Do not press and do not approve
I could be wrong, but I suppose that these two tips will help you not to step on the rake on which I jumped for several years in a row. Especially if for the majority of those around you are “computer savvy” or, moreover, your work is directly connected with the help of users.
All my good leaders taught me that you should never say anything, even if the answer is obvious to you (white paper, hot in the street, sugar sweet, etc.). Initially, it was hard for me to accept this, especially when the obvious and useful (in my opinion) advice for a person had to be wrapped in such a “wrapper” that it was difficult for someone to understand the original idea.
More or less well, I began to learn this lesson only after colleagues and clients very coolly set me up several times. Then I was lucky, all situations got away with me, but I got a very unpleasant aftertaste, though along with the aftertaste I came to understand the following things:
- a person may initially formulate the question incorrectly (not exactly or not completely), so your advice will help only in some cases, and in part it will not help (and somewhere it will do harm);
- from the moment you gave advice, to the moment of the beginning of its implementation it may take much longer than you expected, and at that moment your answer may turn out to be inaccurate, incomplete or even incorrect;
- your words can randomly or intentionally distort, i.e. follow the advice not exactly or not completely;
- in some cases, the transmission is via a “broken phone”, i.e. a person is interested not for himself, but for someone (I especially often come across a situation where subordinates solve a problem for a leader);
- you could initially misunderstand the essence of the problem or what the person wants to get as a result;
- the purpose of the appeal was to prepare the soil for the "setup" (yes, I also encountered this);
There may be much more situations, but this is not important for us, but the fact that the answer, which should logically be correct, will be wrong and in the best case it will be a waste of time, and in the worst person or company it will be harmed, and applied from your submission. But if you didn’t claim, but said “I suppose”, “I could be wrong, but ...” you still have room for maneuver to indicate that you didn’t say anything, but assumed.
Please note: I do not propose to deliberately mislead people by giving incorrect advice, but only suggest not to burn bridges for myself, so that there is a way to retreat if something goes wrong (including not through your fault).
In most cases, something needs to be done to solve the problem. And if you need to do it, then you need to press (turn, switch, etc.). But should you always do this? If the operation is complex, requiring specific knowledge and its implementation is directly included in your responsibilities, then I assume that you will need to press. And if the ability to perform this operation is part of the employee’s duties, this was one of the requirements when applying for a job, then you also have to do this?
Personally, over the past two weeks I have twice come across the fact that people who, when applying for a job in the resume, indicated “confident PC user” are not able to copy files to a USB flash drive. And you know, with what question did they come to me? No, don’t think that you were asked to teach how to do this. They wanted me to do it! Yes, this is their job and they are paid for it, but since I understand computers better than they (in their opinion), then copying files to a USB flash drive is also my task and it doesn’t matter that this is not my job responsibilities.
The position "I don’t know anything, my hut from the edge" was viewed everywhere and in everything, users ignored all orders, hoping that no matter how hard I was, but as soon as the business processes of an employee, department or company, a general hysteria starts and that’s all it comes down to the fact that now it’s not the one who did not do it earlier (whatever the reason) that’s guilty, but the one who at the moment can solve the problem, but “took a principled position and refuses to help” (by the way, if at that moment busy with something more important for the firm, it’s like that my problem).
And after all, before I constantly came across such provocations and did everything for people, because it seemed to me that somewhere there really was my flaw, I explained something wrong, etc. A month ago, they wrote instructions for moving to a new 1C server, but you didn’t do the whole department? Well, let me do it, under your general nagging about what I'm slowly doing and your sales have stopped. Apparently it was necessary to walk more often and ask you to do it.
And then, not without the help of good people, I gained enlightenment, inner peace and became calm. What are you saying? Does 1C not work? Have you read the instructions for moving to a new server? Well read it! Where to click? And there’s a button. No, I won’t press it myself, it’s your duty. Do not remember the username and password? But go to the general office, you know the cabinet, it will quickly “remind” you.
I do not know if this is good or bad, but the method works. If earlier all the problems could be blamed on me (I didn’t or did it for a long time, I didn’t set it up, it’s just my fault), now most people began to understand that if they had to do something, but decided not to bother, to run away shouting “nothing works” and get the result without straining, then first they will get a stick and public censure from me, then the same thing from my manager to their manager, after which their manager will give a good kick to the department as a whole and the culprit personally , and in the worst case the situation can reach the general. And there, even before a serious punishment, it was not far away.
Again, I draw your attention to the fact that the purpose of the council is not to teach you how to fly away from work, but to protect yourself. Remember, I wrote that people don’t know how to copy files to a USB flash drive? So I left, and the man was left to copy files from the computer to the USB flash drive (to transfer to the laptop), copied, which means he comes to me, says that I can pick up the old PC. I came and asked if everything was copied exactly (after we take the PC from the employee, we clean it and wipe everything so that the other could not restore it), I received an affirmative answer and took it to me. He sat for an hour and a half, sorted things out, once again I called the person, asking if I was clearing everything. Well, yes, he says, I took everything. And after an hour arrives with bulging eyes and hysteria, it appears instead of the customer base on a flash drive a shortcut to it. Do you know who was left to blame? No, not me :) But I could be guilty
PS: the article was written so that people suffer less for their good deeds. Yes, in theory, in each company, people, as they say, row in the same boat, but, unfortunately, in practice, everyone is for himself (less often a pack for a pack). I was on the verge of dismissal two or three times because of my unwillingness to accept the fact that people constantly play undercover games and can talk with you about one thing and your leader, director and owner about something else. Good relations with the owner saved me from being fired, but many did not have such an opportunity, they were fired.
