if these organisations underperformed, more funding was deemed in order! I actually watched her write a report making such a case. The net effect was that she was able to run an insane asylum of an organisation without anyone having the ability to put a stop to her activities.

However back to my initial point - which is also in line with the whole ethos of going where you are valued and cherished that I have had occasion to talk about in the past months on this blog (scroll down to see)- always look to be where you and what you do is in favor. It wont be everywhere but there will be places and people for whom you will be 'hot' stuff!

There are some battles/places you cant win but you can be favoured in others, seek these favourable spaces out.

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