This Business and Moment...

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Soldato
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13 Nov 2014
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Sorry about your situation - what was the motivation for leaving your old role? Did the new role/job offer seem to offer you more than you were expecting?
Yes the role promised to move more into consultancy for engineering data management solutions, but it's actually turned out to be non-stop training. My diary for the next few months has been filled with courses to teach software I didn't agree to specialise in.

And another new start arrived 2 weeks after myself, with more experience in EDMS than I which leaves me feeling I will be sidelined for it in favour of him. He already has a shadowing day booked in his diary for a consultancy project kick off.
 
Caporegime
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Your post reminds me, I think it's really important to remember that any new responsibilities taken on need to work towards an end-goal that you as an employee are happy with, as well as actually being a progression.

It might feel good to be asked to train people on a product that you know, but do you want to be a trainer? Is the time spent training people going to be time that could have been spent advancing your skills in areas that you feel are most relevant? I understand it's a two-way street and you won't get far in a job saying "no" all the time, but if you aren't interested in a career that involves giving training then there is little to no advantage to yourself to be gained from agreeing to fulfil that role. Unfortunately it's easy to not realise this until you've agreed to it all under the premise of wanting to be helpful.

My go-to answer when I'm asked about delivering training to people is that I am not a trainer, do not feel confident in my abilities to deliver a planned course, but am more than happy to be a go-to contact on certain technologies and assist where possible, as well as remaining committed to internal documentation. That tends to get exactly the right message across, which is "no I am not going to be a cheap replacement for getting your staff on accredited courses with actual certs at the end of it" but isn't confrontational and doesn't put me in the position of being uncooperative.
 

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D3K

Soldato
Joined
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I absolutely agree with all of that. Unfortunately I've already refused a couple of things to the point where I feel I've played all of the cards I can while still in probation. Any further refusals would likely see me out the door with a week's notice.

I am advised that this is just temporary as they lost a key member of staff during my transition from the old job, but I've heard it all before. That key member's workload is still going to exist beyond the 2 new recruits induction phases.
 
Caporegime
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If it's only temporary then they will have no issue with putting that part in writing and scheduling you a meeting in a month/6 weeks when they should have this new hire in place.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2008
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6,769
I started a new job about 7 weeks back, and I've moved into a much more challenging and potentially more rewarding role.

HOWEVER the person doing this role before me, who left before I started, needs a good smack upside the head. I work in Finance, specialising in technical insurance balances... some of the calculations can be quite complex, but generally if I can find somebodys old files I can work out how they got to their numbers. Well, I should say that I've been able to do that in every role previously, however the person I've replaced has the extremely frustrating habit of hard keying numbers with absolutely no back up for them.

I'm trying to justify a movement of £250k, I can see how he arrived at the number in July, and then it stays the same until November... where its just hardcoded, with no back up as to why. I want to find his head and squeeze it until he screams!
 
Soldato
OP
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France, Alsace
Positive news that we have this VP of Sales ready to join us. More good news, we spoke to Michael Horn, a heavyweight education guy and forbes columnist and he really loves what we do. We are just going through the solution review committee with arizona state university and signing contracts (it'll be our first sale, and fantastic one!)
We just need to get them to pay us so we can pay the VP!! Then close Columbia university and UVU which should help too.

To add more stress to my life I'm also now looking for a cofounder for uSpeek a design/ product that me and my son have been starting. Looking for someone with an electrical engineering background, with connectivity experience in wifi/ bluetooth.

My day job has been properly busy at the moment too, which is really annoying when trying to do my own things :p
 
Soldato
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We've just had an RFP approved for North Carolina University, which has over 19 campuses and 225k students, where they pre approve software to use across the lot.
Looks like I've got to go to North Carolina on 18th April. Which means it's the weekend my wife was supposed to be away with friends.
I'm going to get such abuse for this... the weekend I arrive back I go skiing with the guys too.

I'm going to get killed.
 
