I think I may have screwed up

[raidermatt]

Hound, just to follow-up a bit on what Bob stated...

For the most part, I agree with just about everyone else that there was nothing 'wrong' with what you did. And, it did in fact solve your most pressing problem. However, if it creates a long-term relationship problem with any of your peers, you may do more harm than good in the long run.

Going over your peers' heads should always be the last resort. That's not to say you did this too soon, but from what you said about the steps you took, its not quite clear...

You definitely took the right first step in attempting to get your peers buy-in for solving your problem.

Then, assuming you have your manager on-board with what you are trying to accomplish (is that the president?), you could start pushing harder, ultimately making it clear that you have a problem that requires them supporting your proposed solution, or at least providing alternate solutions.

While your initial contact can be verbal, at some point you want to start using email so you have a trail of the steps you took. (others will typically be a little less likely to blow you off when they know all you have to do is forward an email to their manager that proves you approached them with a problem and haven't received a response). "Per our discussion yesterday, when will you be available to discuss new procedures..."

Finally, you bring their manager into the picture, simply by copying them on an email and saying "I know things have been busy, but I really do need your help with this ASAP...".

Then you escalate until you get the issue resolved.

I know that sounds like a lot of trouble to go through just because you are dealing with unresponsive people, but it really doesn't take a lot of time, and goes a long way toward preserving relationships. The other guy may have serious issues of his/her own, and while that doesn't give them the right to blow you off, it sometimes does explain why they were slow to get back to you.

You never know when your relationship with that person will affect you in the future.

Again, you may have done all of these things, or something similar, but thought I'd throw in my two cents just in case.

 

[WDWHound]

First off, I want to thank everyone for their comments and support. It really appreciate it on a day like today.

I also appreciate the comments from those who presented a slightly different perspective on this situation. The main concern expressed seems to be that I may have skipped some steps when going to the President, or that I went to the president to soon, thus torking off the other managers. I can understand how this impression came up given what I wrote. I condensed the details of what happened a bit to keep the post under 90 pages. Let me add a bit more detail.

Our company is small (120 people). Typically there is only one level of management between managers at my level and the President. That level is the VPs. When I first went to the other Managers, I brought the relevant VPs in on the discussion as well. Every meeting we had on the subject (and there were several) seemed to go well, but no action was ever taken. They were simply trying to placate me without taking action and the VPs seemed to be looking the other way.

To be truthful, I would have liked to have pursued this with the VPs longer, but I hit up against 2 problems. First, the low moral in my group reached crisis levels and I felt I had run out of time. Second, my people no longer trusted the word of the VPs, since the previous agreements had not been followed through on. I needed to do something that would regain their confidence and make them believe this time would be different. Going to the president achieved this, but the price was high.

Did I go to the president too soon? That’s the million-dollar question. I realize that I may have permanently damaged my relationships with these people, and I find myself wondering if there was any other solution that I somehow missed. I can't see any other way looking back on it, but there has to be something I could have done to prevent this.

I am starting to publicize how much the cooperation of these managers and the VPs was appreciated in helping to solve my group’s problem and how much I appreciate it. Maybe if I can make them look like the heroes here (and they really did step up to the plate once they were forced to by the president, so they deserve this credit), I can earn back some of their good will.

In the end, I do feel that the actions I took were necessary, but I didn't expect the amount of trouble I appear to have caused. I hate office politics. Its things like this that make me want to return to programming fulltime.

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

WDWHound,

I wish I'd had managers like you. I'm sure your employees must appreciate it. You were stuck in a bad situation and did the best you could with it. I think that attempting to highlight the good things the other managers and VP's do now is a great idea. I don't have any big answers. Just wanted to lend a little support.

Have a better day tomorrow

 

[raidermatt]

WDWhound, given the additional details, it sounds like you handled it about as well as you could have, and are continuing to do so. The efforts you are making to mend fences (that you aren't even responsible for breaking) sound very appropriate.

There does come a point when you have done what you can and just have to move on. Sounds like you are about at that point, so I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. If somebody doesn't want to let it go and learn from THEIR mistakes, it usually comes out in the wash eventually.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I'll echo Matt's thoughts, Don. To me it sounds like you took proper steps in the proper chronological order. You gave folks the opportunity to correct, they did not, you took the ball and ran appropriately with it. Stepped on toes are always painful, but typically, the pain does go away, in time. Hang in there, you are a good man.

 

[Bob NC]

I hope you didn't take my post the wrong way. My point was that even if you are 100% right and the others were 100% wrong, they are still going to view it as stepping on their toes. That's just office politics.

 

[Bob NC]

I hope you didn't take my post the wrong way. My point was that even if you are 100% right and the others were 100% wrong, they are still going to view it as stepping on their toes. That's just office politics.

 

[MeanLaureen]

Don't feel bad. I've had to do exactly the same thing. I've had supervisors over me that let everything go out one ear and out the other or would make empty promises. I finally said enough is enough and called the president of the company. Not only did I get what I needed, my "supervisors" learned that I wasn't going to sit by and let them treat me and my employees that way.

Give them time to gripe and moan about it. You hurt their pride and stepped on a few toes but they need to put some bandaids on those toes and learn to do their jobs so it won't happen again!

 

[snoopy]

I think it took a lot of courage to do what you did. Precisely the reason I hated being a manager, I hated the confrontation it took on a daily basis.

My hat is off to you, WDWHound. I'm guessing the people who are angry at you will soon get over it and find someone new to be mad at.

 

[DVCajun]

They were simply trying to placate me without taking action

Probably because they didn't feel it was a big deal in the first place, as you overheard later. You could have stood around being placated for the rest of the year and your staff is still in trauma. So you were a good manager-- you evaluated your current action (conferring with fellow managers) and found it to be ineffective; next you took what steps you needed to take to see the problem addressed and resolved. You were managing the situation like you are paid to do. Being the manager isn't all "Yes sir, I am excited about bringing you your coffee this morning!" It's about making decisions, thinking outside the box and potentially making unpopular decisions for the good of the company. Sounds to me that you did what had to be done.

Congratulations.

 

[DVCajun]

BTW, taking the heat with grace under pressure is the next chapter in this drama.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Well what is done is done. I suggest buying nice Christmas presents .
Honestly your next step is to hold your head up and conduct damage control. It won't be the last time stuff like this happens. DH is always doing it. He has to, he is in a corporate blob where no one wants to work.
Good Luck