I’ve always been a strong believer in providing people the tools they need to get their job done, but then again, I’ve always managed to somehow get the tools I needed to get the job done, even if that meant providing them myself in order to make sure the job gets done right.
So I’m not sure which I’m more disappointed in, an employer that doesn’t provide the tools that the employees need, or employees that don’t request or somehow try their darndest to get the tools they need.
Of course I also often find myself amazed that people don’t want to do the best possible work they can. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised by this anymore…
4 replies on “The Tools You Need”
I think it is really understanding the problem and finding the best solution.
For instance: My company isn’t a multimedia company. They don’t pretend to be (but try, sometimes). I am amazed and what little our PR person and I have to work with. I gave up asking for program upgrades (or anything at all. I had to fight for weeks to get IT to upgrade me from Firefox 1.0.4 to 2!) Now I just bring my lappy in to work. I refuse to make my life harder and fail to meet deadlines because I don’t have the tools necessary to complete the job well. It is my reputation on the line when I leave here, not the company’s.
Right, so the fact that you take pride in your work comes through in the fact that you’ll do what it takes to get what you need to do your job right, including supplying your own equipment.
When I first read this post, I wondered “Hmmm. Bitter?” Then I read the comments and you know what came to mind? Ever read a book called “Why Nothing Works”? Its about the lack of pride that more and more workers have taking in their work, the causes of it (unsupportive employers, overall national zeitgeist, blah blah blah) and all.
A lot of getting those right tools is having the business acumen to put your request into business terms (estimated ROI, etc) that the bean counters can understand. And many people who are loaded with considerable creative skills may not necessarily have those business skills. However, it’s management’s job to see the forest for the trees as well. Its a two way street.
v’ron, I’m not bitter, it’s just observations from past positions. In some cases I was in the position to help provide those tools, and in others, I couldn’t easily get the tools I needed without doing it on my own. I’ve not read Why Nothing Works but it sounds interesting, and I can definitely see why some people don’t take any pride in their work, because I’ve been in positions where that has been the case.