Soldato
Joined
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Bath
I have a phone interview (direct not via agency) tomorrow morning for a job that could see me earning about 50% more than I currently do. I am currently in hospital with my gf waiting for a baby to come out. This could make for an interesting interview
 
Soldato
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Needing to raise some funds for emotuit to pay for our VP of sales, which is becoming a bit more pressing now. I am in conversations about ~$50k angel money, which would help.
We have about $18k we'll bring in on a contract we're about to sign, which will also help, then hopefully we can drive some bigger sales and I can get on with the rest of business.

In the meantime I've launched uSpeek with my son and an electrical engineer we recruited online. Sort of p2p comms device for when skiing/ cycling.

Also, 8Percent Apparel is being setup with a couple of mates. Cycling gear; tops, bib shorts, socks, etc. at decent prices.

Got the Mrs hashing out some market research on her subscription baking box idea uBake box, see what price point, interest and market there is around the idea.
 
Soldato
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Something better work soon as I've just heard there is another restructuring due to happen and I fear my time is up (last contractor left on the team!)

I hope not, it would mean I need to go out and get another bloody contract, which is somewhat annoying.
 
Soldato
Joined
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Location
KT8
Summary - employee under-performing, but I know he can sort it out and do well.

Not a good day at work yesterday. The guy working for me - my best mate - is having a really tough time of it in the office. He's very much a confidence guy; when things are going well he's a great employee, when they're not he really struggles. Once he gets the hang of things and knows what he's talking about then he's very comfortable in a role, however if he doesn't fully understand what he's doing/talking about then he totally loses composure. His last position before joining was pretty simple - he had a framework of about 10 questions to run through with his clients and about 20 actions to undertake when completing paperwork, etc. With his current role here it's going to take a good 2 years of hard work to become completely competent and autonomous in the position.

He comes from a relatively wealthy family, and while he's absolutely not bothered or interested in his family wealth (always had to have weekend jobs as a kid and never expects or asks for anything from his parents), he also doesn't have a fantastic grip on money and how it works. A while ago I asked him where he thought the money to employ him came from? He genuinely didn't have a proper clue and hadn't even considered it actually came from my own back pocket. I did this to make him properly realise quite how much I wanted this whole thing to work out and that he was aware of the investment in him. He's a character who'll endeavour not to let anyone down and will always work hard. I made it clear that the company is in a very healthy place in terms of cash, assets and liquidity, and that he shouldn't have any concerns about this.

In hindsight it was probably a terribly thing to bring up, but at the time I wanted him to realise that I properly backed him, that I'd essentially written off the cost of his employment and had faith in it working out. He instead started feeling the pressure and burden of the cost - it's totally understandable that he'd look at it this way, and unfortunately he and I regard such issues in completely different lights. He sees it as a pressure, whereas I see it as a challenge to hit.

He voluntarily offered to take a salary cut and give up his commission share until his financial contribution to the firm improved. I protested and indicated that it wasn't necessary at all, but he made a valid point that by shouldering less cost he'll feel under less pressure and will then be able to focus and perform better. I agreed - I'm side-pocketing the difference in salary and will pass this back on to him when things pick up, so he won't actually miss out on anything cash. The actually salary level isn't really a concern for him - he just sold his flat and will probably never have to worry about his immediate finances for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately since this happened a couple of weeks ago it's all be downhill. His performance is tanking and he's on a bizarre downward spiral. As mentioned previously, being a confidence type of person, he very quickly picked up the basics of this role and progressed to a decent level at rapid speed. However he then developed this "I know what I'm doing" attitude whereby he would listen to advice and training from me but then completely ignore it, and instead apply his understanding of the basics to more complicated situations... and his work has massively suffered. He knows what's going on and we speak about it daily, but having achieved confidence in a low level of the role he's now lacking the confidence to develop further. This fist part of his training is to pick up standard and relatively straight forward themes. The second part of the training is to start thinking for yourself - it's not easy, but it's a system whereby you learn from your mistakes. Unfortunately he's making the same mistakes over and over without learning anything at all - the odd thing is that he knows he's making the mistake but lacks the confidence to try a new approach. I've literally tried everything I can think of to advise, guide and show him how to develop to confidence, but nothing seems to be working.

