A work moment...

OK, I have to braindump and get my crap together....I figure here is as good a place as any.

1. Number of staff. I have 59 people who report to me - that includes about 6 vacances. I found out this week that I'll probably get at least another 5, maybe even 10. I'm already stressing about performance review time and not sure how i can do it effectively.

2. My team leads aren't team leads. This is a constant source of frustration. they're so damn young and inexperienced. They're great at what they do but they don't strategize or think outside the box. Some of them are great, but others are "OK". They're good people, they just have to get used to me as their boss - I cannot tell them how/what to do as i don't know the financial markets or products like they do. It's almost like they want me to give them answers all the time. They need to realize that they should be looking for the answers!!!!!

3. My boss. She's great, I like working for her but sometimes I think she doesn't understand the neediness of direct reports. The people who work directly for her are like me...can handle their own stuff and don't need her. However, no matter how hard I try to be organized, get ahead there seems to be no way of being 3 steps ahead. this is VERY VERY frustrating.

4. Sheer volume of email. I must get at least 400 emails a day. By the end of the week I generally have 400-600 that I've not dealt with. Sooooooo........i'm trying a new tactic this week - I'm ONLY reading emails that are sent directly to me, rather than all. Anything that I'm copied on is getting sent to a directory for me to peruse as I see fit. Hopefully this will make me more productive.

5. Account teams and politics. Already in my short life here I've been asked to promote 2 people that I wouldn't have. Luckily one of them quit - good guy...just not what I consider a team lead. The other one is doing OK - she's just trying to be a super trainer rather than a lead. she's not taking accountability for her decisions and actions and that means her Account teams escalate to me when she's under-resourced. The fact that she agreed to certain things makes me mad as she doesn't communicate that to them. Now, I'm being asked to promote someone who's marked a 4 on their review (below average!!!!) because "he's a nice guy and can schmooze well". Now, c'mon! I ask you.....is that a problem waiting to happen. Can you imagine the message I'm sending to the rest of my team.....yeah, don't perform, under achieve and Phil will promote you. This one is REALLY REALLY making me mad. I'm hoping HR will side with me.....I have come up with a compromise....I'll take him on, but at his current level. He'll have 90 days to prove he's worthy. We'll see.

OK, I feel better now.... at least I can vent somewhere. I'm still glad I moved, these are just the challenges I face. I guess I'll find answers somewhere.......