I'm either a great manager, or a horrible one

[puffff]

I manage a team of 4 people, including myself. Typically, I only allow one person out at a time. Seeing as how I expect tomorrow (the friday after Thanksgiving) to be slow, I allowed two of reports to take the day off. I asked them to put it in our group calendar.

My third report is a relatively new hire. When he first started back in August, he mentioned that he interested in taking the friday after Thanksgiving off. I said okay. At the time, he was still in the middle of getting all his access, so he didnt have access to the group calendar yet. I showed him later how to put himself down for time off, but I guess he forgot to put it in.

Earlier this week he reminds me that he had asked for tomorrow off. I could've said no, but since he had already booked a flight to visit his family, I made an exception, and reminded him next time, it needs to be in the calendar.

So basically, all my reports are out tomorrow and I'll be the only person left holding down the fort. Oops.

 

[Blieb]

What does your team do?

 

[puffff]

What does your team do?

I work at a WallSt firm and take care of our trading technologies.

 

[SandEagle]

you cannot manage yourself. you manage a team of 3 people, excluding yourself.

 

[waggy]

you cannot manage yourself. you manage a team of 3 people, excluding yourself.

this.

and its not the new hire's fault. you fucked up. You can't blame him for forgetting something when you forgot it yourself.

 

[KentState]

The only day I have to worry about it cyber Monday. We are shut down on Friday so I don't have to crush the dreams of my reports.

 

[Fingolfin269]

If everything runs well while they're gone then you are a great manager. If not then you are a horrible one.

 

[CallMeJoe]

If everything runs well while they're gone then you are a great manager. If not then you are a horrible one.

Or if everything goes well he's a lousy manager because he can't do more with a full team than he does just by himself...

 

[mattpegher]

As you seem to be the only one at risk if something happens, I see you as a good manager. You shoulder the burden instead of deflecting blame and work on others. Sounds like there is a good chance that no ill will come of it though so no purple heart just yet.

 

[Number1]

"Reports"??? Are you British?

 

[jjzelinski]

Also, it seems the global economy is starting to tear itself apart today so good luck!

 

[Fingolfin269]

"Reports"??? Are you British?

We call it that as well...

 

[Bignate603]

"Reports"??? Are you British?

My company calls it that as well.

 

[yoyomamama]

With power comes responsibilities, suck it up and handle it.

Oh well forgot to add, in my view you are a great manager, someone who takes care of his crew.

 

[MotionMan]

I work at a WallSt firm and take care of our trading technologies.

Just hit everything with some pepper spray. That should fix it.

MotionMan

 

[jingramm]

hey puffff, since you have experience working on a trading floor, do you know what it takes to be successful in that setting from your observation?
How do you differentiate yourself? What's a common characteristic or thread of all the traders?

 

[puffff]

hey puffff, since you have experience working on a trading floor, do you know what it takes to be successful in that setting from your observation?
How do you differentiate yourself? What's a common characteristic or thread of all the traders?

My ideal hire has the following qualities.

Works well under pressure. You need to fix an issue in a matter of minutes, and you have people screaming at you asking why it didn'twork and when it will be fixed. You need to stay focused. If it's a major outage globally, can you lead a conference call and not be intimidated by other senior managers that might be on the call.

Good technology skills. Can you solve problems you've never seen before, and do it quickly and efficiently.

Attention to detail. Click the wrong button, make a typo, you could cause big problems. Can't have that.

Its cliche, but you need to be a people person. If the salespeople and traders don't like you, you're not going to last.

 

[Baked]

Paper trail motherfucker. You put every motherfucking thing you say to your inferior in writing so when they try to make an excuse, you slap that signed paper in their face and tell them to sit down, shut the fuck up and do their job or they need to pack their shit and be successful somewhere else.

 

[Specop 007]

I generally let my team manage their own schedules among themselves until theres a problem.

We sat down last week and sorted out the Christmas schedule. Good for you on not back tracking and not letting the guy go.

 

[MotionMan]

So how did it go, OP?

MotionMan

 

[puffff]

So how did it go, OP?

MotionMan

Was busier than I hoped, ended up having to work a full 12 hour day, but nothing that I couldn't handle.