Also, his personal admin is a complete mess. I've talked and guided him through how to structure his affairs in a really basic but effective manner... and he completely ignores this, with pieces of scribbled-on paper littering his desk, etc. When I question him about what he's got going in this day, or what's the situation with that client, etc. he struggles to answer fully as he has nothing proper to refer to. Unfortunately his mental organisation is a mess too, being negatively impact by the pressure he feels under, and isn't being supported by his own personal admin. His concentration is non-existent and he works hard in a robotic way without applying thought and analysis to what he's doing.

Yesterday we were meant to be going to meet with one of the largest private equity firms in the world. He'd spent four months trying to get this meeting and, if it went well, we were potentially looking at half of his annual targets being generating through this one client. When I arrived yesterday morning he had done zero work on the meeting prep whatsoever - didn't know the backgrounds of the people working there, had an incorrect understanding of the fund's focus and strategy, didn't know who the necessary people in their London office were, didn't have a pitch sorted out, when I questioned him he couldn't answer basic questions about his own experience, etc. He then spent the next couple of hours putting together all the necessary notes under my guidance - btw this is stuff he learned in his second week in the role. Upon arrival it turned out that he's not actually looked at their website for their correct address, and had instead found their old address off an outdated database. Suffice to say, they weren't very impressed when we turned up on the other side of town at their old office. We'll not be given the chance to meet with them again.

:(

The issue is, having known him for almost 25 years, I fully know he can push on and do really well. He's got a fantastic work ethic and is totally honest, but trying to get him to think for himself and get organised is going to be his biggest hurdle.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2008
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6,769
Christ that's a tough one. From reading what you've wrote it seems you've done your best to be very understanding and supportive.

Would I be correct in saying that it is just you and he in the firm to speak? With him doing most of the, and please excuse how I phrase this, grunt work and you doing the higher level sales / pitching work.

The issue may be that there is nobody around a similar level for him to learn from, you're obviously much more experienced / knowledgeable in the field, and your coaching and development might be pitched at a level he has not reached yet, and as such could be demoralising as he may doubt his ability to reach your level.
 
Soldato
OP
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France, Alsace
****, that's a tough one. I can't help, from reading that, that it sounds like you're letting your personal relationship cloud your judgement on his work. By that I mean, if you hadn't known him this long, would he still even be there?
You know people have potential, but the effort of trying to get them to that level, when all efforts so far have not worked out, is all at your businesses cost at the moment.

I'd have to start issuing performance warnings officially, but from the sounds of his personality, that would not be beneficial to anyone.

Really tough one, but you really have to look out for your business at the end of the day and with so few employees, the cost to your business is felt even more and you can't afford to be carrying someone who isn't contributing and growing the business.
 
Soldato
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Christ that's a tough one. From reading what you've wrote it seems you've done your best to be very understanding and supportive.

Would I be correct in saying that it is just you and he in the firm to speak? With him doing most of the, and please excuse how I phrase this, grunt work and you doing the higher level sales / pitching work.

The issue may be that there is nobody around a similar level for him to learn from, you're obviously much more experienced / knowledgeable in the field, and your coaching and development might be pitched at a level he has not reached yet, and as such could be demoralising as he may doubt his ability to reach your level.

Yep, just the two of us in the office. As opposed to wanting to turn this into a world dominating company, our plan is to develop a lucrative platform that we can mould around our lives - the profit to revenue ratio can be ok in slow times, but excellent in good times. So the idea is to not let the company guide our lives, but instead work in a flexible and sensible manner whilst not being overly burdened by work. This was always the plan when he joined the firm, and he knew it was going to be a lengthy and tough spell in order to get up to the required level. I've trained various people over the last decade and have always indicated that it will take 2 years of hard work to get good at the job. When people realise quite how hard the work is (not the shortest hours, but not too long either, but always being on call for clients, always being available to speak and being switched on and focused 100% of the time - there's no coasting allowed) they sometimes give up before they've begun. That's fine, it's not for everyone.

