Did You Know I Played for Chelsea...?

OK, so the title of this blog may not be entirely accurate. Admittedly I did used to play football, but the local pub team Sunday league style of play was a little different to that of the higher echelons of the sport. I also wouldn't qualify to be a professional footballer as I don't earn enough money to bail out Greece and I've never cheated on my wife with:

1. a friends missus,
2. a relative's partner
3. a reality TV "celebrity"
4. a work acquaintance
5. a complete stranger
6. a friend
7. any/all of the above

(As with most elearning, the last option's the right one, just in case you were wondering...).

 

So why the weird blog title? It's because last week, Chelsea (that centre of excellence for high moral values) appointed a new manager in Andre Villas-Boas. Apparently he's their 7th manager in the last 7 years, although it's a little difficult to keep track. That's the sort of statistic that often leads to such comments as "that could only happen in football", or "the owner's obviously got more money than sense".
The 2nd comment is quite possibly correct in this case, but I'm now living proof that the 1st comment is actually wrong...
Last week, I started reporting to my new manager - my 7th in 7 years too. I can however out-do Chelsea in that my new manager is my 4th in a year.
Now this should raise a few questions in anyone's mind, some of which I will now try to answer:-

1. No, I'm not that difficult to work with :-)
2. No, I haven't bumped/scared any of my previous managers off. One did move to the US and another to Australia, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't anything to do with me...
3. Yes, I am in the same team but -
4. No, I haven't stayed in the same department (L&D, IT, Operational Services)
5. Yes, it does plant a small seed of doubt that the company may be a little unsure of where to put us...;-)
6. Yes, it does make it more difficult to develop and maintain a great working relationship with your manager.
7. Yes, I have continued to do my job well, irrespective of the department I'm in or the manager I have.

It's the last three answers that I want to look at in a little more detail though.
I think the company may be a little unsure of where the team (both of us) fit, but to be honest I don't actually feel that's all that important. We have a clear remit in what we do - to provide training (in whatever form) predominently for the company's in-house systems, but also for standard software. Whilst we have different areas of expertise and ways of doing things, together we've built a solid team that is always in demand by our customers. There have been plusses and minuses of working in each of the departments where we've been, but have the customers been concerned about that? No. As long as they get the training that best fits their need, they don't care where we sit.
So how about the one-2-one relationships with the multitude of managers. Hasn't the frequent changes made things more difficult in terms of consistency, personal development etc? Quite possibly, yes.
With any new colleague, there will always be an initial period of getting to know eachother, your likes/dislikes, ways of working etc. With a new manager you also need to throw in your joint expectations of how things are going to work. There's also the small fact that in each case, the 'new' manager wasn't new to the company and that we therefore already knew eachother.
Some consistency to build a working relationship is usually going to be a good thing, and having a manager who knows the effect that personal development can have on morale is crucial. But do you need a manager to be there all the time? No. For me, the ideal manager is one who's there when you need them, and not there when you don't. I'm generally considered to be a grown-up (most of the time) and can work equally well with others or alone.
So what are my first impressions of number 7? Well, I've known him for several years; we've always got on really well; we're having a get together later today / this evening with the other 2 teams he manages; and he's already asked where we want to take our professional development, and how he can help achieve those goals...
Pretty positive then.
And I'm looking forward to him being in the post for much longer than Mr Villas-Boas.....

PS - just in case you were wondering, I don't support Chelsea...:-))