The World is Flat
And It Starts
I started working while I was still studying college. To be honest, college bored me to death. At that stage, I thought I knew more than what the school was teaching. I had the opportunity to learn Multimedia from a rigorous six months training conducted by Japanese trained instructors sponsored by the government.
School … College … What a waste of time. I said to myself. If I was right or wrong will depend from which perspective you are coming from. Anyways, I should have stuck with it and I could have had a Bachelors degree. Instead, I transferred to another school and finished a two year Associate degree. This was the quickest solution to my then current problem.
I was already working for an NGO who provided information sharing and internet connectivity while I was in my second year. This further aggravated the situation further and gave me the (false) illusion that I did not need school.
I juggled work with school, I was more driven to finish the Associate Degree than the Bachelor Degree because It only took a shorter time to finish. I transferred to a software development company in between.
At first thought, my motivation was to move up the organizational hierarchy as fast as I can. All my seniors and managers moved up because of their mastery of technical skills, and so I thought I also had to master my technical skills to move up.
Starting as a designer, I moved to being a webmaster ( that’s what it was called in the late 90’s ) after a while I moved to multimedia design and programming again after a while moved to systems programming and lastly I became a web developer.
I had a lot of issues with how the company was being managed. I thought that the employees did not get the right attention, training, support and compensation due. I also thought that the companies finances were not being managed well.
This state of being eventually lead to my resignation.
Enter Entrepreneurship
Thinking that I could probably manage a company better than my previous did, I ventured into entrepreneurship. I found four friends who was as passionate and we started a company.
My colleagues decided that I should manage the company. This got me excited. I prepared for this role by reading all the management articles I could find. I looked for bargain management books and magazines.
Armed with knowledge I thought was already enough. I then started to manage our company. I proposed transparency rules on decision making and have my colleagues manage sections of the company according to what I perceived was their strengths. I coordinated everything as well as the financial aspect.
To my delight, everyone was supportive and accepted my seemingly great ideas. As with every startup, we started small and projects slowly came in. Financially, the company was doing well and I was already forecasting and planning for our second year.
Despite our financial progress, I was surprised to learn that some of my colleagues had started to conjure up issues. By implementing strict policies on compensation, I was able to keep the company afloat, but to the expense of my colleagues and my needs. I thought If I could handle the hard times, my colleagues would be able to, also.
Some of my colleagues started to go back to the corporate world for a more perceived stable income and future stability. The company folded up shortly after.
Welcome to the Corporate World
Stuck in the twilight zone !
It took a while to sink in for me.
How could the company have failed ?
What went wrong ?
A myriad of thoughts, questions and rumblings went through my mind. But still without a definite answer.
After a while, I found a job and because of my technical competence the company was very happy. However, finding more faults in the management I again did not last long. A year passed and I was already quickly looking for a new employer. I could not stand the management.
Fortunately, my current employer took a gamble and took me in. I was ecstatic.
Moving Up, Laterally
Feeling comfortable and secure(seemingly), I now thought that this is it. Management was great, benefits even better. This company treated people as the greatest asset. Wow, I never thought there was a company like this.
After a couple of months, I started to come up with strategies and look for ways of moving up the corporate ladder. I looked and poked around. Read a lot and studied the environment. I decided that to move up was to focus on my technical skills, yet again. I tried to find ways to improve and master my technical profeciency. I also made sure everybody knew about it, specially the managers.
In a couple of months, still nothing happened. I asked why I was still stuck in this position. Instead of looking for positive activities, I then looked for faults. I again started the vicious cycle. I started to be disgruntled and looked for ways to move up faster even to the point of moving to a subsidiary.
Last week, we had our first technology forum. IT representatives from the entire group gathered and we had experts to discuss specific topics. One of the speakers was Leah Zveglich for the IT Balance Scorecard session.
Although her topic was about the balance scorecard, she addressed the fundamental issues on how to properly use the balance scorecard. Issues such as management of personnel, coaching, employee retention and such.
Her experiences added value to her teachings. It brought actual application of theory. Relating her past experiences on implementing change and career development and spotting potential. Importantly, she expounded on the characteristics of the generation x.
All of these rushed through my brain like a tidal wave. I was now able to understand myself better. I now knew why I do things in a certain way, why I think differently. My goals, my motivations, my desires.
What was supposed to be a one hour session turned to two hours. Questions kept coming and coming. She was able to bring us to the core fundamentals of understanding the IT environment, characteristics of the employees and management.
The entire weekend, this was all I could think about. I did not know of anyone I could talk to or discuss with. I turned to the net and researched. I also wanted to validate her advocacy.
True enough, her session was a real world reflection. Her techniques where unique and it brought sense to chaos within me. I anxiously waited for Monday morning, I was excited to go to work, I knew only one person to talk to, to be my sounding board, someone I could discuss with.
As soon as our AVP came in, I immediately went in her room and started to fire away. She too was able to grasp to essence of the session. Sharing experiences and theories and application, I learned a lot. How management thinks, how management works and how to develop myself.
The discussion lasted for almost four hours, we could not stop talking. I learned more in that four hours than in the nine years I was working combined.
I now understand how I fit in the bigger scheme of things. How I am able to contribute and what do I develop.
As organizations become flatter, the proper way of moving up is moving up laterally. Based on capacity, capacity to adapt to change, capacity to learn and capacity to improve.
As the baby boomers retire, more and more of generation y people will fill the gap. Organizations must adapt to this trend. As technology brings the change gap closer and closer, our current competencies are and will most likely be irrelevant tomorrow. The focus therefore should be CAPACITY.
Evaluation metrics must also reflect this, capacity measurements must be in place for proper evaluation to take place. Along with incentives and benefits programs.
As organizations become flatter, moving up becomes irrelevant. Moving up laterally must be the focus. Focus on soft skills, generation y is a very social animal and to tame the beast is learning good people skills.