Self-Helpless: True Tales of a Working Girl: The EXIT Interview, Pt I

3/30/2006

The EXIT Interview, Pt I

This was too long, so I decided to share a piece of it. This is the first question (and my response) in the exit interview:

If you were the head of your department, what would you do differently to make everyone more productive? How would you run the business?

Motivated employees are a key part to any company’s success. If people are properly motivated, companies stand to gain enormous results from almost nothing. Company X has the resources and capabilities to provide this to their employees. One way I have seen this is through enrichment programs implemented in Department 1 and neighboring departments. Another good motivational tool that was brought up recently is the “cross-training” available to those employees that request it. Although I don’t believe that Department 1 fosters a warm or social environment, I think this effort does allow anyone interested to know what the department is about and explore all aspects of it. Bravo on that point.

Employees should also expect to be motivated by their managers. My manager, Miss Manager, could benefit from learning how to properly motivate her staff. There is no quicker way to de-motivate people than by micro-managing. Specifically, I mean things like nit-picking about how to structure an email subject header, which font to use and the like. Another thing that deflates a person’s self-esteem is to repeatedly point the finger and throw blame – whether rightfully so or not. Miss Manager manages this way and it shows. Look at her team in recent years: I.M.Happytobegone – my predecessor in my final role at Company X – made it very clear upon her departure what the conditions were like when she reported to Miss manager. I.M. left the company because of these conditions. Subordinate A and Subordinate B were both fairly new when they reported to Miss Manager as well. Due to the massive breakdown in communication and lack of positive reinforcement they should have received from her, they became disillusioned and their performances reflected exactly how they felt: Lackluster. Their poor work was then blamed on I.M. who had no manager and no direction for the first few months of her employment (which only lasted a year anyway). Subordinate A and B trained I.M. because there was no one else available to do so. Yet Miss Manager and her boss scratched their heads and wondered what happened.

Why is that?

photo courtesy of jobschmob.com

# posted by The Pied Piper @ 11:48 PM

Comments:

Way to go PP!

IP Freely incidentally had a friend point out to him the other day that, since departing his miserable position, he kinda smiles sometimes. I think it might be a nervous tick, but some people are convinced it might have made him happier.

# posted by