In my first job, I have had only one superior, and even then, it was of a totally different industry so the things that went on were different. In this current job, I have had three different Heads and four different Counsels. Plus a new additional executive who is (supposed) to be solely in charge of matters of a certain country where my company has quite a lot of projects in.
Each one has his / her own way of doing things. I could not say much about the first Head and Counsel, as I only worked with them two months and three months respectively. During the time I was under them, they did not overwork me, but neither did they totally ignore me. They gave me work as and when and also gave me quite a bit of autonomy in the way I do things. In any case, they were too busy trying to finish up their tasks before leaving that they did not really bother much about me.
The second Counsel is a much nicer person, but also quieter. He gave me autonomy in my work, but at the same time he is also friendly and warm, bringing me out to lunch sometimes, and we talk about things other than work. The third Counsel is okay, but in terms of work attitude, at times I felt she was not really on the ball, as in she was not willing to go beyond her assigned tasks.
The current Counsel is good. She is willing to take on more tasks, and receptive to changes in whatever things which she felt was not very well-managed in the past. She has no qualms doing more. And she is resourceful as well, she does not need anyone to tell her things or what to do; she looks for information and finds stuff on her own. Under her, I feel relaxed, but at the same time, I feel I am losing my control on certain things.
It was about five months after the exit of my first Head when the second Head (my previous boss) came on board. So when he came on board, in the beginning, a lot of things were in a mess, as most of the documents and information was gone in the interim. Thus, he went about cleaning up the mess, so to speak, and that period of time, I had to stay late almost every day, trying to sort things out. It was a trying time, but at the end of it all, things became much easier, and I became really familiar with the things our department ought to have.
Even though he is the type that raves and rants and does not mince words, but we know he is harmless because that is how he lets out his frustrations and stress. All in all, he does not pick on things I do and gives me autonomy in signing off correspondence and sending out documents. He puts me in charge of certain things which does not need absolute advise, so I am functioning like a non-practitioner, doing everything a practitioner does except without the advise.
He is a nice boss too, as in he will take on more work on his own, but at the same time, does not impose on others. Even though there were times when he got me so frustrated and angry (and I daresay vice versa), but through it all, he is one of the nicer superiors I have worked for and worked with. Which was why we gave him a good farewell when he was leaving.
It seems that it has been hard to fill up the post of the Head. The last time round, it took five months. This time round, it took three months. And the current Head has been here for more than a month, but I see my current Counsel doing everything, as I am always in meetings with her, hardly the Head, which makes me wonder, just what exactly is he doing?
And certain things he do, it seems like he does not seem to trust that people can do things effectively. I have been working here for almost two years (wow, it really has been that long!), and my job scope has increased when my previous boss came on board. Now that the new boss is here, he seems to want to be in control over everything, thus I no longer have the autonomy.
For instance, where I could sign off correspondence and send out emails in my name, he wanted to go through everything first and send out in his name, causing delays. Where in the past we had no issues over the billings our external counsels gave us, he wanted them to provide a time chit to double check and double negotiate.
I know a new person entails a new way of management, and I know I have to get used to a new style of leadership, but somehow I get this feeling that I have been "demoted" to just menial and mundane tasks, which is not what I want. I want more responsibility and being able to take charge of matters, like how my previous boss entrusted me with, and not just being a mere "runner" of sorts.
Now, with the new executive, she is supposed to be in charge of all the matters in that country, so I have been asked to pass her all the things associated with that country. But each time when emails come in or documents needed to be found, she will just direct them to me. The documents are in a shared drive, categorised according to country, state / province, projects, documents, done by yours truly.
So all she needs to do is to go into the drive, see which country, and then go in and look around for the documents. She need not go through me at all, as she just needs to look for the document in the drive. Yet she takes it that I am in charge of the documents, so direct everything at me. Even my current Counsel will look for the documents herself without bothering me, unless she really cannot find what she was looking for.
Furthermore, whenever emails come in, she will call me to ask about the content. Once when I was in a meeting with the Counsel, she called me on my mobile, asking where was I, someone sent an email, could I please go take a look and reply? I was really mad, because why do I have to do her job when she was the one who was hired for this? The reason why my previous boss brought her in was so she could be the one handling the matters for the country, so why keep asking me?
I already have to work for the whole department, the whole company, plus people from other departments, plus projects in other countries. She only has to be in charge of matters from one country, whereas right now, I have about five countries (and a few more upcoming) to handle! I do not mind taking on that country as well, but if I do that, then it would seem she is not doing anything, and the last thing I want is for her to lose her job or something.
Furthermore, she takes it that she only needs to draft the appropriate agreements for the country, and whenever English versions are needed, she will ask me to do the English versions according to her drafts. Can I say that my language skills is not on par at her level thus should not be doing that? Worse is that whenever I look through her drafts, there are quite a number of errors, and it seems like she just copied and pasted without really editing and amending the agreements. So what can I do except to amend and edit for her before sending out to the clients.
I do not want to make it seem that I am unwilling to work or help out. And I do not want to talk to my boss as yet because he is still relatively new and does not know the whole background on things yet, plus I do not want to make it seem like I am telling tales or backstabbing.
Which is why, working life is never easy. One really must know how to handle different kinds of people around. Different people have different ways of doing things and handling matters. My mum always says do not worry about doing more, because ultimately I am the one who gains in knowledge and experience. And that is true, because by actually handling the matters and facing the difficulties, I know better how to go about doing the work and facing other similar matters to come.
