Went home... and pull out the article for a more 'thorough read'... Yes, the article describes the emotions of many in the office (hm... in our section?). Step back and ask ourselves... does this only happen here? Hm... in fact, I believe we can find similar symptom everywhere... even within our building... across divisions and branches!
Here are several interesting points that provoke my thoughts:
"...I must admit, there are days and sometimes even weeks when I feel incompetent at my job..."
- This in fact reminds me of the Peter's Principle (I'm not an avid reader but this dusty little book hidden among the books in the NIE library caught my attention while I did my DDM course many years back... I think, it aroused my curiosity to read further because it has something to do with management and supervision - it talks about competence).
- Briefly, from wikipedia, it says, "anything that works will be used in progressively challenging applications until it causes a disaster." & "On the personal level, the Peter Principle's practical application allows assessment of the potential of an employee for a promotion based on performance in the current job, i.e. members of a hierarchical organization eventually are promoted to their highest level of competence, after which further promotion raises them to incompetence. That level is the employee's "level of incompetence" where the employee has no chance of further promotion, thus reaching his or her career's ceiling in an organization."
- So, is it a matter of incompetence - with reference to the skill set required by the current jobscope? or is it because one has not tried hard enough and still lives in the old world, old paradigm?
"...The temptation is to go for a big cover up - I'll just make myself look very busy so that no one will be able to tell I'm worry about how I'm messing up..."
- I thought this is quite unlikely to happen... or even if it happens, one would not be able to cover up for long 'cos the deliverables tells! The deliverable (when quality counts!) tells the amount of effort, the amount knowledge one has, and the amount of experience one has - on the particular task.
- The worst is, when one is asked - "Based on what I see, I really could not understand what you are busy with"... Get it? Others can see through the disguise! Then, I think it's worse... the emotional bank account may just go burst!
"...The first thing to do to deal with feelings of inadequacy is to have a realistic appraisal of your own strengths and weak..."
- Appraisal of one's strengths and weakness - it also means taking a good look and assess our very own. It is easy to acknowledge our strengths. On the other hand, to acknowledge our own weakness can be very cruel, too!
"...Sometimes, it is leadership which has failed you. It could be that your tasks are impossible because they have ill-defined goals that keep shifting..."
- Hm... that sounds familiar? It could be ill-defined goals... on the other hand, it could be assumptions that leaders have... ???
- Shifting goals? In fact, that's not uncommon... even in schools, there's shifting goals, too... while in one year, the goal is defined and all are clear to head towards it, external factor sometimes simply sway it away from its main course! One good example is when one reaches its goal far more faster than expected... then...???
