Month: July 2008

On New Brooms

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So the classic perception is that the new boss can–and will–make sweeping changes to an organization and staffing.

I can’t say this is very wrong.

I happen to be fortunate that my new staff is excellent, but there aren’t enough of them. And the systems? Well, let’s just say that we need to tweak them a bit, but I have a great foundation on which to work.

But I was having a conversation this morning with my senior network engineer, and we made the observation that I have about 6 months until I won’t be able to easily make big changes. So I need to move fairly quickly.

I plan to take the following steps:

  1. Assess
  2. Propose
  3. Execute

I’m almost done with step 1 now, and I hope to do step 2 next week. One thing I plan to do a bit differently, however, is that I will first get feedback from my staff on the proposal. After all, they already know the systems and players.

On Being a New IT Director

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I started a new job on Monday, and I sent this email to my new geeks:

Here’s the deal with this email: I want to set up individual meetings with you, but I also want to give each of you the opportunity to email me the answers to some of the questions first, so we don’t have to take up too much of your time at the meeting itself. It looks like my calendar is up to date with all two of my appointments, so please schedule a meeting with me for 30 minutes to 2 hours–whatever amount of time you’d like to have to chat, ask and answer questions, etc.

Here are questions (for the first eight or so, it might especially be useful for me to have your emailed response. Otherwise, I’m perfectly fine with just chatting about the rest.):

  1. What are your scheduled hours, and what hours do you actually usually work?
  2. Do you carry some sort of device with which you check your email evenings and weekends?
  3. When is your birthday (month/date)?
  4. What is your favorite cake from Rosie’s? (or let me know if you can’t/don’t eat sugar)
  5. What is your favorite caffeinated beverage?
  6. What is your favorite alcoholic type of beverage? (or let me know if you don’t drink)
  7. What’s the best bribe a boss has ever given you? Nothing illegal, please. Please note that the use of the word “bribe” is used in a joking manner in the first sentence of #7.
  8. Does it bother you to have someone (that would be me) swing by your office periodically during the day to make sure you’re still breathing and that your head hasn’t exploded?
  9. Did you understand my sense of humor in the previous two questions, or am I just overly tired?
  10. What does your typical day look like with regard to your tasks, duties, and stress level?
  11. What are your assigned responsibilities?
  12. What extra responsibilities have you undertaken?
  13. Is there anything that you really should be doing but simply cannot get to due to staffing, time, burnout, etc.?
  14. What are your current projects?
  15. What does your to-do list look like?
  16. What do you want your current job to look like (yes, in a perfect world)?
  17. What do you want to be when you grow up?
  18. What do you see as the next step in your career?
  19. What changes would you like to see in the IT Department in the next year?
  20. What do you definitely NOT want to have changed in the IT Department?
  21. What would you like the IT Department to look like in 5 years?
  22. What kind of boss would you like me to be?

Any questions? I’m happy to answer the first few if you’d like…

Jenn

On Honesty and Perception (and Humor. Oh, my!)

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Last night, on my way out of class, my prof told me to enjoy my new purchases (I’m starting a new job Monday and needed a bit of wardrobe refreshment). I replied, “Thanks. Now I just have to hide the receipt for the shoes from my husband.”

Her reply was, “Because of the principled leader that you are, of course.”

Now, my MBA program* has this tagline: Educating Women for Power and Principled Leadership. I’ve done my best, through electives, to really emphasize the leadership piece of mine–effectively concentrating in “principled leadership”. I also mention in a few of my posts (like that one On Honesty) that I hold myself and my staff to high standards of principled behavior.

And my husband already knew that I had spent a ridiculously huge amount on this pair of shoes–I called him right after I bought them.

I found myself thinking, “Does she really think that I wouldn’t tell my husband how much I spent on a pair of shoes?” (This coupled with the thought of, “Well, this time is at least better than when I bought that pair of $460 Dior sandals but thought they were $160 until I got the credit card slip thanks to messy handwriting on the label…”)

I think I can take a lesson from this: be careful with my jokes! I know that, at core, I’m a very honest person who would never hide the cost of shoes from her husband, but have I ever made that clear to my prof? Probably not–the class has 40 people in it, and I love cracking jokes and making controversial statements.

How people might perceive me is directly related to what I say. I think I might try to be more cognizant of that in the future.

*With which I’m almost done–one more class, nothing left to turn in! Woohoo! Ahem. That last paper ate last week, hence the blog hiatus…