January 15, 2006

I thought it would never end. Our Governor declared a state of emergency for our area. The region has suffered flooding in so many parts of the Puget Sound. On our property, we had flooding that nearly washed away our private road.

I had to complete sales training deliverables remotely during this crisis. Later in the week, I had the two-day sales training itself that well, being careful not to to undermine a colleague in the process.

Sales Training was a Success

We had our bumpy moments, but the training went well. I was especially pleased with my return-on-investment (ROI) sales tool training. The demo script turned into a work session, which was great. The only trouble was the start of the first day, but we managed to get through unexpected problems. All it all it went better than expected.

Talking Stress Levels with CEO

My CEO has been worried that I’ve been stressed, even before the flooding. “As a matter of fact, yes. During the Christmas vacation, I thought we were deferring the training to February, so I adjusted my workload accordingly. I also agreed to go to NYC for my own business. Then you really wanted the sales training, so I proceeded with that work. I didn’t see a problem with meeting the sales training deliverables. But the flooding caused problems in my ability to have 100% of the deliverables complete. I only completed 80%,” I said. “You are much hard on yourself than I could ever be,” my CEO replied. “The crisis with the road took priority in your life and I certainly supported it. I just didn’t want you to be so stressed about work,” he added.

Protecting a Collaborate, Non-Competitive Culture

In the same conversation, I had to bring up my CTO’s surprise news that he doesn’t know when he can build the new tab structure and UI design that Management Team had approved. “I have to walk a fine line in my job. I have experience in so many areas that don’t fall under marketing like Product Management. I make decisions on what to say and what not to say, but I make sure I fulfill my Management Team oversight role for you. I had to request the meeting between you, CTO, and me on Tuesday. We found out that our CTO didn’t know when he was going to build the new design of the product. It was a shock to you and to me. The CTO hadn’t communicated this to the Management Team. You had to leave the meeting and I could tell our CTO was deflated in having to tell us. As his peer, I made sure that he focused only on this his priorities for the week and we’d figure the rest out later.”

My CEO replied, “You didn’t have to do that. The CTO’s a big boy.” I replied, “Yes, but you’ve created a collaborative, non-competitive culture here, so I wanted to make sure our CTO, my teammate, was assured that we could solve it later. Today, it was important to communicate this news to the sales team during the training.”

I added, “I have to be careful in not recommending to the CTO how to do his job, because I know what could be done or how it could be done. We have different approaches to product management. I don’t want to be perceived as judging his approach. I don’t want him to think I’m telling him how to do his job. I’m sensitive to our roles and want to solve problems, not blame him.”

Play to Your Highest Level

My CEO then told me, “I need you to play at your highest level. I need you to say things that you feel you should say.” “I agree, but not at the expense of your culture. I can still accomplish that in talking with you and then you can decide how to handle something with one of my peers. But I’m uncomfortable about telling my peers how to do their job.” My CEO relented, and then reiterated that he wants me to contribute on issues that I know about. “Of course,” I said.

My CEO wants me to speak my mind with my peers on the Management Team. I’m happy to do that. I want to help my peers, not tell them what they should be doing. The Management Team’s camaraderie and company culture comes first. I treat others how I want to be treated. I know that I wouldn’t want someone telling me how to do my job, but I would be open with someone working with me on finding other solutions to get the job done. Now that this issue is settled, I can get my team focused on our next priorities: the new corporate Website, press releases, case studies, and action items from the sales training all while we maintain our Webinar schedule and other duties as assigned.

The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company. For previous entries in this series, click here. For the first diary entry, click here. For the highlighted Smart Lemming Diary entries, click here.

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