Congratulation Gautam. With everything else you've got to do extraneous reading is probably low on the to do list but if you get a chance you might read "Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face to Face behavior" by Erving Goffman and "Time Chance and Organization" by Herbert Kaufman,
This is not the first time I have lead a team !! The only difference this time is
1. The team is much much older than me
2. The people have been here since eternity
3. This is the first time I am leading a "technology" team as a "non technology" person
Keep tuned for more updates
Congrats Gautam:
I hope that you get on well tomorrow (at the actual staff meeting); those first few impressions /as a boss/ are highly important! I'm sure that you will do fine though. For me, being a good boss isn't about Strategy X and Strategy Y; it is all about getting to grips with the line of firmness and approachability, and finding a happy medium. That itself is hard.. but you will settle in; most bosses I know do well after the 'teething' jitters.
You might get a few 'reluctant' people; that's normal: concentrate on the rest instead of seeming bothered.
Good luck!
Phoenix there is no-one (I repeat NO-ONE) like me. The man was an imposter. A fake. A cheat. Mutton dressed up as lamb, I tell you. Either that or he was incredibly attractive, sexy, and looked like butter wouldn't melt. Anyhoo, if you see him again, give him my number. I'm feeling the holiday spirit and would like to share myself .. ahem, I mean share the love ... errr share goodwill (?) Whatever. More coffee for me please, and put a straw in it and a drop of ... to early? Is it time to go home yet? This work thing is interfering in my personal life.
My God... it's the attack of the emus/ emu-like people! I never saw this one coming.
I'll have to find cover..
On my first day of work at the last lab I worked at, where the boss was a physician who worked on the next floor up, the techs and staff took me to lunch because it was my birthday. It was a reference lab, and they just closed except for the sacrificial person who volunteered to stay in case an off the street patient walked in. We had a great time. Yes, I knew two of the people. On that Friday, the boss gave a raging fifteen minute excoriation to everybody en masse. Memorable. Of course the lunch was wrong, and the group of workers had the usual fissures in camaraderie once I got to know them. But the excoriation turned out to be a touchstone for a long time pattern. Jolly visits, back slapping "good jobs", and random rages. A year or so later when the lab had grown to be seriously regarded, even nationally, I was asked to be manager (I had run labs before.) Didn't, because of the personality of that Director.
This little story is a tangent to yours, but the lunch business reminded me of it. I'd not be concerned about lunch for a while myself (not that you are, you were just observing..)
Oh, and I thought Phoenix' original list of coomments was right on.
Ossobuco: if a boss cannot think of his employees, rather than facts and figures and getting up the next rung of the ladder all the times, then he/she should never have become a boss... going out for a lunch is team building, and acknowledging that workers are not machines, not parts of a big math sum, but PEOPLE!
Well, some people who are good scientists are not all that well versed in employee management.
My bess boss ever was another physician who directed a research lab I was the supervising tech at. He was clear in his delineation of what needed to get done (sometimes changing that based on one's comments) and then waited reasonably for you to do it, not looking over your shoulders but available for 'what if' questions. We would discuss the jist of the associated implications of the work we were doing. He also lounged at his labdesk (as opposed to Office) a few times a week and was part of regular conversation, politics, travel; he told stories, listened to ours, not while we were working at high pitch of course. Lot of laughter in the room. We got a lot of interesting work out speedily just the same.
Exactly! He sounds great. People think, 'one must be firm to succeed,' but this is untrue. Sure, as a boss one must have the ability to lead, but you do better in a nice, congenial atmosphere, where you can approach the boss. It might have more chatter, but people enjoy doing the work more, put more effort in, and productivity can grow. The boss is part of the team too; promotion should never have you forget that.
uh-oh, i am late again. CONGRATS Gautam, and no worries. there is no human who would be able to resist your charm for long!
Hey, if they give you too much guff, Gautam, just kick them down the stairs!
I can envision that now: 'Gautam Kicks Ass II: The Revenge (With Added Perfume)'
Hmmm...when did we ever make "Gautam Kicks Ass : I" ????
Day 2 - have meeting lined up wiht key business partners...
The speech to my team has been revised a bit - "I demand 100% loyalty and co-operation. If anyone feels that they cannot give this to me, for whatever reason, pls come and talk to me and we will try and sort out this problem. If anyone of you is unwilling to do even that, then I will expect yr resignation on my desk within a week"
I love it when you talk so forcefully, Gautam.
Am holding breath to see how this goes....
Having worked in several I.T. shops, I know how freakin' obstinate and obnoxious they can be as a group (systems programmers being the worst). I used to sweet-talk them into getting stuff done.
Fingers crossed for you, G!
