Conference 7.286::digital

	Cody,

	Your story is bread-and-butter for those of us who have been
	reading this conference for a few years. If you have the time to
	look through some of the notes a couple of years back (before we
	started to spend much of our time wondering if we'd be in business
	next year) - you'll find a number of notes exactly like yours.

	In my view it's one of the company's greatest weaknesses that all
	the talk about employees being the greatest resource is just hot
	air. Digital does not put any effort into tracking its employees'
	performance and abilities, and planning the best way to harmonize
	their aspirations with the good of the company.

	Instead, it's left entirely to managers and employees. You must
	assess each individual situation entirely on its own merits, with
	regard to the personalities and track records of the specific
	individuals.

	First, the manager. Managers range the whole gamut from selfish,
	self-centered SOBs who couldn't care less about anyone else, to
	altruistic, highly-skilled man-managers who lead, motivate, and
	inspire. In terms of promotion, this is reflected in a range of
	behaviours. The worst managers take the view that they need good
	performers working for them in order to look good themselves. But
	they have no interest in spending time and effort developing
	potential high-flyers - they are only interested in getting the most
	credit with the least effort. Therefore they will aim to keep
	excellent performers in their group, and will not promote them
	unless forced to do so, as this would give the employee wider
	visibility. The main goal is to avoid that person leaving the group.

	The stuff about "desirability of staying in a certain job for a certain
	time" is bluster. The fact is that your promotion and salary reviews
	are gated by your manager, and EVERYTHING is at his discretion.
	You'll notice all these policies that they quote are vague and
	non-quantitative. How long is "a certain time"? What exactly is
	"outstanding performance"? Some managers are capable of saying
	that "3 level 1 PAs doesn't earn you the right to anything - so
	you work hard, that's what you're paid for".

	The best managers strive to develop all their employees as far as
	possible, and are happy to get them promoted and see them go on to
	greater things, in other parts of the company.

	Now, the employee. If the employee has a good manager, he can just
	work hard (as you have done) and rewards will come. But, if the
	manager is a bad one, or even middle-of-the-range, the employee must
	focus hard on what he wants, and plan and work to get it. If you
	ask most managers (or ANYONE from Personnel) they will tell you
	that Digital places the responsibility for career development
	squarely on the employee. It may sound strange that they want you
	to take time off from the work you are doing, to build up your
	personal network, inquire about the workings of the company,
	decide what job you want to aim for, and develop a plan to get
	you there; but that's what you have to do.

	The most important words are "find out", "plan", and "negotiate".
	Find out as much as you can: who gets promoted, what they did,
	what they do now, whom they got to know, etc. Make sure you're
	there when the beer gets drunk and the skeletons come out for a walk.
	Don't say much, just listen. Plan what you want to do - would you like
	to be a line manager, a consultant, a project manager, an engineer,
	a salesman, a marketing executive? Whichever it is, find some of
	those people and talk to them. Learn how they got there. Ask if
	they know of any vacancies. Finally, negotiate. Find out why your
	manager is treating you like a capital asset instead of a person.
	Is it a personal issue, or does he gain from keeping you down?
	If he is aware that you make him look good, he'll want to keep your
	services. This may be one good trading point. Etc.

	Finally, remember that although your manager may be absolute
	arbiter within your group, the company as a whole is much closer
	to a free market. If you are as good as you sound, there will be
	other groups who will go a long way to get your services. Find
	them.

	/Tom

	

    I Think Tom has a very good point.  The key to getting ahead at DEC is
    for the employee to establish a network and choose a career path he/she
    wants to pursue.  To do the research on career opportunities by going
    on informational interviews, keeping in touch with friends/associates
    who have the type of position you want to move into.  Employees can't sit 
    around and wait for something to happen.  They also can't anticipate
    staying in their current position, group or working on a project as
    something that is guaranteed.  Look at manufacturing.  All those people
    are being given the chance to leave the company.  From engineers to
    maintenance workers.
    
