I have a very well paying job given the circumstances of the economy. I've been tasked with leading one team, and than they threw me into another team. At the end of the day, i dont seem to really do much ... my job consists of taking the blame for things going wrong and baby sitting hopefully inept combination of retards and interns to do the most basic of tasks. I do some time tracking, do some people talking, bla bla bla, and im pretty much done at round 2. Sometimes they rope me in late in the afternoon for some random crap that the intern or indian broke. Highlight of my day. They even admitted they have no work to do but still want to hire more people. I don't question, let the company do it.
And in a weird twist, the more i talk to other upper management, the more it seems they don't want to get rid of me. Im sure they are full of crap in that department but still, I've never trusted upper management to keep their word on anything. But for now, the job is pretty nice. Every time I don't do something, it just gets punted off to someone else. But the visibility is on me, and not the guy doing the actual work. I can see the dysfunction from afar, but at this point, i keep my head down, and just carry on.
Deep down, when the US economy falls into the shitter and money dries up, my job will be gone. Most likely, like everyone else, I'll be just another number in a sea of applicants. But that will be for another day.
It is definitely babysitting. I've moved upward and the higher I go the less productive I am when it comes to the bottom line. I spend more time managing incompetence and dimwittedness than actually just doing the base work.
The Peter Principle I think plays a role generally, but any of my duties that are related to upper management are usually hogwash. From time to time I get to roll up my sleeves and do something though, so I stay content with the small company I am with.
In your post title you say 'upper management' but then you describe the job of a 'front line manager' or 'first level manager' ... and I agree these jobs are glorified babysitting.
Middle management is when the people who report to you are first level managers but you yourself still report to a manager
Upper management is when you are at the top of the org for your particular function and you report to an executive or are an executive
My job title is upper management since i make 200,000 + bonus. But a lot of my job feels like doing first level manager work with cross team coordination, etc. I tend to talk to upper management more than the lower level including the CEO, CTO, etc
Many years ago i realized stressing out over a job was dumb. So I stopped, and left it all to God. Sure enough, the less i cared, the better my performance, and the more happy people around me were. I realized stressing over a job was not worth it. Its not my product, its not my ownership, so why does corporate try so hard to make something i dont own into something i should be proud of leasing? What's the point of ownership when the same company can fire my ass in a heartbeat for no reason or any reason?
Corporate is just a way to make you stress out over nonsense. The problem is LLC and 1099 work is so rife with liability and paperwork, most people are shoehorned into corporate busy jobs.
Oh I definitely don't stress. They just dump buckets of money on me and I talk the talk.
The only stress I put myself through is my performance on work that I'm doing to give myself a sense of accomplishment. That's for me, not them though. It's a healthy kind of stress.
I've done both and prefer business ownership but for now the money is great so I make it work. Being able to put the work away nights, weekends, and when on vacation is pretty great though.
I am right at a point where I keep vacillating between not giving a fuck and then accidentally giving a fuck again and stressing the hell out about everything again. I guess that's life...
Blame yourself. Good managers know how to motivate and empower people to do their jobs without "babysitting". There are some amazing books on managing people. I'm not talking about psycho-babble feel good management; that does trust falls and team building contests. I am talking about leadership. History is full of good leaders.
Start recording metrics, and accomplishments. These will go along way to differentiate you from other applicants, should you be on the streets. Share these metrics with your team, and give them attainable goals. Understand each individuals strengths and deficits, and plan work accordingly.
Why not take the opportunity to make yourself invaluable? I assume from 2pm till 5 you have free paid time? Take some bullshit courses to get some degree that look good on an application. Just a thought.
Not happening, I went back to college after years in the field. Most of the teachers downright were 10 seconds from failing me because my work demonstrated advanced control logic not covered yet. Their chink TAs could not comprehend that someone going to college later may have very different ways of doing things.
[ + ] mannerbund
[ - ] mannerbund 1 point 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 18:02:59 ago (+1/-0)
The Peter Principle I think plays a role generally, but any of my duties that are related to upper management are usually hogwash. From time to time I get to roll up my sleeves and do something though, so I stay content with the small company I am with.
[ + ] Glowbright
[ - ] Glowbright 1 point 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 12:20:32 ago (+1/-0)
Middle management is when the people who report to you are first level managers but you yourself still report to a manager
Upper management is when you are at the top of the org for your particular function and you report to an executive or are an executive
[ + ] heytheremyfriends
[ - ] heytheremyfriends [op] 1 point 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 12:30:47 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] SecretHitler
[ - ] SecretHitler 1 point 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 11:34:06 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] heytheremyfriends
[ - ] heytheremyfriends [op] 2 points 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 11:43:58 ago (+2/-0)
Corporate is just a way to make you stress out over nonsense. The problem is LLC and 1099 work is so rife with liability and paperwork, most people are shoehorned into corporate busy jobs.
[ + ] SecretHitler
[ - ] SecretHitler 2 points 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 12:12:18 ago (+2/-0)
The only stress I put myself through is my performance on work that I'm doing to give myself a sense of accomplishment. That's for me, not them though. It's a healthy kind of stress.
I've done both and prefer business ownership but for now the money is great so I make it work. Being able to put the work away nights, weekends, and when on vacation is pretty great though.
[ + ] lord_nougat
[ - ] lord_nougat 0 points 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 12:57:09 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] bobdole9
[ - ] bobdole9 1 point 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 19:17:39 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] lord_nougat
[ - ] lord_nougat 2 points 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 21:04:40 ago (+2/-0)
So it is my fault and I know it. Adding to the stress...
[ + ] bobdole9
[ - ] bobdole9 1 point 7 monthsOct 5, 2023 06:55:52 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] HelenHighwater
[ - ] HelenHighwater 0 points 7 monthsOct 5, 2023 09:33:06 ago (+0/-0)
Start recording metrics, and accomplishments. These will go along way to differentiate you from other applicants, should you be on the streets. Share these metrics with your team, and give them attainable goals. Understand each individuals strengths and deficits, and plan work accordingly.
I am tired of bad managers blaming everyone else.
[ + ] NamelessOne
[ - ] NamelessOne 0 points 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 14:07:50 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] heytheremyfriends
[ - ] heytheremyfriends [op] 3 points 8 monthsOct 4, 2023 14:47:21 ago (+3/-0)