Manager Sandwich: The Middle Manager's Survival Blog

from ebonfire.wordpress.com  Recently, I accepted a position with a competitor.  The new position was a step-up in responsibility and pay from my previous employer.  Don't get excited, I am still middle management, just another bloody, sweaty rung higher.  My father would tell the joke, that management was like a tree full of monkeys;  if you look down all you see is smiling faces, when you look up, all you see are a**holes.  Not always 100% true, but true enough I suppose. I now have an opportunity to manage a larger group of co-workers that are comprised of both hourly and salaried employees.  This opportunity allows me an exposure to experiences that I wouldn't  have otherwise.  But there was something that I did four years ago that made it all possible.  My previous job, although not new in responsibility, was in a different facility than that which I had worked in before. Same company, similar job, but a whole dif...

from www.danpink.com I recently finished reading (actually listening) to a book that was recommended by a friend titled "Drive" by Daniel Pink.  This friend of mine recommends many useful and interesting books that I have read diligently, since they always seem to apply to what I am experiencing in my career transition.  This book was no exception.  In my mid-life crisis, I am continually analyzing what I have accomplished in the past twenty years since I have been in the workplace. Twenty years ago this week I started working at the now defunct National Steel Corporation at what now is the US Steel Great Lakes Works.  I was fresh out of engineering school after working a month after graduation finishing up a design project for national competition for the University of Michigan-Dearborn.  I was eager to start making some real money and putting my new engineering degree to the test.  For anyone who has been in a steel mill it is either the loudest, ho...

I can remember the day when I learned I was going to become a father.  It was over seventeen years ago, but it really does seem like just yesterday.  The thought of being responsible for a new life, someone completely dependant upon me was overwhelming.  I remember driving down to the local K-Mart to pick up some house items, walking through the aisles in a daze of confusion.  Something caught my eye, and it brought everything into perspective (yeah, just like that).  A young couple, younger than me, pushing a stroller with a young toddler; meanwhile the young woman was pregnant (and very close to delivering).  They walked through the store like it was any ordinary day.  I knew from watching them for three minutes that I would be able to raise children as well. from www.almightydad.com Life became challenging right away, and hasn't gotten any easier since.  Each step along the way, I kept telling myself that it was going to get easier, but mu...

  Back in the 80's Rodney Dangerfield starred in the movie "Back to School" about a self-made millionaire and entrepenuer that decided to enroll with his freshman son played by Keith Gordon.   The premise is an amusing tale of a successful business man, who never graduated high school, trying to reinvent himself and connect with his frustrated son on the verge of dropping out.  In the real world going back to school is far from easy.  In fact, it is so challenging that many cannot find the motivation to start back into something that was seemingly finished years ago.  The chasm that must be crossed is intimidating.  It is what my father always teaches his students about . . . Reinventing Yourself. Twenty years ago, when I graduated from engineering school, I found a good job, and soon enrolled in a Master's program.  I felt at the time, that if I didn't go back, that I never would.  Four years later, married, with a son, and on...

It does sound catchy doesn't it? Well it's true.  The best ideas can fall flat as a pancake if they aren't channelled through people who can make it happen.  It doesn't matter if you are the committee chair of your department, president of a non-profit organization, or a shift supervisor, if you can't channel your ideas through those you work with, you can't affect change. If you are working with volunteers, then you need their buy-in more than anything.  If you don't have it, nothing happens, if you lean on them, they will just walk-out on you.  The key to making change is translating your concept of the future into a language that others can understand.  Sometimes it is easy enough to explain it to them, but if it is a real change, they will need more definition, they will need to see it.  Put away the overhead projector, I am not talking about a PowerPoint presentation.  For them to see your vision you need to project it with your sincerity. ...