    Working at DEC is like the free market system as Tom pointed out.  Just
    imagine if people sat around and expected the government to find them a
    job and promote them  accordingly once they got it.  Doesn't work that way.
    
    Bryan

    Cody, there are *lots* of people out there in the same position you
    are.  Unfortunately, I've seen many of them leave the company because
    of this situation, since it is rarely explained to an employee that it
    really is the *employee's* responsibility to pursue promotions and to
    find out what it will take to get to the next level.  As Tom pointed
    out, there are some managers (the good ones) who will take the
    initiative to help the employee with his/her career growth, but my
    experience has been that those managers are, sadly, very few and far
    between.
    
    In addition to the suggestions given previously, I would also suggest
    having an informal one-on-one with your manager.  State your concerns,
    see if he/she can offer a valid reason.  (However, I got a donut that
    says they can't).  Then work with your manager to develop a strategy to
    get you to the next level.  Based on your stated last 3 PA ratings, it
    would appear that a major portion of whatever the criteria is has
    already been accomplished by you.  But whatever you do, *DO* talk to
    your manager about it; opening the communications channel is infinitely
    better than sitting and stewing about it.
    
    Good luck
    Jon

    Thanks for the replies.  All good advice that I'm already putting into
    practice.  I should point out that I've chosen a technical path and
    changed to a unit several months ago that was more closely aligned with
    that career path.  I should also point out that my current manager
    seems to be more attuned to the people's needs in the unit, which is
    refreshing.  Seems there is less of the sugar-coated verbalizing and
    more of the "go get what you want" attitude, but as .3 pointed out
    these types are definitely few and far between.
    
    Cody

    
    Cody -
    
    One question to ask, are you a 1 performer because you are doing an
    outstanding Specialist 3 job, or is it because you are doing a higher
    level job. If you are doing an excellent job of what you signed up to
    do you may not merit a promotion, the job content much change first.
    Ask your manager what YOU can do to GROW your job to Specist 4.

    "Why would you even care if you got a promotion?", he asked somewhat
    facetiously. As I recall you have not been with DEC that long and never
    got a promotion. Are you living under the delusion that a promotion
    will catapult you into a new standard of living? If you are, boy have
    WE got a surprise for YOU!
    
    Defition of "Promotion At DEC": 
    
    "You are hereby promoted. You get the same salary increase that you
    would have gotten had you not been promoted. If, by chance, you are so
    far up in your current salary range that the full amount of your
    standard pay increase is not being given to you because you are at the
    top of your range, this problem is now solved. Congratulations!"
    
    As a manager, my proposal to management has been to set aside a pool of
    money (unrelated to the "increase pool") that is totally dedicated to
    "PROMOTIONS". A manager would have to justify a promotion, and would
    submit a request to tap into the promotion pool for $n,000.
    
    The result is an employee who has worked his or her butt off gets
    rewarded with a NICE salary hit in addition to their normal pay
    increase, AND they now have a nice, new, fancy title.
    
    /se
    

re: .1 	Good statement of the situation! 
	(BTW: Hi Tom; you may not remember me, we had lunch in Basingstoke
	 last year)

re: -.1 I can think of one reason why I push for promotions: it might help
	when interviewing both inside and outside of the company for a new job.
	It's another bargining chip.

    I can agree with the suggestion to select a career path and map out a
    strategy.  I've been in Manufacturing for over 6 years.  I've had 1,
    count 'em, 1  so called "Career Planning" meeting with management, and
    that was shortly after my 1 year anniversary.  Recently I approached
    the manager of the Operations group and told him I was interested in
    joining his group, what did I need to do to better my position.  Right
    away he got me started on some self-paced couses and helped me plan a
    career development plan.  I have applied for an entry level position
    with this group (in a slightly lower pay range), and feel I have a
    better than average chance of getting the job.  But the general
    attitude of many manufacturing folks is that the job they are doing is
    all they will ever do, because "nothing ever comes their way".  You
    have to go after it, with some help and advice.  I encourage managers
    to help thee folks grow because there is a wealth of untapped abilities
    at this site, probably the same at countless other locations as well.
    
    Jerry