It's coming to five months I'm in my new position in Switzerland. It takes me this long to understand what my job is all about. It has been a huge change in how I perceive a job. Coming from technical background, I'm used to seeing the product of my work. I used to spend hours a day coding and the product was a software. I managed an IT department and product was the end-to-end service to the end users. And in this new job, I wondered what I was actually doing? Where was the value add? I felt like wasting my time at times. There were occasions when I was just writing and reading emails for most of the day. Then, there were meetings, some of which I wasn't sure what we got out of them.
Now, I can conclude the following about the job:
1. It's not about creating products, it's about communicating.
2. It's not about micro management, it's about macro management. This is the hardest part of the job for me.
3. It's not about waiting for work, it's about creating work (for yourself and for others). There are times when you have to create work for yourself to justify your position (it's pathetic when I think about it). But then again, hey what the hell ... it's part and and parcel of the being at the this level. Everyone is doing the same thing.
4. Finally, it's about politic - the one thing I was so concerned about before coming here. Believe it or not I even bought a book about winning office politics. It's a delicate thing that can either take you the top or plunging you down. The easiest way to ensure your safety is to be close to one or more of the bigger guys that know intimately one or more of the super bigger guys who can protect you in the event of you stepping into traps. I comes handy to me now because my boss supports me always and there is also one very influential senior person that knows me very well. This should protect me for now from any devious intention. But, it wouldn't last forever. Someday, I'll needs to build my own self protection mechanism or even better master the art of political maneuverism.
Positions at this level are created to build the communication channel between the top and the bottom of the organisational hierarchy. You don't have to be good at anything, but communcation, to play the role. You don't need to know about IT infrastructure for example, but you need to know what questions to ask the experts. It's all about asking questions, giving opinions, rationalising things and communicating. People below you won't say your are stupid just because you don't know things - because you are the management, you are not expected to be the expert -, people at the same level won't call you stupid, because they themselves don't know that much either. So, as long as you talk confidently, giving good reasoning, admit you are not the expert, then you are safe. And when communicating, as long as you are within the political boundary, nobody is injured, BUT it doesn't mean that you won't get injured.
I'm more cautious about certain things now. For instance, when replying an email, I must understand what the political impact would be if I say certain things in certain ways or if I CC it to certain people. CCing an email could hit someone right in the heart and he/she might retaliate. When making a statement, always base it on some supporting information (ideally facts, but normally some "reasonably reliable" info from other parties is sufficient). Avoid making blind assumption.
There is obviously a lot more for me to learn. It's a different ball game together from what I was used to. I think it'll take me one year to master all the rules.
Read some tips on ... "
Win at Office Politics Without Selling Your Soul"
We touched down in Warsaw International Airport at around 8 PM plus. Quite an old looking airport building .. the kind that you'd expect to see in Eastern Europen countries. The queue at the passport control wasn't that long. My boss got through without any question. I was standing behind him. When my turn came, I was expecting to let through easily also. What is there to expect otherwise. But, I forgot, with due respect to my boss, the whities always get special treatment. I was asked by the immigration officer if I had an invitation letter to attend the meeting. What a stupid question. Why should I have one? I would understand if I needed a visa to enter the country. I don't. Poland is in the EU. Malaysians do not need visa to enter any EU countries you moron! Having been told I didn't have one, he asked for the full address of the office which I had no idea of. I questioned why he let my boss in, who was there for the same purpose as I, but bombarded me with all the unnecessary questions. He didn't answer to that, but instead insisted on the office address. Thank god, I found it in the Domino light directory which I had just replicated down onto my notebook two days earlier.