Advancing on Paper Faster than Real Life....Anyone Else? 5

[GrimesFrank]

Situation
Aging workforce near retirement. Realizing succession planning too late. Hire young guns in. Have "training" plans in place but little meat behind them. Training really dependent on quality of work coming in and go-getter attitude of employee working on it.

Been picked to be first to backfill seniors because my paper plan says I have the experience. In my opinion I am far behind where I should be to be looked up to and picking senior brains is becoming impossible as they drop off. I'm no slouch but not ready to be called "experienced" just yet.

Problem
How do you go to management and say this Sigma Six/ISO 9000 employee isn't ready just because some QA database says I am and not sound like some deadbeat slacker to forget about?

 

[zdas04]

The fastest way to get knowledge, experience, and (probably most importantly) confidence is to find yourself in a job you're not quite ready for. Most of us have been put in responsible charge of something that just felt "too big". The vast majority knuckled down, studied on their weak areas, and succeeded. If you wait until you are 100% "qualified" (whatever that means) to do the next job, you'll find that the next job never comes.

The thing that was most important to me the first few dozen times this happend to me (and it still happens to me all the time) was some advice I got early in my career (think slide rules)--NEVER pretend you know something you don't know, and NEVER hesitate to say "I don't know, but I'll find out". Young guys find both of these things really hard (I sure did), but the first time you say "I don't know, but I'll find out" and the world doesn't descend upon you from a great height you'll realize that no one expects you to know everything, but they DO expect you to find out and get back to them.

The gray hairs are leaving (if we didn't leave, we'd still die and be just as gone) and there is not a thing in this world that anyone can/should do about it. If you find yourself in a place where you would just love to go down the hall and ask the guy that used to be there a question, then you'll have to go to books, manufacturer's web pages, and eng-tips.com.

Good luck,

David

 

[GregLamberson]

I have to agree with David. Unless you are grossly under-qualified, go for it. If you are going to wait until you feel you are qualified for something, you may be waiting a long time.

As Bobby Knight put it so well, you have to get in position to be in position. The only way to move up is to step out. David's advice is absolutely golden and one I follow as well, I don't know how many times I have said, "I don't know but I'll find out". That's all anyone can ask.

And here's another thing to keep in mind, and your supervisor should be aware of this, when you hire, promote or otherwise deal with people you roll the dice and hope they make more good decisions than bad because they will make some of both (and some good decisions just don't turn out well). But the key is - can you follow the logic in the decision making process. So go for it, you'll make some mistakes, but make the best decisions you can and let the chips fall where they may. Good luck.

Greg Lamberson, BS, MBA
Consultant - Upstream Energy
Website:

http://www.oil-gas-consulting.com

 

[IRstuff]

David,

well said...

If my teenager stayed in his comfort level, he would have stopped at drawing circles with crayons. I recall his been extremely frustrated at trying to draw squares when he was about 2-3 yrs old. His brain hadn't yet developed enough to manage squares, but circles were doable.

As you grew older, every step of progress involved learning and struggling with some new thing to be mastered, be it riding a bicycle, or doing integrals, or being a parent. Almost no one is qualified to be a parent at the start, and some of us are still not qualified after having a couple ;-)

In one instance, an analyst retired and took some hard won knowledge with him. After 9 yrs of plugging away at the same problems, I'm now the go-to expert on that same subject ;-)

The only things you need to question are:

Do I have the capacity to do the job well, eventually?
Do I want to do the job?


TTFN

 

[KENAT]

I think I feel your pain.

My concern is based on having worked with/for (or known people that worked with/for) people that had been promoted above their level of competency and everyone else suffered because of it yet management never seemed to do anything about it.

However, the fact you bother to ask the question implies to me that you probably wont end up being like that and if you follow zdas “I don’t know but I’ll find out” you’ll probably do OK.

That said as I put in a previous post I’ve twice turned down extra responsibility/promotion because I didn’t feel I could do the job to the level required. I’m not talking about being stretched a bit, I’m talking things that even with support from my colleagues I wouldn’t have been able to do to the required level. In fact I asked the same question as you in a slightly different way on that post.

thread731-171766

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Any job that I took on - I figured that I had learned about 90% in the first year......

I will NEVER know the last 10% - that's what keeps the job interesting....

NEVER be afraid to say "I don't know" but then YOUR job is to find the answer!!

 

[GrimesFrank]

Thanks All,

It was one of those weeks of getting swamped, then had the boss telling me I have to complete some practical evaluations before year end so they can fast track me.

I guess my real concern is not so much doing the work required of that level but the fact I will have more junior staff coming to me for advice. Giving my educated opinion to a colleague is one thing but to have a junior look to you for learning/mentoring is quite another. How did you all do in your first offical mentoring experience?

Its a pride thing I guess; this junior asks a question and you don't want to say "I dunno.", as it may taint him for future experience. I know how I felt when I asked a question and I would just get the runaround, I usually didn't go back to that guy again.

You all are right the key is to say, "...but I know where to look and I'll get back to you."

 

[GregLamberson]

GrimesFrank

You voiced a concern that I (an I'm sure many others have) used to have (and still do on occasion) that if a juniot comes to me, not so much for advice, but for learning, that I'm afraid I will disappoint.

But what I have learned is that the majority of the questions asked will be what you also asked at that stage and you will have allot of the answers. It's amazing how you will find out something new and within a day or 2, someone will ask about it. For example, I've learned things going thru these Tips Threads that I've "needed" within hours or days or looking over them.

For the ones you don't, just simply say - you know what, I'm still kind of learning as well, I don't know, but.......

Greg Lamberson, BS, MBA
Consultant - Upstream Energy
Website:

http://www.oil-gas-consulting.com

 

[zcp]

The key thing that proves someone is experienced and knowledgable is their realization that they may not be experienced and knowledgable enough. Youth and inexperience tends to put blinders on people where they don't see their own ignorance or lack of experience. Once you achieve the age and level where you question if you are 'smart enough / experience enough', then you are ready to take that next step and begin mentoring others. You'll never learn it like you will when you first have to teach it.......

ZCP

http://www.phoenix-engineer.com

 

[GrimesFrank]

Well this topic will come up shortly as my PPR (Personal Performance Review) is around the corner.
Vision/Mission Statements of the World Unite!

It may be fruitless but I'm going to demand tech courses to be provided; through official channels or otherwise (AmEx - ChaChing!). If they want people looking up to me they best put their corporate money where their mouth is.

Another concern is I'll be putting alot of time in to not looking stupid infront of the juniors, thereby possibly affecting my throughput. Anyone able to balance this out with some good tips?

 

[zdas04]

Don't worry about juniors. You can always tell them "you aren't going to learn it if I spoon feed you, look it up and I can try to help you understand the references that you find".

You aren't claiming anything that you don't know, you're not lying to them, and at the end of the day we rememeber the things that we discover much longer than the stuff that is handed to us.

David

 

[GregLocock]

Or, you can point them in the direction that you would pursue (ie course/book/website or person) if you needed that answer. Then review it with them.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.