Work The Idiots In Charge

[Blue in Munich]

Friend of mine used to have a saying about certain people :
" He's been promoted to the peak of his inefficiency".

The variation on that in my old firm was "Do you want to talk to someone of rank, or someone that knows what they are talking about?"

 

[Rooter]

In my experience those who think they know better than management aren’t ambitious and lack the ability to see how any given circumstance extends beyond their minuscule view.

LOL

Thats it, I have deleted 3 responses already I typed out. Will leave it as LOL.

 

[SocketRocket]

I've worked for some right idiots over the years. One in particular wanted us to rearrange the used car forecourt.
"Normally" we'd have all the cars of a same type grouped together. Say it was Ford, you'd have all the Ka's next to each other, followed by the Fiesta's, then the Focus's etc. so they went up in ascending size and if you had any "odd" makes they'd be grouped together at the end. It made life easy for us because A) We knew where to head if somebody was looking for a particular model, B) If somebody walked onto the forecourt and headed for the Ka's or Fiesta's you could normally assume they were looking for a small car. Half the job done before you've even spoken to them and C) The forecourt was easy to keep looking good because it was simple to keep them all lined up and looking smart.
This particular manager decided that he wanted the forecourt done in price ascending order. Start with the cheapest (didn't matter what model it was) and work your way along the line to the most expensive. This led to the site looking a right mess because you had cars of differing sizes all over the place, and customers walking around the forecourt like drunken ants. And if you sold a car in the middle say for £10,995.00 and replaced it with another car for £6,995.00 you then had to move all of the forecourt around to accommodate it.
Despite mine, and others, protestations he wasn't going to budge on his decision.
Two weeks later he was gone and the forecourt went back the way it was.
Plank.

Genuine question. Why do you open the boots and put balloons on the cars?

 

[SocketRocket]

In my experience those who think they know better than management aren’t ambitious and lack the ability to see how any given circumstance extends beyond their minuscule view.

Please clarify why anyone thinking management knows better than them are ambitious and have the ability to see how any given circumstance extends beyond their view, miniscule or otherwise?

I have to admit to be struggling with your logic.

 

[GreiginFife]

In my experience those who think they know better than management aren’t ambitious and lack the ability to see how any given circumstance extends beyond their minuscule view.

In my experience its usually management that have reached the limit of their ambition (and often ability) and the poor decisions are as a result of them failing to see how anything can possibly extend beyond their immediate department/remit.
Not limited to managers either. Sales Directors that make decisions that impact Ops directors without due consideration, simply because of their myopic view of the business. Normally resulting in operational chaos that they end up bringing in a specialist such as myself and just adding to the cost of an already expensive clusterfcuk.

Still, its kept me in work for the last 20 years.

 

[Smiffy]

Genuine question. Why do you open the boots and put balloons on the cars?

Errrr. The garage that I am currently with don't. But others I have worked for did. The idea behind the "open boots" is that you are basically letting people know you are open for business. The same, I guess, as some shops putting baskets of items out on the pavement. Remember how Ronnie Barker used to put everything away into the shop at the end of every episode of "Open all hours"?? Sounds silly, I know. But some things are!
The balloons? The only time any company I have ever worked for has put balloons on cars are when we are promoting something. A sale, a special launch event, that sort of thing. Just drawing attention to the fact that something "special" is going on.
I appreciate that some dealers might use balloons all the time. I'm glad I've never worked for such "bomb site" companies.

 

[Smiffy]

In my experience those who think they know better than management aren’t ambitious and lack the ability to see how any given circumstance extends beyond their minuscule view.

In my experience......
1) A very good salesman will earn more than their sales manager.
2) A salesman gets most of his grief from above. A sales manager gets grief from every angle.
3) A salesman who is very good at his job has more job security than a sales manager who isn't. I've seen many sales managers fired. I've not yet seen a very good salesman let go.

Lack of ambition? Nope.
Common sense? Yep. In spades.

 

[grumpyjock]

Genuine question. Why do you open the boots and put balloons on the cars?

So the cars dont put to much weight on the tyre and make them flat.

 

[grumpyjock]

Managers have mostly reached their pinnacle of ability and are moved sideways so that someone with the ability to do the job can be employed.
Those that can do the job, do the job. Those that cant are managers. IMOO.

 

[rudebhoy]

I spent 30-odd years in IT. The number of really good dedicated techies who got promoted to management roles they were hopeless at was depressing. A total waste of their skills, but it was the only way to get a decent pay rise.