There are 4 stages to this. 1 is to get the basic, 2 is to start thinking for yourself, 3 is to develop a detailed understanding of the market and 4 is combining everything. 6 months on each, but also being required to contribute revenue from 3 months in. The rest you learn, and learn from any and all sources available. My colleague has completed stage 1, seemingly picked up a bit of stage 3 and is now trying to master stage 4, despite not having attempted stage 2!

Being honest he's mainly responsible for his own sales and pitching work. I've already got a decent and longstanding client base, and therefore don't need to break my back in winning loads of new clients - plus it would detract from servicing my main clients sufficiently. He can do this high level stuff relatively well, and can speak with clients on a comparatively sensible level.

With my colleague, I actually trained him up on the more difficult stuff initially - client work - and figured that if he could master this side of things, then he'd be able to quite rapidly pick up the rest of it. He's now confident - relatively confident at least - about the client work, but he's just struggling with the other side of it.

Your last point is likely to be entirely valid - I've tried to alter how I communicate and interact with him, but his lack of focus and organisation has basically undermined his chances of progressing.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
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KT8
****, that's a tough one. I can't help, from reading that, that it sounds like you're letting your personal relationship cloud your judgement on his work. By that I mean, if you hadn't known him this long, would he still even be there?
You know people have potential, but the effort of trying to get them to that level, when all efforts so far have not worked out, is all at your businesses cost at the moment.

I'd have to start issuing performance warnings officially, but from the sounds of his personality, that would not be beneficial to anyone.

Really tough one, but you really have to look out for your business at the end of the day and with so few employees, the cost to your business is felt even more and you can't afford to be carrying someone who isn't contributing and growing the business.

It's an interesting one. He had a great first three months, then has had a rubbish second three months. The second three months is when he should begin to start contributing revenue. That said, he's going a couple of promising client processes going on which could massively swing things in his favour if they all drop in. There's a huge dollop of luck and timing involved in what we do that, particularly early in your career, you can achieve excellent results from poor work/work ethic but can equally work hard and realise little - both down to luck and timing.

A larger company would have the option to carry an under-performing employee with potential for significantly longer than a small company could. But at the same time, he's been pushing into an entirely new area of the market for us and is adding intrinsic, albeit not immediately remunerative, value to the firm. He has no intention of giving up - which is admirable seeing as he's struggling right now - and therefore I'm not going to cut him loose either but we're entering a slow part of the year and we've both got incredible busy social commitments blighting our diaries (holidays, weddings, stag dos, etc.). I suppose my mood and attitude is more bearish as my entire revenue pipeline - enough to hit my quarterly targets - evaporated in the space of 24 hours last week! I suppose we'll just see how it unfolds.

Thanks for both your suggestions :)
 
Underboss
Joined
23 Oct 2013
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Guildford
Got my managers interview tomorrow, 1st of 3 applications that have got to the interview stage.

All 3 have passed the sift test, the application review process and feedback - just waiting for more interviews now.

I don't really want the job I am interviewing for tomorrow, but the interview experience for a manager role will help with the next 2, both of which I want.

Fingers crossed though if they offer it I'd be mad not to accept, an extra £5k a year will do nicely.

Well I got offered the job at around 8 this morning. Wasn't expecting it tbh, my interview went well but I stumbled a few times. Got some good solid feedback but after I heard that 2 of the other 4 people interviewing already worked in that office I didn't rate my chances.

But, I will now be on the first rung of the management pole, gone from the top of a huge tree to the very bottom of an even bigger tree, but payrise and more responsibility should help me to keep going.

Time to find some smart office attire, can't cut about in jeans, hoody and trainers anymore.
 
Underboss
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Yeah you got that right.

I have some nice Oxford Brogues, but need a couple of suits and some shirts to go with it.

Will have a browse on M&S at lunchtime. The last suit I bought was 10 years ago for my wedding, still fits but looks a little threadbare now.
 
Caporegime
Joined
1 Nov 2003
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35,691
Location
Lisbon, Portugal
So after recently visiting Singapore we are seriously looking at picking up 1 year contracts at the start of 2017 to cash in and fund more travelling!

It's a rare place which can offer great work for both SWMBO and I.

Do you think it's wise to start connecting with recruiting agents now on LinkedIN to begin building for when the time comes?
 
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