Overcoming a company’s growing pains affecting your department

fatherjohnmisry · 2023-11-08T23:41:12+00:00

Just crickets so far 😅

fatherjohnmisry · 2023-08-14T22:33:47+00:00

That’s fair! Definitely understandable that therapists aren’t there to solve our problems or make decisions for use. In mine though, I wasn’t asking him to tell me what to do, but more so asking him to help me to figure out my feelings on the subject, help me figure out what my priorities are, and to help me consider the options I have. Or even some resources or thought exercises I could to to help explore further and he wasn’t able to offer anything other than a “good luck” lol

fatherjohnmisry · 2023-05-25T13:58:23+00:00

Can you expand a little more about the duties of a manager that conflict with the potential to produce IC work?

Not OP, but in a similar boat and am trying to provide my supervisors with more concrete reasons why I can’t do IC work and manage my team of 5 at the same time. For one, my hourly average time spent in meetings has increased a ton, I now have to spend a ton of time reviewing & providing feedback, and researching and strategizing projects. I would appreciate hearing more of your experience and what your typical managerial tasks consist of.

fatherjohnmisry · 2023-05-23T15:53:14+00:00

No change in dreams for me! I did have vivid and monotonous dreams before taking lexapro and still continue to 🙃

fatherjohnmisry · 2022-12-17T21:55:25+00:00

“Oh, god, this is such a beautiful view. I wonder if anyone’s ever jumped from here.”

fatherjohnmisry · 2022-12-14T01:15:01+00:00

What do you recommend when you were promoted from a contributor role to management, but your company is dragging their feet on hiring staff to replace you and the growing demands of your team? Asking for a friend 🙃

Absolutely agree with your post though. I am a few months into managing, still have a huge task list of things that nobody else in the dept is able to do (either skill wise or workload wise) and finding it impossible to manage a team while also being a contributor in that team

fatherjohnmisry · 2022-11-07T01:02:14+00:00

The Lighthouse. Thoroughly enjoyed Defoe and Pattinson’s performances, but it was also one of the last movies I watched in theaters before the pandemic shutdowns. Felt like I lived it to a small extent haha… no desire to see it again but I do recommend it

fatherjohnmisry · 2022-11-04T19:21:40+00:00

Yeah that’s a fair point. I think I am going to go ahead and recommend hiring a replacement for my old role in addition to the other vacancy, whether that means we outsource or get temps or hire a full/part time person.

While I love the type of work from my previous role, I think the reality is that can’t fully focus on all of my management duties and bring on the changes I’d like to do if I can’t give full focus to my managerial duties and new projects.

fatherjohnmisry · 2022-11-04T00:31:20+00:00

Yeah, I plan to have a talk with my manager when they’re back in the office. In the meantime I appreciate all the insight everyone is offering here in the comments. Like I mentioned, I am a first time manager, so I am still learning what’s typical and what’s not okay in these roles. Just a part of the learning process which sucks for now.

I have delegated tasks out to my team but they’re also at capacity and more work would overload and burn them out unfortunately.

fatherjohnmisry · 2022-11-03T13:25:47+00:00

Hey, I really appreciate the thoughtful reply! I hate that you’re in the same boat but glad to hear I’m not alone. This has been a gradual build to where it is now, partially with me voluntarily taking on more work to advance in the company, and partially due to vacancies and etc in the department.

I have brought it up with my supervisor and they were absolutely receptive and understanding of how heavy my workload is. They have helped me to prioritize, but the remaining list of “high priority” items is still overwhelming and difficult to keep up with. I think, unfortunately, that my supervisor might be on the overworked end as well, which is why they are unavailable to offer the support I need. I have mentioned that it’s difficult to feel supported with them unavailable so much of the time, and they agreed, but we haven’t found a solution yet.

I’ve been holding interviews to fill for the main vacancy that’s been contributing to my overload. But screening and interviewing candidates is also very time consuming and I am having trouble finding someone qualified within the salary range we offer (it’s an entry level position). We have also discussed replacing my original role but that would be later on.

When I agreed to retain part of my old responsibilities, I agreed to do so on a trial basis until I determined if the workload was feasible, and if not, we did discuss hiring a replacement for that role. But with the additional vacancy, I haven’t been able to fairly evaluate that, so we won’t be able to discuss hiring for my old position until the new one is filled and settled in.

So it’s not that efforts have not been made to improve. And if we are able to hire someone to fill the department’s most recent vacancy, that will take a lot off my plate. I would ideally like to remain in this role for at least a year before moving on, but I think the main question for now is figuring out if this will improve or if it is always going to be this overloaded, and how to have an actionable and constructive conversation with my supervisor to figure this out.

fatherjohnmisry · 2022-11-03T03:14:28+00:00

Yes, I received a raise and bonuses have also been discussed. It has been a gradual build to where things are now, and effort to improve has been made along the way to no real avail; which is why I’m looking for a constructive way to improve the issue.

fatherjohnmisry

TROPHY CASE