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Subject:Re: bad leadership and tech writing From:Wrdfinesse -at- aol -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 01 Nov 2001 16:00:06 EST
Julie bemoans the reorg in her company that caused the TWers to report directly to their engineering or operations managers ...
I've got to jump in on this one with both feet and an attitude, I'm afraid. In my nearly 20 years in the biz, I've heard "but they're making us report to engineering" or its counterpart "but they're taking us out of engineering and putting us in a pubs group" as a reason for substandard docs. Balderdash says I!
Julie, seems like you're still in a cohesive group - engineering. If your work has been unfocused, it is because you are unfocused ... the question is, why?
The reality is that reorgs happen. In economic climes like we're currently experiencing, they happen A LOT! May I suggest two courses of action:
- First, beg/borrow/steal/buy a copy of "Who Moved My Cheese?" (Johnson and Blanchard) and read it. Takes about 30-35 minutes, and worth the effort. I resorted to this (being generally against the one-minute-manager type books) after my company did the reorg thang in January. It didn't change the situation, but made a helluva difference in the way I viewed the situation.
- Second, come to believe these words of wisdom from my darlin' Mom - you cannot change people's behaviour ... what you can change is how you react/respond to their behaviour. In other words - the reorg happened. Find a way to deal with it. Preferably by screwing your head back on straight, squaring your shoulders, and producing excellent work. If not that, by walking away from a situation you choose not to work with and finding another gig.
Hope this helps. And, if it helps - a lot of us have been, and will again be, in the reorg situation you describe.
Regards,
Anne Halsey
wrdfinesse -at- aol -dot- com
ahalsey -at- raindance -dot- com
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