That I filled out an extensive survey commanded by the Cruise Director of Club Medicated that will probably end up collecting dust in my personnel file. And it ain’t an anonymous survey.
In my “drafts” folder, I preserved my survey in its entirety, being that it will probably be ignored or I will be punished for it, which I did note in the “additional comments” section at the end. Cruise Director says he will be the only one to read the surveys, and he will present a summary to the other execs. Which means that the people who either couldn’t be bothered to write real answers or those who simply went all Stepford on us and said they love Club Med and have no complaints, well, those will probably be presented, and the rest of us (okay, just me) who went apeshit and wrote five full pages of commentary will have wasted a hell of a lot of time and effort for, probably, nothing.
Anyway, here is part of my completed survey. And yes, I have no problem telling the CEO what’s on my mind. He usually rejects my ideas to my face anyway or embarrasses me in public. I owed him a piece of my mind. Unlike a few of my colleagues, I can spare it.
3. Name three things that prevent you from doing a better job here at (the Veggie Patch).
Semantics. I am very much a decision-maker and if I don’t make a decision (or get an answer) on the spot, I lose my sense of urgency. When we have to schedule five meetings and run the idea up the flagpole, I forget why I even asked or involved anyone else in my process. Sometimes, I don’t feel like I own my decisions. I’ve got a great title and job, but I don’t possess a great sense of empowerment. I just feel like I have to check with everyone on decisions I make, or solicit input on trivial things, just to Cover My A**. The whole CYA mentality that mandates us to copy 10 people on our correspondence (or be one of the people copied) is tiring. I personally don’t give a hoot who’s responsible for what, just as long as the work gets done. And I don’t get why people can’t forward an e-mail to the right person, instead making us re-direct our requests. What a waste of time! I can’t count how many times I say, “Forget it, I’ll do (whatever the task) myself,” and that only serves to reward bad behavior and keep me from my work.
Even though you may see three answers in that statement, that was only my first answer. 🙂
Is every workplace like this?