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Smchandler

Involved In Discussions
I've been a lead quality engineer and Quality Manager for 25 years, CQE,CQA, Greenbelt Six Sigma, lead internal auditor in AS9100, ISO9001, iso17025, even OSHA511 certified, you name it in quality I've trained on it. Always highly respected and appreciated, moved mountains. Moved to a new position in management after only 2 years at new company and boom I'm failing because I refuse to dumb myself down and not do the right thing. New manager was a program manager, doesn't support me or my ideas, knows nothing about quality nor does he care, he constantly tries to please the top and the bottom without doing anything to improve. Question is how do you suck it up and just deal with it? My life would be so much better off if I didn't give a crap and just turned my back on doing the right thing and conform to not making a difference, but I can't do it?!? Frustration is starting to set in and thinking I should just move on, but I've never given up. Such a shame, Thoughts?
 

Bev D

Heretical Statistician
Leader
Super Moderator
I changed jobs multiple times in my career. Because I cared. Changing jobs isn’t quitting - it’s moving to where you can make difference. Staying is quitting. It’s giving up on the possibility of making a difference. It’s giving up on improving your skills. We can’t help everybody but we can help some people we just have to go find them.
 

optomist1

A Sea of Statistics
Super Moderator
Echoing Bev's post, I too changed multiple times, with your career goals in mind, doing so in many ways increases your value and wisdom among other attributes...
 

Tidge

Trusted Information Resource
Here is something I have done as a report and as a manager. I can attest that this doesn't always help, but I don't think it ever hurt.

When I have been frustrated by a manager, or when I sense frustration from my direct reports, I have a conversation where I tell the story of a regular family dinner. The dinner was a large one, attended by lots of people. Everyone had slightly different tastes in food, and we were encouraged to bring dishes to supplement what was being prepared by the host. What I learned from these dinners was this:
  • Nobody liked everything that was served
  • Everybody got something they enjoyed (or at least tolerated!)
  • No one left hungry
  • If someone (new) was grumpy about having "nothing they liked (or could tolerate)", we'd find out what they could tolerate and see about providing it, or invite them to bring something for the next meal
The moral is this: collaborative teams have to be like a meal where people get sustenance without being forced to eat things they can't tolerate. Not everyone on a team can tolerate everything that is dished out to them. A direct report who is not being nourished by the work has to let the manager know, and bluntly identify what their "allergies" are... and be prepared to identify the work they can do without suffering from the allergies. I've known my share of folks that were allergic to all work, of course. Don't forge that impression for yourself.

Having written the above: "Project Managers" who have done very little else except "project management" (i.e. they haven't been individual contributors, or otherwise haven't demonstrated they can generate outputs) are NOT my favorite types of managers. Anecdotally: almost every one I have ever worked with would equate "problem ignored" as "not a problem". There do exist some honest-to-gawd training programs and certifications for Project Managers that I respect, but the near totality of PMs I've worked with don't have any formal training and were often prone to the Dunning-Kruger effect. Some number would eventually do some self-reflection on the issues they face and become quite decent team members.

If you are in a Quality Management position and working for a Quality Manager who doesn't have a background in Quality... this is NOT easy. You need to find out what motivates them, and you need to let the manager know what motivates you.
 

Jen Kirley

Quality and Auditing Expert
Leader
Admin
Oh dear. Been there too. It is very hard. The more you care, the more it hurts. But we do care, because if we don't people might really be hurt.

What Bev said. I have a long resume for a reason. ;)

You can let the Program Manager have it his way until it fails and looks hopeless, then ask "Would you like to try it a new way?" as was long ago advised to me by a very seasoned QA professional.

Failure can be expensive. Program Managers tend to want to avoid looking bad by losing money. You might try speaking the language of money with this fellow, warning him of the relative costs of getting it wrong. Do you have a quality cost calculator? If not, my version is attached in the How to Calculate the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) thread. Post #17.

Tidge also gives great advice. :applause:
 

Steve Prevette

Deming Disciple
Leader
Super Moderator
Can you find something to do "in spite" of your manager? That is, some sort of long term problem area within the organization, at a lower level. Work there to fix something "under the radar". It will get noticed if it is successful. Even let the manager take credit for it . . . Think Hogan's Heroes . . .
 
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