When I first started out in the world of work, managers and directors were a distant and remote set of individuals. The less I saw of them, the more mythological features they took on. In my mind, they became strangely robotic creatures, who were able to manage teams of people and make difficult decisions without ever showing the slightest flicker of emotion. Don’t get me wrong: I had good managers, who took plenty of time to guide me and spend time on my development. But it never felt like they were truly human.
Month: May 2017
It’s a phrase which, as you read this post, is being uttered in tens of thousands of offices the world over:
“I’m busy.”
Or, perhaps:
“I’m too busy.”
Or, if we really want to make the point:
“I’m really busy.”
Having just spent the weekend with my children, I have been left in no uncertain doubt as to their views on the fairness (or otherwise) of the way that I treat them. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday I have been subject to a continuous stream of “It’s not fair.” Whether it’s the amount of cornflakes in their bowl of cereal, or the level of water they have left in their glass, or the fact that one of them has the exact piece of Lego the other one wanted at that moment in time.
I’ve blogged before about my frustrations with recruitment. Recruitment, at times, can seem like something of a dark art. You post a job advert which elicits a huge response and end up finding your perfect candidate. You post the same advert just one month later, get merely a handful of responses and are left with the Hobson’s choice of recruiting a seriously sub-standard candidate, or recruiting no one at all.