Hi all,
It’s been a while and I'm not sure if the topic belongs here. If I'm wrong, may the moderator kindly move this topic to the appropriate sub-forum.
I beg your indulgence as this may be long since I need to provide contextual details for your better appreciation of my concern but nonetheless I'll do my best to make my query as brief as possible so here it is.
Currently at 30, I am working in an office within my organization right now for the last seven years that specializes in project development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. In the said office, it is headed by a Project Director. There are 3 project divisions in the said office with each having two sections each. For each division, there are ten positions (from highest to lowest rank) say 1 Project Supervisor, 1 Assistant Project Supervisor, 2 Project Unit heads, 2 Project Specialists, 2 Project Officers, and 2 Project Assistants.
4 years ago, a new top management took over the leadership in our organization. In particular, one of the past office director was chosen as one of our organization’s Vice-Presidents. For unknown reasons, he has a bad blood with my Project Director. Worse is that the former extends whatever ill feelings he has to whom he perceives as close to the latter which unfortunately includes me. He accused me in from of my Project Director of harassing someone from another partner organization which he just heard from someone. I was so speechless in disbelief during that time. My Project Director defended me saying I can never do that. Afterwards, a concerned colleague of mine called the person referred in our partner organization as the one I harassed. She profusely denied that such incident occurred and if it did, she is not the type who will hesitate to report such incidence. She was shocked in disbelief hearing such rumor against me.
Another instance is that there was this one time when the said Vice-President summoned me to his office. He asked me to retrieve a past report of which I was not yet a part of that organization when that documentation was made. When I failed to do so, he became furiously mad with his eyeballs seemed to be dropping and began to say things like most of the time I am late (I will not dispute that because during that time there were some public works ongoing from my place to work but I was not the only one having that problem, many in the organization did as well), that he has copy of my daily time records and he is watching me, all those stuffs. I got froze not for myself but for him because it seems he might have a heart attack or something. I excuse myself leaving the room trembling. When I visited our office, the Project Director and other officemates noticed that I was still trembling. I left early that day. I am not surprised that the said Vice President is spreading rumors against me. I had that confirmed when another Vice-President whom does not know me because he came from outside the organization asked me if I was still tardy. I was shocked for someone who does not know me asking me that question. I just replied not anymore and excused myself. There were other instances but those are enough to highlight bad trends.
What puzzled me is that why is the former director-turned-Vice President went to great lengths just to do these things against me. I am upper rank-and-file and he is top management. From the organization perspective, he was five positions higher away from me. That laser focus is understandable for people who are 1-3 positions lower from him. Back when he was a director from another office, I cannot recall an instance I did him any wrong. We did not have many interactions since we were from different offices. The most recent I can recall was that during one workshop implemented by his office of which I was one of the participants, he and another person from a partner organization approached me back then while I am attaching my metacards. During that time, the five positions for Vice President were open. Both he and the Project Director were contenders. He told me that he is glad that I am the one attending their workshop saying that the Project Director is sleepy and inactive of sorts. I was shocked hearing him say that thing with a person from a partner organization. This person was clearly badmouthing the Project Director in front of other people. It’s something I never do against a colleague more so in front of others who are not part of our organization. I just nod my head and did not say anything.
The situation of the Project Director is not good either. His inputs, no matter how good, are always rejected. His initiatives, no matter the impact, are not supported for funding. There were times that the former Director-turned- Vice-President even embarrassed him. A division under, his office, was transferred to another office without him being given prior notice (unluckily I’m a part of that office, I will save that story for another post). What worse is that this Vice-President successfully ill-rumored the Project Director to his top management colleagues thus not getting any support. Indeed, things were so bad that he decided to retire out of frustration.
In my case, it is not that I am personally close to the Project Director, what we have is something out of mutual and genuine respect. He is like a mentor. He helped bring out the better in me. He treated me as an equal. He never reprimanded me for giving an opposing view to his ideas. He never imposed his superiority on me. I must admit I grow so much under him. He sold me well to the previous top management. He made sure that every good will and accomplishment I made are recognized and known by the former top management. Back then, the former top management went directly to me asking me to do tasks and I delivered it well for them.
