Work habits
I have seen some nice sunsets from my twelfth floor perch. The world spins ’round.
My habits and values become more clearly visible when the spinning world carries me into a new situation where they don’t quite fit, as now. Thanks to technology and other more or less forced change, almost everyone sooner or later ends up in the dark or blinking in the rising sun. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.” In times past I have met people who seemed not to realize that the world had moved on.
The D.I. Several managers in my experiences got their first tastes of work in military service. One loud fellow commanded employees in the mellifluous intonations of a marine drill instructor. He used puzzling jargon such as “dog watch” and clearer but inappropriate expletives. He was punctual and respectful to his supervisors and peers–who therefore thought everything was peachy.
The schoolmarm. These former teachers were gentler than the drill instructor, but no less authoritarian. They were big on procedures and progress evaluations.
The coach. Unlike the drill instructor, this manager preferred a flat organization structure, sports metaphors, and pep talks.
The academic. Someone who has succeeded as a student for twenty years tends to approach everything as research. Discovery and being cited by others are marks of success. Deferential discussion is a means to those goals. Focus, timeliness, and meeting budget are sometimes problems.
The retailer. When your formative years are with customers who are always right, it’s hard to adapt to more adversarial environments in which the D.I., schoolmarm, and coach excel. On the other hand, the D.I. and the schoolmarm aren’t as smooth at negotiation and persuasion.
The farmer. Ok, this is my first vocation. I hope I have the good farmer habits of patience and hard work. On the other hand, I have needed conscious effort to be a co-laborer rather than a cowboy.
I’m not intending to caricature these people. They embodied often effective habits that I would not have otherwise found. The issue was inflexibility, mine or theirs.
My new workplace has brought together more academics and research-types than even my former university jobs. I have met new, admirable, yet hard-to-label work habits too.
Update: At lunchtime I inflicted this observation about persistent habits on my new co-workers. The younger ones said they had not yet had opportunity to observe such variety. The gray heads laughed and said misfits are just part of life. Furthermore, misfits do not require new careers or new technologies, just promotions.
I think rising to incompetence happens, but is not necessary as in Dilbert’s world. Latent abilities can bring surprising success in a new setting. Refusing promotion can keep one in the competence zone. In American history, I think General Washington adapted well to the presidency, and General Grant less well. The least enjoyable parts of my life have followed successes, when people projected way more from me than I could comfortably deliver. The most enjoyable parts of my life have followed failures, when people projected much less of me than I subsequently delivered.
