In which managing a large team is kind of awful, and a birthday approaches

[flexagon]

Most of my thoughts lately have been about work. I took a class a week ago that basically hit me like a truck, about managing larger teams and how managing a 15-person team or bigger is fundamentally different from managing a 5-person one. It was useful, and actionable, and deadly depressing. I've been getting more unhappy feedback from people who

Comments

[nahele_101]

Disconnected time sounds good. Can you walk away from work and not be bothered?

I am thinking of jumping out a plane for my bday. I'll probably crap myself...

[flexagon]

I jumped out of a plane for my 25th, to prove I still had some life & adventure left in me. Definitely recommended as an "everyone should experience this once" thing!

Edited to add: I can walk away and not be bothered by other people, but I have a far harder time not thinking about work.

[drwex]

Happy birthday and many joyous returns of the occasion!

Managing people is tough. If you are up for a recommendation, I endorse http://www.askamanager.org/ - the woman who writes it is generally good and gives pretty straightforward answers.

[flexagon]

Interesting, thanks. The first letter on askamanager.org pisses me off today -- the question-asker never names the gender of their manager, but the woman who answers assumes the person is a male. *rolleyes* That said, I'll take a little scan through her "being the boss" section before I totally give up.

http://www.askamanager.org/category/being-the-boss

I also like your comment because suddenly I understand what "many happy returns" means. It's not "I return your greeting happily many times", it's "I hope this happy annual occasion comes around for many more years". Cool. :-)

[drwex]

You mean the "Director's Son" letter?

The first line of that letter says: "has brought his son on" which to me identifies the target as male. She's generally pretty on-point about gender assumptions, but hey not everyone's cuppa.

it's "I hope this happy annual occasion comes around for many more years".

Exactly. I actually credit Winnie the Pooh with teaching me about this one, which makes it (and me) slightly archaic but I think it's delightful and I keep using it.

[flexagon]

Or to quote the full sentence, "One of the directors at my work who is three levels of management above my manager has brought his son on as an intern". The director is male and is above the manager. The manager's gender is never specified.

I realize this is a tiny thing to trigger on, but as a female manager it's certainly something I've learned to keep an eye out for.

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