Claiming Authority at Work
A few weeks ago, my blogging friend Full-Grown Single responded to some questions I had about, essentially, how to be a manager:
She writes, “You have a different set of stuff to work through: how to claim your own authority, maybe, and then, how to get other people to want to do what you want.”
She was right.
I have this feeling that I’ll be working through this for a long while, but I have good news: it’s getting better. The first big step came when I hit a new point of resolve, where it was OK if I didn’t stay at my company. I updated my resume, I polished my portfolio and I started looking around. I even applied for a few things. This gave me a feeling of freedom, where I wasn’t as concerned about making my boss happy as I was about making things better.
So first: I did some research online, and I found an employee survey that I tweaked a bit and sent to my department. They could fill it out if they wanted, with or without names. It helped me see how they thought things were going, what they wanted improved, how satisfied they were. I learned one person wants to work different hours (no prob), another really wants to be full-time (possible), another wants more editing, less writing (done). In my mind, I don’t know why they wouldn’t just tell me this anytime, but inviting them to do so really worked. This gave me the opportunity to give them something.
Then I met with my boss. He explained again all the reasons for the salary freeze. Then I told him, especially since we have this freeze, I think we should be getting X, Y & Z, these things being other benefits that wouldn’t relate to money but that would make a big difference. I felt like, what did I have to lose? He was so reasonable, as he has been from the beginning, and he gave me what I wanted.
Result: For the first time in a long time, I feel really good about how things are going. Lessons learned? a little research and willingness to try/ask/invite feedback can make a big difference.
Filed under 9-5, communication |
5 Responses to “Claiming Authority at Work”
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Good job, I am sure those three employees will be much happier as a result of what you did!
Congrats! I just had a conversation with a friend at work about asking for what you want in the office. It’s such a simple concept, but for some reason isn’t so easy to remember!
That’s pretty cool! And your employees will have seen this and though, “She gets things done”. They’ll remember that and look up to you even more in the future because of it, whether it’s about their compensation and general atmosphere at work or it’s about finishing some project when other people are saying it’s futile.
See, you’re figuring it out! Excellent!
Thanks, everyone. Small steps, right?
[...] my employee-survey idea and how it gave me clues as to what my employees were thinking? As a result, I found hard to get [...]