an unwanted promotion...
I'm coming up on the anniversary to a promotion I received 2 years ago that I really didn't want.The plan was that I would leave sales and create an order processing department where none existed. For years, salesmen for the company would each turn their orders directly to our vendors with no verification by our company. It would be my responsibility to oversee these orders for missing details and to verify the prices and engineering standards were correct. Service was overwhelmed by the mistakes on orders and delays for installations due to incomplete drawings. Eliminating problems up-front is the only solution to survival. We didn't need more servicemen, we needed less service problems.
Before that job assignment took place, a salesman from another division announced retirement and my manager was promoted to his position. In doing so, he hired a replacement and spent three months training the guy... although the new guy was a people person with retail cabinet experience, his engineering and computer skills were sorely lacking. This forced a burden that was holding me from the transition to the processing manager position. There were other circumstances I wasn't privy to, but the new guy got bounced out and the next day I was told his position was eliminated... I was being promoted to fill the gap with the title of sales manager.
Strangely, all my coworkers congratulated me for the new position and started treating me as though I was the general manager, service manager, HR manager... and all important answer-man. It was weeks of denying I was anything above a single rung on the ladder, I became the traffic cop telling people who in the company 'did what' which was really surprising as though there had been a shift in geometry. We actually have people assigned to those positions for questions I was being asked!
We are really understaffed and my analogy to the situation is a busy restaurant Maitre d' running back to the kitchen to prepare meals as there is only one chef and no available kitchen help. I'm not liking it. I hired (or assisted in the hire of) 3 people but training them is time consuming. Sometimes it's easier to fix their mistakes than sending the work back for them to correct it.
The position is a 'dumping ground' to fix anything that didn't get done correctly for all departments. Staying focused and goal oriented takes a back seat to a few emergencies per hour keeping me from my actual duties.
Comments (5)
Yes, it is time-consuming at the beginning, but over time it will make life easier as everybody will know who to go to with their questions, and everybody will know that it is their role to answer those questions
The same with the training in of new staff. Yes, it is easier to just fix things yourself, but they will never learn that way, and you will be fixing forever. That is not fair on them, or on you. Time again has to be spent in the training shortterm, for longterm gain.
I don't envy you but please tell me that you are at least appreciated by upper management. I always felt appreciated and loved it.
The map has been on my 'do list' just as soon as I get through 20 other pressing issues.
I do show the new person what mistakes of theirs I had to fix, so they do get feedback.
Last Friday at 9pm I was told all the upper cabinets to a customer's order was wrong. They were to be special depth. I got online and checked contracts, signed drawings, the actual design drawing and no notes were made. Purchasing did catch that 5 of the cabinets were drawn special (but not marked) so they were correctly ordered special depth.
Now it's a 'she said - he said' argument when the customer said she told the salesman ALL the cabinets were to be special depth.
That's a few hours out of my day so far and I'll have to be connected to the reorder for cabinets to satisfy the customer. it doesn't matter what they signed for... the customer is always right.