Submitted by mjspin on
in
Forums
Hi All,
I've been listening to the MT podcasts for a while now and have finally signed up on the website as I have a question I would love to hear everyone's views on.
The department I am in is about to undergo a reorganisation in which staff have been 'slotted' into new roles and the role out is going to be very carefully choreographed to minimise opportunities for disagreement etc. I'm in a fortunate position in that my line manager has kept me up to speed with plans for me even though no-one was meant to have any knowledge or be consulted and she believes I will view the change as a significant career progression. I generally trust them (they have helped me significantly with promotion etc. in the past and so I have no experiential reason not too), I am aware that it will be in their favour if I accept without question the new role.
Given the fact I have the opportunity to prepare for the time I am formally told and in light of the fact it may or may not be a good outcome, I wondered what your advice would be in terms of both preparation and also how to responde generally in an internal reorganisation.
Should I be prepared to challenge role content, grade, salary etc. and how can I do this effectively when I do not know the details of the role I am going to be offered. Given I will be on the back foot (I believe that is part of the plan) should I ask for time to consider the offer that is made, even though I may not really have much option other than to accept or look elsewhere internally or externally? From what I can gather, my biggest concern at the moment is that the role content is going to be too much volume to be able to cover on my own. In that case is it a good idea to raise those concerns up front or wait and see how it pans out?
Any and all advice gratefully received.
How can you change what's not firm, or offered?
Wait. Maybe talk with your boss and work out what additional skills you should work on before the roll-out.
While you might be given advance insight into what's going down, you still don't have anything truly concrete to work with. Not even the full parameters of the role you'd be slotted into. Nothing to negotiate there, and nothing you could consider rejecting. With your boss thinking this will be a step-up for you, I presume that means they're expecting you'll get out of your comfort zone, but not expecting the new role will be beyond you.
With reorgs, there's always going to be adjustments. If your new role includes (new) management duties, you're at the right forum and website to learn what you need to fulfill the role with more than mere competence, and thus justify talking (later) about adjusting compensation for extra value (already) delivered. Anything too much for you, or for you right then, can shuffle off somewhere else, or be set to the side for a while. Or, better, delegated to any directs. (You think the CEO does everything in the company? Neither does any other manager do everything in the parts of the organization he's responsible for. That includes you, if it's a manager's role.)
-- Joseph