…well, actually I have five bosses. And initially, the title for this post was going to be ‘I have a demanding boss’… but then, thinking about it, I realized that it’s just not true.
The European XFEL company to be founded later this year will be set up with five directors at the helm: the executive director, an administrative director and three scientific directors. As the assistant to those five, my job is to keep things running smoothly and to implement their decisions.
Oh my goodness you think – that setup sounds as if:
- there’s probably an insane amount of competition between the five and
- I have to deal with different input from each of them.
Amazingly, neither is the case. I can honestly report that all five of them – although they have very different personalities – are easy going, attentive, good listeners, open to suggestions, share information generously and are generally very nice to be around. I have also not had a situation of being told different things by each of them, although that may be because there is just so much to do that there hasn’t been any overlap.
So things are good.
The only downside I can see so far is that now, during summer time, I keep seeing people saying how quiet it is now that their boss is on vacation – well, that’s just not likely to happen with five of them…
My boss is back, if that helps, and the rioting is beginning…
Getting a good boss is a wonderful thing; getting five seems almost miraculous! Do you have a primary boss at all? In theory I report equally to three or four different people, but in practice one person is my actual “boss”.
Well – my annual ‘employee interview’ will be done by only one of them, but on a day-to-day basis I determine my own tasking in discussions with all of them. How the interactions will be when everything is in place – I only just started and they’re just getting used to someone being available in my position at all, since we’re in the process of building up the company – will be interesting to observe!!
And I do realize that talking about having five good bosses doesn’t just sound unlikely, it also makes me sound like a complete suck-up. But there you go, I can live with that :)
How recently did you start…and have you seen the great email going around about the 6 phases of work?
It goes something like this:
Phase 1
You are listening to jazz — Your first day at work is great. Your colleagues are wonderful, stakeholders are cute, you love your desk, and your boss is the best!
Phase 2
You are listening to pop music — After a while you are so busy that you are not sure if you’re coming or going anymore.
Phase 3
You are listening to heavy metal — This is what you feel like after ONE month.
Phase 4
You are listening to hip hop — You become bloated due to stress, you’re gaining weight due to lack of exercise because you are so tired and have so much work to do when you get home, you feel sluggish and suffer from constipation. Your colleagues are too cheerful for your liking and the partitions are closing in. You have started thinking ‘WHATEVER’ about your boss.
Phase 5
You are listening to GANGSTA RAP — After more time passes, your eyes start to twitch, you forget what a ‘good hair day’ feels like as you just fall out of bed and load up on caffeine.
Phase 6
You are listening to the voices in your head — You have built a defensive wall of boxes around your desk to keep people away, You wonder WHY you are even here in the first place.
It is slightly miraculous having 5 great bosses, I hope it lasts for you.
How cheerful, Samantha! I can truthfully report that, in the jobs I’ve held so far, I have never reached Phase 4, not to mention Phase 5 – any sane person should leave a job and find something more suitable before they get to that stage if they can.
The situation at the European XFEL is a bit different from other companies in that it’s a big international project and a company that is just in the process of being built up – so there are lots of new people from many different countries with many different perspectives and – all around – a lot of enthusiasm for getting the job done.
I too hope it lasts – I am pretty optimistic.
It’s true that when you start a new job you often have a period of being all starry-eyed and happy about it, but I think you still pick up the general atmosphere of the place. So even though you will probably be able to make some complaints about your bosses in a year I’m sure you will still like them, since you are so happy about them now. Congratulations!
The technology sounds incredibly cool…
…map the atomic details of viruses, decipher the molecular composition of cells, take three-dimensional images of the nanoworld, film chemical reactions and study the processes in the interior of planets.
and that must help make work seem more like fun :)
Anna and Samantha, you list exactly the two things I’m enjoying most: the atmosphere and the possibilities for science the facility will open up. It’s a big deal and cool to be involved in! And don’t worry about me deluding myself: I’ve got enough experiences to give me some perspective ;)
XFEL sounds like the name of some arcane markup language.
[this comment certified 100% useless]
It doesn’t exactly roll of the tongue very easily, does it? I’ve also learned that it’s crucial to say ‘European XFEL’, as the XFEL is ‘just the instrument’. But we’ll make it a household name yet ;)
@ Samantha: I can relate to your five phases (been there, done that) except you’d have to hold a gun to my head to get me to listen to hip-hop or rap…and even then, I’m not sure I’d comply.
I think XFEL would be a good name for an “evil corporation” – you could imagine it in a movie with a big logo and some unsettling music to go with it. You are not planning to take over the world, are you?
Oh Anna – don’t start that rumour…
(mwahaha!)