Two months ago, one of my bosses asked me if I would like to become a project manager for the interiors department.
I was very reluctant for a number of reasons:
1. I don't know a lot about interiors.
2. I'm more interested in being an architect, not an interior designer.
3. I feel like I need a lot more experience, generally, before I become a manager. ( I think one needs to be able TO DO the work EFFECTIVELY that one is directing other people to do.)
4. There was a strong vibe that the offer was actually coming under duress. In other words, somebody told my boss to offer me this position, whereas my boss didn't really want me to be a manager.
5. I've noticed there's a trend to give people inflated titles, when they can't really do the job of the title which they are given because they lack experience and knowledge. I don't want to be one of those people. I want to be competent at one job before I move to another.
Rather than straight up rejecting the offer, I promised to think about it overnight.
I went home and told Fritz and he informed me that I was crazy not to take it. His basic premise was that I would do more harm by not taking the job than by taking it and doing poorly.
The very next day, one of the people in the interiors department quit. Which freed up money to hire a project manager from outside the company. Which is what my boss really wanted all along. My offer was immediately forgotten and a job search was started for a project manager.
I was mostly ambivalent. Perhaps I had dodged a bullet and it was all for the best.
So then, a project manager was hired - and she has significantly less experience and less ability and less knowledge than me. She IS the person that my boss wanted to hire, for whatever it's worth. But in the meantime, we are suffering from her lack of knowledge, her inability to actually produce drawings, and her inexperience of ever being a manager before. I'm explaining things to her like the difference between a structural engineer and civil engineer – when, come to find out – what she really need to do is find a plumber to locate the source of a leak in an existing building. I bet some of you reading this – who have no experience in architecture or interior design –ALREADY knew that a plumber fixes leaks, not an engineer. But she didn't: she wanted to know if leaks were the job of a civil or structural engineer. It's painful, PAINFUL, I tell you.
Additionally, I find our personalities are conflicting....which is unusual for me...I get along with most people, but it does happen every now and then. In case you are wondering, the personality that conflicts with me has these trademarks: slow talker, yet very chatty and indirect in their approach. If a woman, then this woman tends to spend a lot of time and money on personal grooming, exercise and clothes. She's likely to speak quite nostalgically about children. For reasons that may or may not be fair, I read all of these characteristics as inauthentic, superficial, intellectually vapid and I have a difficult time not feeling frustrated by them. Yesterday, I started making a list of all the things that are changing in the office because of her influence.
1. Whispering. Not always, but about half the time she goes over to someone's desk and asks a question and instead of asking in a normal voice, she whispers. It may be she's trying to be considerate to those of us working. Or it may be she doesn't want others to hear. I don't know, but it FEELS sneaky and underhanded. Ick.
2. Meetings during meetings. An office wide meeting is occurring and someone - unannounced and unscheduled - shows up at the front door of the office. The new project manager will leave the occurring meeting and go chat with the new arrival. Not just for a minute or two. She'll go have a regular old meeting during the meeting, for 10 to 15 minutes, with whoever just happened to show up at the same time. I don't know: call me crazy, but I think it shows a lack of respect for co-workers.
3. Clothing compliments. We are now, apparently, the type of office where we compliment each other everyday on our wardrobes. Well, not me, because I'm just not into that. But other people are (now). Maybe for some people, this is a bonding exercise. But to me, it feels like distraction from the reason I'm at work. I'm there to work - do architecture. I'm happy to talk with you about a cool building or an awesome new flooring material. But I don't really want to talk about my shoes or my coat or where I got them. (I save that for this blog!) And because the instigator of this new chitchat is my superior, I certainly DO feel like I'm constantly being judged and evaluated on some criteria that has nothing to do with WHY I'm at work.
4. Cuteness and Sweetness. Look, I'm pretty sure this has no business being the criteria for hiring anyone, but these are the types of descriptors being thrown around my office these days after interviewees leave. Argh.
Anyway. Maybe I should have taken her job. As the situation went, I don't think I had the chance to, but whatever. I will say, between the lack of knowledge and the new office dynamic, this project manager is an unwelcome twist on an already strained system.
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