Friday 27 January 2017

Give Me One Reason Why I Should not Give Specific Details!

Give Me On Reason Why I Should not Give Specific Details!

I would like to thank you again for stopping by.
I have been provoked to make this article in response to repeated call from different quarters telling me I should not give specific details of events happening in my workplace. The article have to do with “How to Succeed in a Challenging Work Environment”. I appreciate the advice of these well-meaning person. 
I want to point out that I write strictly for learning purposes and dissemination sound information.
But, I have a bad news, though. The fact is that I have dozens of articles with specific details including names of the company, the persons involved in the events, the phone numbers and other relevant details needed to verify any article I am going to write. And I am going to publish them, if not me, someone else would still publish all of them if necessary and at the right time. As for all these persons telling me not to include the specific details like actual names in my articles, my question for them is,
  • What is one good reason why I should not do that?
  • What would make your articles authentic if  it is not verifiable and contain specific details?
  • Why should we be afraid of expressing our view in this information age? Or are we still living in the dark ages?
  • Beside why should one not speak out especially in a situation that personally affects him?
I would like to point out clearly that the first step in giving advice is to first make effort to understand the situation and circumstances of the  person expressing his objections. Then you will be in the right position to give a well thought-out and informed advice.

Why I choose to Write
 I would take some few lines to let you know why I decided to express my views in writing.

1. My IT Background: As an Information Technology Professional, I feel the obligation to pass authentic and verifiable information to those who need it. I work as a Lead Software Engineer in the ICT Department and as such would not cringe in fear of expressing sound facts and relevant supporting arguments and details.
2. I have the Facts: Another important point is that I’m not just making up stories. I actually relate based on situations I have experienced or I have been through. As such I have the guarantee that the actual facts are presented as they are and lessons can be learnt from it.

3. I Feel a Relieve: Generally, if expressions are kept inside, it sometimes leads to depression or other more serious effects. So I found out that when I express myself in writing, then, I could feel some kind of relieve that some burden has been taken off my chest.

Reasons Not Why I Choose to Write This subtitle seems not clear  to me but I would like the point out that I’m not writing for negative reasons. So I would say the reasons below are not and never would be reasons for my writing. I strictly write for learning purposes.
  • I don’t intend to undermine the reputation of anyone or any organization. As I repeatedly mentioned I write to teach and inform
  • I don’t write to fight a cause. I don’t have anything to fight for, so I’m not writing to fight any authority or to draw some attention to some cause.
Once again, I would like to thank everyone that have advised me, I sincerely appreciate and for sure this response shows that I’ve carefully considered your advice. 

Saturday 21 January 2017

How to Succeed as a Sa1p3m Staff(in a Challenging Work Environment)

How to Succeed as a Sa1p3m Staff (or any other challenging work environment) Thanks for stopping by.
  • I would like to share this update with you on how to succeed in a challenging work environment for  a professional.  What really is a challenging work environment? For me, Sa1p3m is not just a typical example, but an exceptionally challenging one and I would tell you why in a moment.
So some of the topics we are going to discuss includes the following:
  • What factors make a work environment challenging
  • How does a challenging work environment affect productivity and effectiveness
  • What effect does a challenging work environment have on the workforce
  • The role of management
  • The role of staff union
  • How to manage a challenging work environment
Let’s begin with the fir first point: What factors make a work environment Challenging ?

What Makes a Work Environment Challenging? Disregard for Standard Practices (Unprofessionalism): When an organization fails to maintain a certain level of standards, then you will find it challenging as a professional. A typically example is when job roles are not properly defined and you find the same employee working on different roles in a unsystematic way,  and you find yourself in the team, it’s going to be challenging to cope.

Incompetent Head of Unit/Unskilled Managers: Managerial skills which includes leadership and interpersonal skills is the key to managing human resources. When a manager is incompetent and lacks these skills, it would be a disaster for him to have persons under him. An example is a head of department would lack basic communication skills and resort to shouting and insulting employees under his unit. I a situation like this he would not have a grip on the personnel neither will he earn their loyalty

Manager being less qualified than Team Member: Example is a Technician managing a team made up of engineers!(I find these amusing). Unfortunately, that is the situation in some department in Saipem. Example is ICT department. I rest my case!

How does a Challenging Work Environment Affect Productivity and Workforce 
In simple terms, it reduces productivity as employees would be low on morale while other try to find a way out of the situation by looking elsewhere. 

  The Role of Management and Staff Union The bulk of the blame for having an avoidable challenging work environment goes to management of h organization. This is because they are aware of the situations that make the workplace challenging for their employees. They also hold the power to make necessary changes to improve the situation. Staff union also have the role of fighting to ensure that management does not exploit the employees in any way.

How to Cope
The few suggestions below has helped many cope with challenging work environment
  • Improve your confidence by developing more professional skills: This you can achieve by getting professional certification in your field of study.
  • Enhance Communication in Line With Corporate Standards: Make your concerns known to those in positions of responsibility but avoid any form of confrontation.
  • Avoid Complaining: This would not help matters. Don’t spent time complaining or even discussing with team members who may not see the matter in an unbiased perspective
  • Don’t Compromise Professionalism: No matter what, don’t compromise laid down standards or best practices. Don’t do things the wrong way just because every other person does it that way.
  • Get Instructions in Writing: If you are given an instruction by an incompetent boss, make him put it in writing, say an email. This would ensure that he bears responsibility of the outcome.

I personally have applied these recommendations and have found the workplace not as challenging as it used to.

Thanks for your time and I hope this has been informative for you. If so leave a comment to let know how you feel.