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Don’t be spooky

therealadam.com

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Re: Don’t be spooky

#131

Post by goto11 »

grantjpowell wrote: post #49
newsbinator wrote: post #2

> When you’re communicating with your team, lead with context and reassurance. Never message someone on your team, “let’s talk when you get a minute”. That’s void of information and scary as heck! This should be engraved on a plaque in every office building.

As silly as it sounds, I use the technique of using of using _really_ informal language to avoid spookiness "Wanna see somthing cool?" "Lets shoot the shit after this" "Yo, you wanna hang for a minute at 4"

That is just spooky and creepy. If you are in a position where you can fire people, they will know it.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#132

Post by caedex »

verve_rat wrote: post #124
Jolter wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would that be a more likely situation if you’re escorted out of the building on a Friday than it would be on a Tuesday?

So I'm a little confused. This whole thread implies that in the States you get laid off and ushered out of the building on the same day? Is that common practice? I understand that most(?) Of the US is an "at will" jurisdiction, but where I'm from all employment contracts have a notice period in them. So when employment is terminated, by either party, there is a 2-4 week period where the employee works out their notic…

Many years ago I worked at a company that had many rounds of RIF (reductions in force). We always did them on Friday - people would be called in for their exit interview and IT removed their access while it happened. We were based in the US but had offices in the UK.

Because of labor laws in the UK, HR did everything they could to avoid laying off the UK office staff because the process and cost was prohibitive. We kept people in the UK office for years just because it would have been a pain in the butt to remove them even if they were redundant or basically had no tasking.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#133

Post by rahimnathwani »

Waterluvian wrote: post #41

Early in my career I got a Monday morning meeting invite on a Friday afternoon just after I left the office. The meeting was called “The future of “ Entire weekend was a write off. I was so anxious. And yep. They shut down the unit (but I got to keep my job). As a result this is forefront in my mind as a manager. One thing that works great is whenever I ask questions about something, anything, I also say “this is on…

From: CEO Subject: An update on Waterluvian

Re: Don’t be spooky

#134

Post by ssss11 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #41

Early in my career I got a Monday morning meeting invite on a Friday afternoon just after I left the office. The meeting was called “The future of “ Entire weekend was a write off. I was so anxious. And yep. They shut down the unit (but I got to keep my job). As a result this is forefront in my mind as a manager. One thing that works great is whenever I ask questions about something, anything, I also say “this is on…

You’ve just made me think about memories I’ve surpressed of a job I had, where the boss would hold Monday morning meetings every week to go around the table and get updates from the team.

He took the opportunity to pick on someone different each time and rip them to shreds. It was a horrible thing to be part of.

Needless to say my Sunday evenings were a write off during that period with the stress of having to go to that the following morning (and it potentially bring my turn to receive the wrath)

Re: Don’t be spooky

#135

Post by xxpor »

Jolter wrote: post #117
maneesh wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's about not bringing a gun into work and "going postal" (named after a situation with a post office employee)

Why would that be a more likely situation if you’re escorted out of the building on a Friday than it would be on a Tuesday?

Because in a traditional 9-5 M-F office, no one will be there Saturday and Sunday.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#136

Post by thrower123 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #41

Early in my career I got a Monday morning meeting invite on a Friday afternoon just after I left the office. The meeting was called “The future of “ Entire weekend was a write off. I was so anxious. And yep. They shut down the unit (but I got to keep my job). As a result this is forefront in my mind as a manager. One thing that works great is whenever I ask questions about something, anything, I also say “this is on…

It's so much fun when you get a jackhole who does this kind of thing, and then the big meeting is about something completely asinine and inconsequential.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#137

Post by shoto_io »

Waterluvian wrote: post #41

Early in my career I got a Monday morning meeting invite on a Friday afternoon just after I left the office. The meeting was called “The future of “ Entire weekend was a write off. I was so anxious. And yep. They shut down the unit (but I got to keep my job). As a result this is forefront in my mind as a manager. One thing that works great is whenever I ask questions about something, anything, I also say “this is on…

The place I used to work for introduced a general rule: whenever upper management would ask a question, they had to add the context why they would ask the question.

There were three options

1. Just out of curiosity

2. To challenge the team

3. Because they didn’t understand something

This helped a lot to lower anxieties of teams in discussions.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#138

Post by ipaddr »

GauntletWizard wrote: post #113
wpietri wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. What this article leaves out is the correct opening to the story. "A person who can arbitrarily make your life hell, including by ending your job right now, tells you 'let’s talk when you get a minute.'" I think the standard American corporate system of power is kinda ridiculous. But it is what it is, and whenever I'm a manager in that kind of system I try hard to remember that everything I say has that pref…

The American system is designed to keep the power balance by making it easy to get another job. Yes, there's some economic power difference - and sometimes it is out of balance. The idea that your boss has control over you is silly; your boss has the control over you that you give them in exchange for compensation, and you can always just quit - I wish people would do so more, because many of the worst attributes of…

With health insurance connected to your employment, references checks, previous salary leveling, noncompetes, the interview process.. the American system doesn't make it easy to get another job.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#140

Post by onion2k »

Waterluvian wrote: post #41

Early in my career I got a Monday morning meeting invite on a Friday afternoon just after I left the office. The meeting was called “The future of “ Entire weekend was a write off. I was so anxious. And yep. They shut down the unit (but I got to keep my job). As a result this is forefront in my mind as a manager. One thing that works great is whenever I ask questions about something, anything, I also say “this is on…

I "over communicate" pretty much everything. I always give context, I provide links to any docs I mention, my meeting invites always have a description, agenda and goals, and I write more documentation than most devs. This is because I hate surprises and mysteries at work. I need to know what's going on to do good work, so I make sure no one has any excuse not to understand what things are about. I really wish more people put the effort in to do it. It makes life so much less stressful.
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