That is no longer the case for me under the new management. Even more so now that the Project Director has retired. It feels that I no longer matter at all. It took me more than three years to accept that until they are the ones who are in top management, I will never make it. Even if I walk on top of water, they will just say I cannot swim.
I heard various things from various people. One is to wait until their term as top management is over. After all, they only have three years left. And given that, they are filling our organization with people whom they personally known. The thing is I hope by the time that their reign is over, there will still be remaining top posts vacant that is available for someone like me.
Another thing I was told is that promotions are not based on intelligence, merit, kindness, diligence or anything else I can imagine. All promotions are based on trusts. If someone gets promoted over you, just means the promoting person or group trust that other person more than you. It does not matter that you are smarter, work harder, or even better looking, they will put the one they trust more. I was told I must do something if I do not want to remain stagnant. I have to be close. I need to earn trust and friendship with key people in our organization. The problem is I was never given the opportunity to do so. Thanks to one of the Vice Presidents, almost all of the top management have preconceived ill-notions about me before they see what I am capable of.
Honestly, unless something miraculous happens like winning a lottery, I have a very difficult time leaving that deep snake pit of a place. I cannot find job elsewhere at the moment though I am gradually working on it. So my questions are revolving around surviving and rising above this bad situation:
1. I admit my morale is so low right now. I cannot think this matter away. And even if I am to be religious, I cannot pray this matter away either. What mindset should I have to be able to adapt to what I have right now? How do I develop this mindset?
2. What other positive and realistic actions I can do to make my situation better? I still want to be that flower that blooms in times of adversity.
I apologized if I cannot be specific on some details that may reveal my organization or more so my identity but I pray that somehow you got the gist of my narrative. If you have questions feel free to do so but not in a matter of asking specific details about my identity or that of my organization. I said from the start that I will do my best to keep this brief but this is as concise as it gets. Thank you so much.
It’s been a while and I'm not sure if the topic belongs here. If I'm wrong, may the moderator kindly move this topic to the appropriate sub-forum.
I beg your indulgence as this may be long since I need to provide contextual details for your better appreciation of my concern but nonetheless I'll do my best to make my query as brief as possible so here it is.
Currently at 30, I am working in an office within my organization right now for the last seven years that specializes in project development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. In the said office, it is headed by a Project Director. There are 3 project divisions in the said office with each having two sections each. For each division, there are ten positions (from highest to lowest rank) say 1 Project Supervisor, 1 Assistant Project Supervisor, 2 Project Unit heads, 2 Project Specialists, 2 Project Officers, and 2 Project Assistants.
4 years ago, a new top management took over the leadership in our organization. In particular, one of the past office director was chosen as one of our organization’s Vice-Presidents. For unknown reasons, he has a bad blood with my Project Director. Worse is that the former extends whatever ill feelings he has to whom he perceives as close to the latter which unfortunately includes me. He accused me in from of my Project Director of harassing someone from another partner organization which he just heard from someone. I was so speechless in disbelief during that time. My Project Director defended me saying I can never do that. Afterwards, a concerned colleague of mine called the person referred in our partner organization as the one I harassed. She profusely denied that such incident occurred and if it did, she is not the type who will hesitate to report such incidence. She was shocked in disbelief hearing such rumor against me.
Another instance is that there was this one time when the said Vice-President summoned me to his office. He asked me to retrieve a past report of which I was not yet a part of that organization when that documentation was made. When I failed to do so, he became furiously mad with his eyeballs seemed to be dropping and began to say things like most of the time I am late (I will not dispute that because during that time there were some public works ongoing from my place to work but I was not the only one having that problem, many in the organization did as well), that he has copy of my daily time records and he is watching me, all those stuffs. I got froze not for myself but for him because it seems he might have a heart attack or something. I excuse myself leaving the room trembling. When I visited our office, the Project Director and other officemates noticed that I was still trembling. I left early that day. I am not surprised that the said Vice President is spreading rumors against me. I had that confirmed when another Vice-President whom does not know me because he came from outside the organization asked me if I was still tardy. I was shocked for someone who does not know me asking me that question. I just replied not anymore and excused myself. There were other instances but those are enough to highlight bad trends.
