InfoWorld: What to do after a demotion

======================================================================== THE ADVICE LINE: BOB LEWIS http://www.infoworld.com/ ======================================================================== Wednesday, March 2, 2005

IN THIS ISSUE

* What to do after a demotion * How to avoid having poor performers foisted on you

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WHAT TO DO AFTER A DEMOTION

Dear Bob ...

I'm an IT manager. I manage a team of technicians and project managers. I love what I do. I am passionate about project and people. My performance reviews have been strong.

I don't like to roll over and agree with everything the people above me want me to do. My team, I believe, would follow me into any battle knowing I will do my best to protect them from harm.

I am one of those people that everyone confides in knowing I can be trusted. I am one of those people everyone gravitates toward because of my incredible positive outlook on life. I couldn't have been happier.

Now, I'm depressed. I feel nauseated all the time. I can't sleep. I'm not eating well. Why? Last week, I was told my job is being eliminated due to the department being restructured.

I can't get my boss to admit he knows what's going on. The CIO won't explain why he's kicking me to the curb, he's always too busy. I think I am taking the fall for something, and I don't know why.

I have been offered a lesser position, at a lower salary, with the department, or I can look for another opportunity full time. But should I take it? I still love the company I work for, I'm just wounded by the 'powers that be' and the nonchalant way they agree with everything the CIO feeds them.

I know you probably don't know enough about my situation to advice me one way or another. But, are there steps I can take to ensure "I won't get fooled again." Or can you point me to a path toward leaving or staying?

- Reorg'ed

Dear Reorg'ed ...

You sound like a good guy who forgot one of the most basic responsibilities of any leader: managing all four relationship directions. From your account, you managed "south" - to the people who report to you - very well. That leaves managing relationships with peers (east), those who make use of your services (west), and those you report to (north). Most likely you messed up in the northeasterly direction.

What actually happened? Beats me. It might be that your boss and the CIO were waiting for you to show initiative in elevating your role instead of simply succeeding in it. It might be that your version of not "rolling over" was interpreted as being obstructionist rather than consultative - of saying no instead of exploring better ways to achieve a goal.

It might be that, as you suspect, you're being scapegoated. It wouldn't be the first time. Nor the second.

Right now the question is stay or leave.

What the CIO wants you to do is leave. If that weren't the case you'd be retaining your current salary. What do you ...

http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BF0BE2:353CA35

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HOW TO AVOID HAVING POOR PERFORMERS FOISTED ON YOU

Dear Bob ...

I run a small IT shop for a 400 person company. Part of my group is a 4-person team that is responsible for core custom applications and processes.The team is composed of a project lead, 2 programmers and a student programmer.

We are an IT services company. One of the things we are always looking for is new talent. We use the IT team in part to vet new talent. We accept people with limited on no experience, give them the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities and gain experience, and then move them onto contracts. Our goal is to discover talented individuals before they are found by competitors, allow them to prove themselves and reduce the risk associated with putting unproven individuals on contracts to support our customers. This is a win-win situation when it works but it can create headaches when it doesn't.

A headache is what I'm experiencing right now and I'm hoping you can help me get rid of it without consuming an entire bottle of Tylenol.

About 6 months ago I accepted a transfer of a person from a program that was suffering budget cutbacks into a programmer position that was open at the time. The program manager assured me that the person, while junior, would be able to grow and with a little more experience would be able to move to contract support. We've spent the last 6 months trying to train this person and the person still doesn't grasp basic concepts. It is apparent that the person is a junior programmer, will always be a junior programmer, and will never grow to the next level. Just for background, we define a junior programmer as someone who can, when given the answer to a problem, convert the answer into code. A programmer is someone who can be given a problem, will come up with the answer and will turn that into code.

We need programmers or people who can become programmers. When we put junior programmers on contracts our customers see the amount of support they require and ask us to remove them. A junior programmer who cannot grow to programmer status is someone who occupies a spot on my team that could be occupied by someone who could become a programmer, siphons resources from other tasks since that person cannot complete their task without support, and reduces the ability of the team to complete projects on time for the company. A junior programmer who cannot become a programmer is someone we cannot use.

So I went to Human Resources. HR said I had to fill out an Employee Counseling Form, review the form with the individual, and then over some period of time (say 30 days) demonstrate that the person can't meet the requirements of the job. So now I'm in ...

http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BF0BE1:353CA35

Bob Lewis is president of IT Catalysts, Inc., http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BF0BE7:353CA35 , an independent consultancy specializing in IT effectiveness and strategic alignment. Contact him at rdlewis@issurvivor.com .

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- Bob Lewis

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