Focusing Too Much on the Negative 1

[kbits]

Subtitle: Am I really that bad, or is my skin too thin?

In the realm of getting things done in the engineering industry, I have often heard or been told to assume everything is going fine until someone lets you know otherwise. In other words, engineering supervisors often take extra time to provide criticism and red flag unacceptable mistakes and poor performance, yet they more rarely offer kudos for a job well done or a direct pat on the back for an acceptable job performance. In several instances, I have had project managers pull me aside and give me a reprimand in the guise of criticism, but never had a PM pulled me aside and said that the job was excellent or even above average.

Fortunately, I have finally found a team that seems to work to learn in an objective fashion, noting what went well and recognizing what went wrong, without lowering the boom on the heads of subordinate engineers, and at the same time tries to get things done as fast as humanly possible. Perhaps, because I am more experienced now, I have learned how to accept criticism, or my skin has grown thicker, I find myself in this team, where the stubborn mantra cannot heard. Still, with younger engineers, I am afraid that I will become what bothered me the most during my learning curve, needling them with notes of their mistakes, rather than mentoring them with firm, gentle guidance.

I would like to know, how is it elsewhere? Am I not in an oasis of learning, working and making the company money? Or is fire continuously burning in every engineering department, office, small company and large branch?

 

[pba]

I get praised for jobs well done far more than I get balled out. But not every time I do well. Doing well is part of the job. My managers have a right to expect me to do well and I have an obligation to do my best.

I now manage six or seven people directly and I try to be supportive of their efforts even when they get it wrong. The best time to support anyone is when they are struggling. Giving praise occurs after the fact and does not help when tackling the complex and challenging project work. I'd say my job is now all about getting my guys to realise that their difficulties are not unique and can be managed...

I try very hard not to get angry when dealing with failure. This is the time when it is important to ensure than you remain calm and do not let the matter become personal. This goes both for my failures and for those of the my team.

Finally - I do think of the people working for me as MY team. I didn't hire any of them and I don't directly have the power to fire them, but we maintain a united front and the work problems are tackled collectively. I guess that gets more difficult with larger teams.