What puzzled me is that why is the former director-turned-Vice President went to great lengths just to do these things against me. I am upper rank-and-file and he is top management. From the organization perspective, he was five positions higher away from me. That laser focus is understandable for people who are 1-3 positions lower from him. Back when he was a director from another office, I cannot recall an instance I did him any wrong. We did not have many interactions since we were from different offices. The most recent I can recall was that during one workshop implemented by his office of which I was one of the participants, he and another person from a partner organization approached me back then while I am attaching my metacards. During that time, the five positions for Vice President were open. Both he and the Project Director were contenders. He told me that he is glad that I am the one attending their workshop saying that the Project Director is sleepy and inactive of sorts. I was shocked hearing him say that thing with a person from a partner organization. This person was clearly badmouthing the Project Director in front of other people. It’s something I never do against a colleague more so in front of others who are not part of our organization. I just nod my head and did not say anything.
The situation of the Project Director is not good either. His inputs, no matter how good, are always rejected. His initiatives, no matter the impact, are not supported for funding. There were times that the former Director-turned- Vice-President even embarrassed him. A division under, his office, was transferred to another office without him being given prior notice (unluckily I’m a part of that office, I will save that story for another post). What worse is that this Vice-President successfully ill-rumored the Project Director to his top management colleagues thus not getting any support. Indeed, things were so bad that he decided to retire out of frustration.
In my case, it is not that I am personally close to the Project Director, what we have is something out of mutual and genuine respect. He is like a mentor. He helped bring out the better in me. He treated me as an equal. He never reprimanded me for giving an opposing view to his ideas. He never imposed his superiority on me. I must admit I grow so much under him. He sold me well to the previous top management. He made sure that every good will and accomplishment I made are recognized and known by the former top management. Back then, the former top management went directly to me asking me to do tasks and I delivered it well for them.
That is no longer the case for me under the new management. Even more so now that the Project Director has retired. It feels that I no longer matter at all. It took me more than three years to accept that until they are the ones who are in top management, I will never make it. Even if I walk on top of water, they will just say I cannot swim.
I heard various things from various people. One is to wait until their term as top management is over. After all, they only have three years left. And given that, they are filling our organization with people whom they personally known. The thing is I hope by the time that their reign is over, there will still be remaining top posts vacant that is available for someone like me.
Another thing I was told is that promotions are not based on intelligence, merit, kindness, diligence or anything else I can imagine. All promotions are based on trusts. If someone gets promoted over you, just means the promoting person or group trust that other person more than you. It does not matter that you are smarter, work harder, or even better looking, they will put the one they trust more. I was told I must do something if I do not want to remain stagnant. I have to be close. I need to earn trust and friendship with key people in our organization. The problem is I was never given the opportunity to do so. Thanks to one of the Vice Presidents, almost all of the top management have preconceived ill-notions about me before they see what I am capable of.
Honestly, unless something miraculous happens like winning a lottery, I have a very difficult time leaving that deep snake pit of a place. I cannot find job elsewhere at the moment though I am gradually working on it. So my questions are revolving around surviving and rising above this bad situation:
1. I admit my morale is so low right now. I cannot think this matter away. And even if I am to be religious, I cannot pray this matter away either. What mindset should I have to be able to adapt to what I have right now? How do I develop this mindset?
2. What other positive and realistic actions I can do to make my situation better? I still want to be that flower that blooms in times of adversity.
I apologized if I cannot be specific on some details that may reveal my organization or more so my identity but I pray that somehow you got the gist of my narrative. If you have questions feel free to do so but not in a matter of asking specific details about my identity or that of my organization. I said from the start that I will do my best to keep this brief but this is as concise as it gets. Thank you so much.
