I learned very quickly when giving suggestions about how to fix things to shut up before I talked myself into the job of being responsible for fixing them.
I also used Schrodinger's objectives to prevent promotions from happening.
In my employee objectives, which were on file with HR, I explicitly put "I do not want to be promoted to team leadership or management" as my annual goal. Therefore, if a manager tried to promote me, it would mean I failed in my goal. The failure of an objective like that automatically blocked any promotion attempt. If it was challenged, HR would have to review it, and they could override it if they felt it was justified. But since my desire was clearly documented, and one of the CEO's statements at the annual general meeting had been "we don't promote people who don't want to be", that mean if they did, I could take it to the CEO and then *they* would have to justify it to him.
Once, at a team lunch, a team lead in another group asked me project questions, which I answered. I then explained the interactions between the subsystems so well that two of the other leaders then said, "you know, after your explanation, I think you need to worry about them offering you a new job".
I said that wasn't a problem, and explained how I'd set up my Schrodinger's objectives.
Every group lead at the table said the same thing. "I had not thought of doing that".
One co-worker was promoted to group lead against her explicit wishes. The manager said that she "didn't make it clear" that she didn't want the position, even though she'd been very clear, just not in writing.
When I said she should have made it a personal objective, she said "You can do that?".
Before you can defeat your competition, you must first learn how to defeat your own company processes.
There's always the door…or the window. You choose: 🚪||🪟
I learned very quickly when giving suggestions about how to fix things to shut up before I talked myself into the job of being responsible for fixing them.
I also used Schrodinger's objectives to prevent promotions from happening.
In my employee objectives, which were on file with HR, I explicitly put "I do not want to be promoted to team leadership or management" as my annual goal. Therefore, if a manager tried to promote me, it would mean I failed in my goal. The failure of an objective like that automatically blocked any promotion attempt. If it was challenged, HR would have to review it, and they could override it if they felt it was justified. But since my desire was clearly documented, and one of the CEO's statements at the annual general meeting had been "we don't promote people who don't want to be", that mean if they did, I could take it to the CEO and then *they* would have to justify it to him.
Once, at a team lunch, a team lead in another group asked me project questions, which I answered. I then explained the interactions between the subsystems so well that two of the other leaders then said, "you know, after your explanation, I think you need to worry about them offering you a new job".
I said that wasn't a problem, and explained how I'd set up my Schrodinger's objectives.
Every group lead at the table said the same thing. "I had not thought of doing that".
One co-worker was promoted to group lead against her explicit wishes. The manager said that she "didn't make it clear" that she didn't want the position, even though she'd been very clear, just not in writing.
When I said she should have made it a personal objective, she said "You can do that?".
Before you can defeat your competition, you must first learn how to defeat your own company processes.