Still Thinking…

Suddenly I am faced with a situation most managers hate to face – resignations! My entire English team is gone (actually, there are only 2 of them but hey, that IS an entire team)! Just 10 mins after I briefed my boss aka Publisher about it , another workhorse in the office gave us a heads up that she may not last till the end of the year. All their reasons for resigning from the publishing industry is the same – tired, exhausted and jaded. Some, were even dragging their feet to work. They also have youth, young age and hunger-for-more in common.

I bet this issue has been addressed by many a managing editors before. Okay, there is only ONE managing editor post, a few senior editors and never-too-many editors (*we publish 300 titles maah!* ah kan…teloh Sin-Cia-Por dah keluar) How do you let the younger ones see the big picture and keep them happpy. How do you let them see there is a track ahead of them, albeit the cone of hierarchy gets smaller and therefore more competitive? I dont know, and this one I really have to figure. Soon, others will feel the same and I want to nip this in the bud if I can. But how?!

‘Recruit page 16 – AlJazeera looking for Executive Producer – based in KL!:)

That was the content of a text message I received this morning from an economist friend. He was obviously pouring through the recruitment pages of The Straits Times today and was excited at the ad. Before my fingers could even start tapping away on the tiny keypad which is often too bloody small for my fat fingers, to reply his message (to say ‘Thanks, but I got a job now and like it!’) another text message came.

‘Am in Kl now – I got job 4u! AlJazeera is looking for Exec Producer. Will bring back the ad’.

This time, the text message came from my best friend who IS in KL, and obviously trawling the recruitment pages of a Malaysian paper.

Coincidence? Maybe. Excited? A little. But my calling? No.

I am not sure about if what happened today were signs to apply, but my heart says no. 3 years ago, back in 2003 when life was in a lonesome apartment in Cyberjaya, work involved crooks and lawyers (if you prefer to name the lawyers as crooks – you are granted that opinion too) and every day I read the Quran to finish it – signs were aplenty. Someone told me that when you are often alone and talking to God, your other dimension is very attuned to the universe and His message.

These days, my intuitive reaction to something alike the double text messages from 2 different people, in 2 different countries – would be err…it is just coincidence. But what is coincidence? Is it a sign? Sigh. So confusing!!

My husband says I should apply. But do one apply when one is not interested? I like my job, I am building myself and I want to focus and deliver.

He says he will apply for me anyway. Ah well…Suddenly the job-hunting focus is on me now. Is that a sign too?

The workplace is such a potpouri of characters. Some with political agendas, some lost in the motion, some completely clueless, some with ideal perfect-world scenarios, some with shifted priorities and some preoccupied with I-deserve-better mentalities. But they never leave!. So who works?

I have a fairly young team. Say 20s to late 30s tops. Most have been in the workforce for less than 5 years, and thus find the workplace as a very demanding, and stressful place for their youth. Their complaints are endless. Some don’t of course, but their drooped heads and endless sighs are very telling. On the upper crust (this is beginning to sound like a recipe!) there are those with bitterness to intense that I cannot escape a conversation with the person without having the person tell me at least some ‘insight’ into how things are run. Is that a form of naivity from someone who has been working for years, masked with a tad more sophistication? Hmmm…

My years have taught me that information is power. How you use the information, is a measure of your tenacity to survive, or fail – if I can borrow a term from Carolyn Kepcher’s book – spectacularly. The information and intelligence I gather will only help me to know how to deal with certain people so that the best result can be reaped – with a common goal in sight, and agreed by both parties.
The problem with office politics is, many get confused in between, and treat it as personal. These are usually the same people who claims, “I dont play office politics, I just want to work.” Bull.

I love dealing and managing people, cos I am dealing with the intangibles. It is a challenge (thats why i love it lah!) to stay principled, focus on the company’s goals and yet get the best from this array of characters who got confused along the way. It is a zoo, but hey – animals do entertain.