I’ve had the same job for 11 years. I’m good at it, I enjoy it and I continue to have success after success. I manage a department and big team, have a visible role at the company, and still find new things to keep it fresh. I got my best review ever last year. I like my job.
But the higher-ups seem to have decided that I need to grow beyong my role, and move up to the next level and so forth. I’m being mentored and challenged and ask to write out 1-year and 5-year goals and crap. And I agree that for my career I really should; in my industry I’m very much an outlier having the same job at the same company for more than a decade. It starts to look odd on my resume believe it or not.
I figure if the company is getting sufficient utility out of me why push me into an area were I might not be as useful?
They are at least a bit worried about the “hit by a bus” senario because my team and our work is very much tied into my personal stewardship. They want to remove some of that dependancy. But no one is irreplaceable and if I did get hit by a bus today, my team would handily manage and move on.
I don’t really want to move up and expand and so forth. At the moment my job is the exact right mixture of easy (because I know exactly what to do) and challenging (because each day brings new situations). I fill my days with doing honest work that is important for the company, but I turn my computer off at 5 and don’t look back.
Really the crux of it is I don’t really want to work harder. And I don’t want to have to make stupid powerpoints on my saturdays, and have to work until late on weeknights and go to boring meetings instead of actually doing work.
What do I do - man up and do what they want me to do, or find a way to stay in my comfy nest? Being this frank with the company isn’t an option.
Well, you manage a department/team, right? Why not write 1-year and 5-year plans for how you manage your department and “bring it to the next level”?
That way, you’ve done exactly what they asked, but it doesn’t involve moving yourself out of the job that you’re happy with.
BTW, I empathize. Early in my career I mentioned to a fellow-peon that I had no designs on managing people, ever – I want to DO the creative work, not tell other people to – and she looked at me like I had two heads. (Besides which, on the rare occasion I was asked to manage people, it was pretty much exactly like baby-sitting an adult, which really pissed me off; by adulthood, frankly I expect people to be capable of managing themselves.)
I am in the same boat. I don’t manage people and am on the bottom rung of my company. But I love my job and wouldn’t trade it in. Luckily, the higher-ups know that I like my job and that I am an asset to the company in that position so they keep giving me more of what I love and big raises understanding that promotion is not something I am interested in.
I would just lay my cards on the table and explain that you love what you do and like doing it well. I can’t really understand why they wouldn’t just accept that.
I don’t really have any good advice for you, but I did want to chime in here and say you aren’t alone.
I like my job, and I’m happy doing what I’m doing. I don’t want to advance or move into management, because both of those things require more work. I’m very up front with my boss (who, fortunately feels the same way I do) that my work is something I do to finance my fun. Doing a good job is important to me, but but if getting ahead means putting in endless overtime hours and living my job, then I’ll stay where I am, thanks.
I think response #2 is great – bring your team to the “next level” – without having to imply that you want to “advance.”
My company is similar. We just had our reviews and my manager said “I know you want to advance to band X” (salary and promotion) but frankly I’m fine where I am. Furthermore, the higher the band you’re in, the more likely they are to lay you off because you’re making more money. Sad but true. The protruding nail gets hammered.
Ask the business development types what they are working on and if you can see their 1-5 year plans. Write to how you will support the overall corporate goals for the period. Address how you would gear up to handle big wins, and surprise them by addressing how a downturn would affect your team.
Talk a lot about the reasons why “depth of field” is important in your role, and what that brings to the overall structure. Also ask around about processes you support which may need tweaking, and show that you can be flexible to do things differently and evolve. Talk about areas you are assessing for efficiency strategies. (You don’t have to name the strategies, just that you are assessing.
Are you able to be honest with your mentor about your goals? Is your company in a position where they need to move you up (i.e. do you fill a gender or minority check box such that they are *afraid not *to show they are trying to advance you?) See if you can more feedback from your mentor about the overall motivation. Are you simply at the top of your payscale, and they are afraid to lose you but unable to increase your pay next time around?
Just a few thoughts, a bit random, but I hope something in there is useful.
Lean across the table and say in a low and mean voice: “Don’t fuck with me! Know that if you continue to fuck with me I will make your life hellish beyond all imagining.” Then sit back smile and laugh and say your plan is to develop and expand into corporate hack asshole who will keep people in line by being the biggest loose cannon possible when crossed. Are they looking for more of those?
I’ve worked for companies where this was certainly the unspoken truth. The moment upper management got whiff of somebody being in one position for “too long” they would quietly arrange either a promotion, additional duties (i.e., expanding the position), or something along those lines.
The one issue? Saying no. Maybe your industry is different, but in the industry I’m in, saying no throws you right back to the peasants. They’ll say it’s OK, we understand, but secretly you’ll be erased from their radar forevermore. Then good luck trying to go anywhere else in the company.
Depending on your corporate politics, you might be able to get away with something along the lines of: “I just got married, had a kid, dins in pre/elementary/junior/high school, taking care of elderly parents, etc and with this on my plate I’d like to stay in role for the next 2-3 years. I ask for your understanding and support, and looking to your helpt o advance when my life gets a little more settled.” blah blah blah. None of your managers will be around in 2-3 years.
I experienced the same thing years ago. I regularly relieved as manager of my unit but hated it. I didn’t enjoy going to meetings with idiots whose opinions I had to pretend to care about, I hated all the BS management overhead crap, I felt like I wasn’t doing anything useful just being a bureaucrat and filling in my days.
When they advertised the job that I had been doing for years I said the I wouldn’t apply for it. My director and her deputy tried to talk me into it. I said to them that I much preferred my actual job to the management job above me. They said, “Don’t you want to make a contribution at a higher level?”
I said that I was surprised that they weren’t pleased to have staff who were happy in the jobs that they had without pushing them into jobs that they despised. They left me alone after that.
Might it be useful to your case to describe how you have helped, or will help, people you supervise in advancing their careers as much as they want? In other words, mentoring. That’s another way to take your team to the “next level”, by letting the individuals each get to their next level while maintaining the team. If the concern is you hold too much corporate knowledge by yourself, perhaps describe how you have prepared/will prepare your team handle your functions when you are out of the office, even for extended periods. Then management will know that Hedda Rosa’s group will keep running smoothly, even if Hedda wins the lottery and leaves.
You’re running into The Peter Principle in real life. This is a really tricky one to get around, for all the reasons everyone has said already. No, your managers don’t want someone to stay at the job they like and are good at; they want you playing the same game they’re playing, which really has nothing to do with the health and welfare of your company. To be allowed to stay in your position, you have to play this game even better than they do.
I’m very fortunate to be a government employee with a great boss. I’m also in the very comfortable position right now of being eligible to retire any time I want to. I don’t want to be a boss. I’d suck at being a boss (having held a management position when I was in the Navy, I know whereof I speak.)
I told my boss flat out that I have no desire to advance. I did take advantage of an opportunity to cross-train in a new area, but my boss knows I want to be a worker-bee. He also knows I lack the… shall we say political acumen to advance in our organization. I’m pretty blunt about my opinions and I don’t always see their big picture.
I’m pretty sure I couldn’t get away with this in the real world…
What part of Intel do you work at?
ETA: are you female? Companies are under pressure to have women in leadership roles, or at least show that they are trying to.
