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So, that presentation I was stressing about...
...did not exactly take place as planned.
But before I get into that...holy-moly what is the weather up to today? First thing this morning it was icy. By early lunchtime it was so sunny I needed to close the blinds (though not warm-sunny, just bright-sunny). By the end of lunch we had hail and thunder! I don't mind winter weather, in fact I kinda like it, but geez, weather-god, make up your mind!
On Thursday I left work with the impression that I was expected to present my evaluation report to the directors at a strategic meeting on Monday. Not thrilled, but willing to go along with this.
Friday, I arrived to discover that J had decided in my absence that I should present the report to a different committee (lower than the directors) which was happening on Friday. Way to give me time to prepare! I could not exactly refuse. I would have punched him but J is like twice my height.
You know that saying that a committee is a life form with six or more legs but no brain? Very true. Anyhow, I dutifully gathered my materials and went along to Friday's meeting to do my thing. They were quite receptive of my results and all agreed that the Director General "needed" to hear what I was saying...which sounded an awful lot like I was being dumped in the shit rather than complimented. Maybe I'm just paranoid.
Monday came. I made sure to dress professional. No jeans! I reprinted most of the graphs so there would be colour copies (stacked bar charts look terrible in greyscale). I spent some time (okay, lots of time) re-reading the report to pull out the key issues. Then, lunchtime, J informs me the meeting isn't going to happen: too many people can't make it. I am halfway through my sigh of relief when he says that instead he's booked me a meeting to talk to the DG one-on-one.
Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not intimidated by "rank". The DG may be my ultimate boss (uh, well, technically I guess the queen is my ultimate boss, but let's not get technical), but he's human, right? The thing is I'm way more comfortable presenting to a full room than I am one-on-one. I've been doing public speaking since I was 13. It doesn't scare me, as long as I'm prepared. But one on one people interrupt and make me get lost. Then I say stupid stuff.
Mytrial by fire meeting was today. Actually, it went pretty well. He clearly reads some of the internal comments because he already knew some of what I was saying. He's a statistician so he had no problems reading my graphs and getting the message. He agreed with me that the current strategy isn't working too well. So far so good. But then he pulled out what he plans to do about it. And it's one of those ideas that looks brilliant on paper, but the practicalities are going to be a nightmare. I can see exactly where he's coming from and why this idea fits in with what he wants to happen. It's something that would work great in a workplace with, say 20 employees. But we have over 1,000.
I couldn't tell him it's an awful idea, because it's not, really. I did point out the biggest flaw in the notion, and hopefully he heard what I actually said. But I'm not sure. Luckily it won't be my job to implement his master plan...I'm just the one who looks at the results.
But before I get into that...holy-moly what is the weather up to today? First thing this morning it was icy. By early lunchtime it was so sunny I needed to close the blinds (though not warm-sunny, just bright-sunny). By the end of lunch we had hail and thunder! I don't mind winter weather, in fact I kinda like it, but geez, weather-god, make up your mind!
On Thursday I left work with the impression that I was expected to present my evaluation report to the directors at a strategic meeting on Monday. Not thrilled, but willing to go along with this.
Friday, I arrived to discover that J had decided in my absence that I should present the report to a different committee (lower than the directors) which was happening on Friday. Way to give me time to prepare! I could not exactly refuse. I would have punched him but J is like twice my height.
You know that saying that a committee is a life form with six or more legs but no brain? Very true. Anyhow, I dutifully gathered my materials and went along to Friday's meeting to do my thing. They were quite receptive of my results and all agreed that the Director General "needed" to hear what I was saying...which sounded an awful lot like I was being dumped in the shit rather than complimented. Maybe I'm just paranoid.
Monday came. I made sure to dress professional. No jeans! I reprinted most of the graphs so there would be colour copies (stacked bar charts look terrible in greyscale). I spent some time (okay, lots of time) re-reading the report to pull out the key issues. Then, lunchtime, J informs me the meeting isn't going to happen: too many people can't make it. I am halfway through my sigh of relief when he says that instead he's booked me a meeting to talk to the DG one-on-one.
Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not intimidated by "rank". The DG may be my ultimate boss (uh, well, technically I guess the queen is my ultimate boss, but let's not get technical), but he's human, right? The thing is I'm way more comfortable presenting to a full room than I am one-on-one. I've been doing public speaking since I was 13. It doesn't scare me, as long as I'm prepared. But one on one people interrupt and make me get lost. Then I say stupid stuff.
My
I couldn't tell him it's an awful idea, because it's not, really. I did point out the biggest flaw in the notion, and hopefully he heard what I actually said. But I'm not sure. Luckily it won't be my job to implement his master plan...I'm just the one who looks at the results.