I had a realization over the weekend, about a problem I’ve had in several jobs, that is related to this. After I become a senior level technical worker, management asks me to take on more of a leadership (team lead, not executive lead) role. I’m fine with that, but then mis-communication problems cause me to hesitate or stay passive, so I get criticized for not taking the lead. The miscommunication issues are usually along the lines of not being sure what decisions I should make.
For example, I may know that project priorities are A, B, and C but the manager didn’t tell me any concrete delivery dates. When the customer asks, I defer to the manager and that seems to be a problem: I didn’t take initiative. Or similar, I may know the manager wants a project to be done roughly a certain way, but I don’t have specifics. So when asked, I then ask the manager what his specific preferences are. I feel like I am expected to take the initiative on stuff like that, but I’m puzzled. Do I just make my own decisions and run with them? What if I the decision I make is NOT what the manager wanted?
I see this starting to happen here, too, which is why I ask.
Missed the edit window. One more example of being perceived as failing to take initiative is that I’ve been asked to do the necessary research to answer all product questions that customers email us. Management tends to request this as a way to learn the product.
I’ve been here long enough (4 years) to know that what this really means at this particular company isn’t gaining product knowledge (it works this way) so much as learning product history (here is why it works this way). Product history was never documented and resides in the heads of our very senior level coworkers. So most of the “research” I’m expected to do is to get with those people to help me answer the questions. I don’t have a problem with that on it’s face. My problem is the apparent expectation that I will absorb everything my senior coworkers know from their 15+ year tenures here in only a few months of “knowledge transfer”.
Realistically, it will take **me **15 years to gain 15 years of product history knowledge, with maybe a little bit of sketchy acceleration by picking the brains of my coworkers, but not much. So how can I make sure that I am perceived as doing this well, when it’s an unrealistic expectation to begin with?