Each one has his / her own way of doing things. I could not say much about the first Head and Counsel, as I only worked with them two months and three months respectively. During the time I was under them, they did not overwork me, but neither did they totally ignore me. They gave me work as and when and also gave me quite a bit of autonomy in the way I do things. In any case, they were too busy trying to finish up their tasks before leaving that they did not really bother much about me.
The second Counsel is a much nicer person, but also quieter. He gave me autonomy in my work, but at the same time he is also friendly and warm, bringing me out to lunch sometimes, and we talk about things other than work. The third Counsel is okay, but in terms of work attitude, at times I felt she was not really on the ball, as in she was not willing to go beyond her assigned tasks.
The current Counsel is good. She is willing to take on more tasks, and receptive to changes in whatever things which she felt was not very well-managed in the past. She has no qualms doing more. And she is resourceful as well, she does not need anyone to tell her things or what to do; she looks for information and finds stuff on her own. Under her, I feel relaxed, but at the same time, I feel I am losing my control on certain things.
It was about five months after the exit of my first Head when the second Head (my previous boss) came on board. So when he came on board, in the beginning, a lot of things were in a mess, as most of the documents and information was gone in the interim. Thus, he went about cleaning up the mess, so to speak, and that period of time, I had to stay late almost every day, trying to sort things out. It was a trying time, but at the end of it all, things became much easier, and I became really familiar with the things our department ought to have.
Even though he is the type that raves and rants and does not mince words, but we know he is harmless because that is how he lets out his frustrations and stress. All in all, he does not pick on things I do and gives me autonomy in signing off correspondence and sending out documents. He puts me in charge of certain things which does not need absolute advise, so I am functioning like a non-practitioner, doing everything a practitioner does except without the advise.
He is a nice boss too, as in he will take on more work on his own, but at the same time, does not impose on others. Even though there were times when he got me so frustrated and angry (and I daresay vice versa), but through it all, he is one of the nicer superiors I have worked for and worked with. Which was why we gave him a good farewell when he was leaving.
It seems that it has been hard to fill up the post of the Head. The last time round, it took five months. This time round, it took three months. And the current Head has been here for more than a month, but I see my current Counsel doing everything, as I am always in meetings with her, hardly the Head, which makes me wonder, just what exactly is he doing?
And certain things he do, it seems like he does not seem to trust that people can do things effectively. I have been working here for almost two years (wow, it really has been that long!), and my job scope has increased when my previous boss came on board. Now that the new boss is here, he seems to want to be in control over everything, thus I no longer have the autonomy.
For instance, where I could sign off correspondence and send out emails in my name, he wanted to go through everything first and send out in his name, causing delays. Where in the past we had no issues over the billings our external counsels gave us, he wanted them to provide a time chit to double check and double negotiate.
I know a new person entails a new way of management, and I know I have to get used to a new style of leadership, but somehow I get this feeling that I have been "demoted" to just menial and mundane tasks, which is not what I want. I want more responsibility and being able to take charge of matters, like how my previous boss entrusted me with, and not just being a mere "runner" of sorts.
Now, with the new executive, she is supposed to be in charge of all the matters in that country, so I have been asked to pass her all the things associated with that country. But each time when emails come in or documents needed to be found, she will just direct them to me. The documents are in a shared drive, categorised according to country, state / province, projects, documents, done by yours truly.
So all she needs to do is to go into the drive, see which country, and then go in and look around for the documents. She need not go through me at all, as she just needs to look for the document in the drive. Yet she takes it that I am in charge of the documents, so direct everything at me. Even my current Counsel will look for the documents herself without bothering me, unless she really cannot find what she was looking for.
Furthermore, whenever emails come in, she will call me to ask about the content. Once when I was in a meeting with the Counsel, she called me on my mobile, asking where was I, someone sent an email, could I please go take a look and reply? I was really mad, because why do I have to do her job when she was the one who was hired for this? The reason why my previous boss brought her in was so she could be the one handling the matters for the country, so why keep asking me?
I already have to work for the whole department, the whole company, plus people from other departments, plus projects in other countries. She only has to be in charge of matters from one country, whereas right now, I have about five countries (and a few more upcoming) to handle! I do not mind taking on that country as well, but if I do that, then it would seem she is not doing anything, and the last thing I want is for her to lose her job or something.
Furthermore, she takes it that she only needs to draft the appropriate agreements for the country, and whenever English versions are needed, she will ask me to do the English versions according to her drafts. Can I say that my language skills is not on par at her level thus should not be doing that? Worse is that whenever I look through her drafts, there are quite a number of errors, and it seems like she just copied and pasted without really editing and amending the agreements. So what can I do except to amend and edit for her before sending out to the clients.
I do not want to make it seem that I am unwilling to work or help out. And I do not want to talk to my boss as yet because he is still relatively new and does not know the whole background on things yet, plus I do not want to make it seem like I am telling tales or backstabbing.
Which is why, working life is never easy. One really must know how to handle different kinds of people around. Different people have different ways of doing things and handling matters. My mum always says do not worry about doing more, because ultimately I am the one who gains in knowledge and experience. And that is true, because by actually handling the matters and facing the difficulties, I know better how to go about doing the work and facing other similar matters to come.
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