Tip one: “don't affirm”
All my good leaders taught me that you should never say anything, even if the answer is obvious to you (white paper, hot in the street, sugar sweet, etc.). Initially, it was hard for me to accept this, especially when the obvious and useful (in my opinion) advice for a person had to be wrapped in such a “wrapper” that it was difficult for someone to understand the original idea.
More or less well, I began to learn this lesson only after colleagues and clients very coolly set me up several times. Then I was lucky, all situations got away with me, but I got a very unpleasant aftertaste, though along with the aftertaste I came to understand the following things:
- a person may initially formulate the question incorrectly (not exactly or not completely), so your advice will help only in some cases, and in part it will not help (and somewhere it will do harm);
- from the moment you gave advice, to the moment of the beginning of its implementation it may take much longer than you expected, and at that moment your answer may turn out to be inaccurate, incomplete or even incorrect;
- your words can randomly or intentionally distort, i.e. follow the advice not exactly or not completely;
- in some cases, the transmission is via a “broken phone”, i.e. a person is interested not for himself, but for someone (I especially often come across a situation where subordinates solve a problem for a leader);
- you could initially misunderstand the essence of the problem or what the person wants to get as a result;
- the purpose of the appeal was to prepare the soil for the "setup" (yes, I also encountered this);
There may be much more situations, but this is not important for us, but the fact that the answer, which should logically be correct, will be wrong and in the best case it will be a waste of time, and in the worst person or company it will be harmed, and applied from your submission. But if you didn’t claim, but said “I suppose”, “I could be wrong, but ...” you still have room for maneuver to indicate that you didn’t say anything, but assumed.
Please note: I do not propose to deliberately mislead people by giving incorrect advice, but only suggest not to burn bridges for myself, so that there is a way to retreat if something goes wrong (including not through your fault).
Tip two: don't push
In most cases, something needs to be done to solve the problem. And if you need to do it, then you need to press (turn, switch, etc.). But should you always do this? If the operation is complex, requiring specific knowledge and its implementation is directly included in your responsibilities, then I assume that you will need to press. And if the ability to perform this operation is part of the employee’s duties, this was one of the requirements when applying for a job, then you also have to do this?
Personally, over the past two weeks I have twice come across the fact that people who, when applying for a job in the resume, indicated “confident PC user” are not able to copy files to a USB flash drive. And you know, with what question did they come to me? No, don’t think that you were asked to teach how to do this. They wanted me to do it! Yes, this is their job and they are paid for it, but since I understand computers better than they (in their opinion), then copying files to a USB flash drive is also my task and it doesn’t matter that this is not my job responsibilities.
The position "I don’t know anything, my hut from the edge" was viewed everywhere and in everything, users ignored all orders, hoping that no matter how hard I was, but as soon as the business processes of an employee, department or company, a general hysteria starts and that’s all it comes down to the fact that now it’s not the one who did not do it earlier (whatever the reason) that’s guilty, but the one who at the moment can solve the problem, but “took a principled position and refuses to help” (by the way, if at that moment busy with something more important for the firm, it’s like that my problem).
And after all, before I constantly came across such provocations and did everything for people, because it seemed to me that somewhere there really was my flaw, I explained something wrong, etc. A month ago, they wrote instructions for moving to a new 1C server, but you didn’t do the whole department? Well, let me do it, under your general nagging about what I'm slowly doing and your sales have stopped. Apparently it was necessary to walk more often and ask you to do it.
And then, not without the help of good people, I gained enlightenment, inner peace and became calm. What are you saying? Does 1C not work? Have you read the instructions for moving to a new server? Well read it! Where to click? And there’s a button. No, I won’t press it myself, it’s your duty. Do not remember the username and password? But go to the general office, you know the cabinet, it will quickly “remind” you.
I do not know if this is good or bad, but the method works. If earlier all the problems could be blamed on me (I didn’t or did it for a long time, I didn’t set it up, it’s just my fault), now most people began to understand that if they had to do something, but decided not to bother, to run away shouting “nothing works” and get the result without straining, then first they will get a stick and public censure from me, then the same thing from my manager to their manager, after which their manager will give a good kick to the department as a whole and the culprit personally , and in the worst case the situation can reach the general. And there, even before a serious punishment, it was not far away.
Again, I draw your attention to the fact that the purpose of the council is not to teach you how to fly away from work, but to protect yourself. Remember, I wrote that people don’t know how to copy files to a USB flash drive? So I left, and the man was left to copy files from the computer to the USB flash drive (to transfer to the laptop), copied, which means he comes to me, says that I can pick up the old PC. I came and asked if everything was copied exactly (after we take the PC from the employee, we clean it and wipe everything so that the other could not restore it), I received an affirmative answer and took it to me. He sat for an hour and a half, sorted things out, once again I called the person, asking if I was clearing everything. Well, yes, he says, I took everything. And after an hour arrives with bulging eyes and hysteria, it appears instead of the customer base on a flash drive a shortcut to it. Do you know who was left to blame? No, not me :) But I could be guilty
PS: the article was written so that people suffer less for their good deeds. Yes, in theory, in each company, people, as they say, row in the same boat, but, unfortunately, in practice, everyone is for himself (less often a pack for a pack). I was on the verge of dismissal two or three times because of my unwillingness to accept the fact that people constantly play undercover games and can talk with you about one thing and your leader, director and owner about something else. Good relations with the owner saved me from being fired, but many did not have such an opportunity, they were fired.