 

[NearHull]

I spent 30-odd years in IT. The number of really good dedicated techies who got promoted to management roles they were hopeless at was depressing. A total waste of their skills, but it was the only way to get a decent pay rise.

I worked hard to get one of my best technicians promoted into a junior management role. He wasn’t good at it and didn’t enjoy the job. Left after a couple of years. My fault that he left - the job didn’t allow him to slip back into a technical role. I’ve always regretted it.

 

[Foxholer]

I spent 30-odd years in IT. The number of really good dedicated techies who got promoted to management roles they were hopeless at was depressing. A total waste of their skills, but it was the only way to get a decent pay rise.

I can certainly vouch for that!
Also a 35yr plus IT Developer ('techie') that became a Contractor because that was the 'salary progression' route that didn't require getting into 'management'. Wife (now ex), with better 'people skills'/more tolerance, opted for another route (Project Management) and has excelled in that.

 

[Neilds]

Similar in the RAF. I joined as an aircraft technician and the only way to stay in for a career is to get promoted. The more promotions the less time on aircraft and more paperwork, shift lists, counselling, report writing, etc. I haven’t turned a spanner on an aircraft for about 15 years!

 

[SocketRocket]

A lot of generalisations here. To be a good Manager you need to be educated in the task IMO, it's difficult for someone to be shifted from a technical role into a position where they have to manage business and people with no proper understanding of what the task requires.

 

[NearHull]

Similar in the RAF. I joined as an aircraft technician and the only way to stay in for a career is to get promoted. The more promotions the less time on aircraft and more paperwork, shift lists, counselling, report writing, etc. I haven’t turned a spanner on an aircraft for about 15 years!

I did exactly that. But whenever I started bemoaning the fact that I’m faced with even more assessments to write, I’d remind myself of those cold and wet November night shifts, about 0200, crouching underneath an aircraft trying to get that last nut started. Then the computer screen started to feel much nicer. ?

 

[PJ87]

A lot of generalisations here. To be a good Manager you need to be educated in the task IMO, it's difficult for someone to be shifted from a technical role into a position where they have to manage business and people with no proper understanding of what the task requires.

That's why some of the best managers are ex apprentices.

Start at the bottom. Learn the roles but trained to be mini managers long term

33 of us in "management" role, 3rd ex apprentices 3rd ex forces 3rd general promotions

 

[NearHull]

That's why some of the best managers are ex apprentices.

Start at the bottom. Learn the roles but trained to be mini managers long term

33 of us in "management" role, 3rd ex apprentices 3rd ex forces 3rd general promotions

I was an apprentice, I am ex forces but never got promoted to General. ??

 

[Wolf]

Similar in the RAF. I joined as an aircraft technician and the only way to stay in for a career is to get promoted. The more promotions the less time on aircraft and more paperwork, shift lists, counselling, report writing, etc. I haven’t turned a spanner on an aircraft for about 15 years!

Reminds me of why I left the forces, as promotion came I got to spend less time in the field doing what I enjoyed the most. As time went in I spent more time training people to do a job I was better at than them, eventually made me leave as seeing them going out in the field doing what I loved and was good at whilst I became more of a REMF just controlling from a distance or via a debrief was quite disheartening.

Now I've ended up in a training role with the RAF it's not quite so bad as its not relating to proper field work, but still the itch is there to don some MTP, strap a rifle on and go out on recce ops. Man getting older sucks ?

 

[Neilds]

Reminds me of why I left the forces, as promotion came I got to spend less time in the field doing what I enjoyed the most. As time went in I spent more time training people to do a job I was better at than them, eventually made me leave as seeing them going out in the field doing what I loved and was good at whilst I became more of a REMF just controlling from a distance or via a debrief was quite disheartening.

Now I've ended up in a training role with the RAF it's not quite so bad as its not relating to proper field work, but still the itch is there to don some MTP, strap a rifle on and go out on recce ops. Man getting older sucks ?

Never understood the fascination with lying in a wet hole in the countryside- give me a nice hotel on detachment any time ???

 

[IanM]

I found a solution after 20 ish years of doing the corporate thing.

Went freelance. No corporate BS. Just get on with it. Smile at the wombats if necessary, and hand in a hefty invoice at the end of the month. "You don't want to take my advice? Cool, but when you ask me back in 6 months to fix it, the day rate has gone up!"

Advice to anyone under 30. Forget about roles, and think about acquiring marketable skills in things you enjoy.