Le Boss sashays into the office and up to my desk.
“Can you do me a favour,” he asks. Tiny tinkling alarm bells begin to sound in the empty, echoing recesses of my mind.
“Maybe,” I say as guardedly as if I were surrounded by a 10-foot-tall barbed-wire fence, a dozen machine gun nests and a regiment of Gurkhas. “What is it?”
“Can you take my place on a conference call tomorrow morning?”
“Probably, what’s it about?”
“It’s to do with the Honest Bob the Plumbers contract.” Now, we do a managed service thing for HBtP: call centre, website, etc. This is not my area at all; I only know from Klueless Support; I talk to machines all day, not people.
“But I don’t know anything about that,” I point out.
“Don’t worry,” he replies, “Just go on the call and listen to what everyone’s saying. You won’t need to do or say anything or make any decisions.”
I make a “what-the-flip?” face at him.
“It’s what I always do.” He says, and wanders off to find the kettle or engage in some other similarly critical, high-flying activity..
This is why he's paid more than me, obviously.
Ahh. Delegation. The hallmark of the corner office.
ReplyDeletePearl
Don't they have an App. for that?
ReplyDeleteWell, if you get really good at listening & saying nothing maybe they'll promote you too!
ReplyDeleteUrm I have one of them at home. His Lordship has occasionally left me quite literally holding the phone and listening in whilst he nips to the bathroom. If only they knew that it was Mrs Lordship listening in and not him. Ooh the mischief I could cause.
ReplyDeleteRoy Castle used to say that dedication was what you need, but i think you'll find that delegation is what you need - find someone less important than yourself to pass this meeting on to
ReplyDeletein my case that would be the man who cleans the public loos in inverness...no wait, i think he'd probably out rank me
It's all about the suit. A good suit will get you anywhere. :)
ReplyDeletePearl - You're clearly no stranger to office-based goings-on.
ReplyDeleteER - I'm not sure if there is an app for that, but I spy a niche in the market.
Bug - Heh, you might be right. Most of the top people in my company must have got there by not doing anything.
St Jude - You must be a model of restraint. You should definitely have a little fun on Mr St Jude's calls.
DFTP - I can hardly stop singing 'Delegation - that's what you need' now.
Michael - My boss almost never wears a suit - most days he doesn't even wear shoes in the office (true!)!
This is a great posting I have read. I like your article.
ReplyDelete