Program Report
Ask the Manager
Participants learn about managers' expectations, decision-making
processes
By Anne Louiselle
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Greg Bartlett, Marguerite Krupp, Bud Samiljan,
and Carol Marsh-Hobday |
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Photo by Anne Louiselle |
On May 22, 2002, the Boston Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication
presented the Ask the Manager program at the Sheraton Lexington Inn. Attendees directed
their questions to a panel of managers that included Bud Samiljan, Carol Marsh Hobday,
Greg Bartlett, and Marguerite Krupp. Taryn Light moderated the program. This article
provides a summary of their combined responses.
Employee Feedback
Question: To what extent should a manager solicit the input of
employees in decision-making regarding the creation of templates, style guides,
usage, and other standards that employees will be expected to follow?
Answer: The employees should be very involved. The framework should
be put together and reviewed by a team of writers who should discuss the style guide
and negotiate it. This is critical, because writers are the people who will use
it and they need to be comfortable with the style guide.
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| Ed Marshall and Nicole Cerimelli |
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| Photo by Anne Louiselle |
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In one example, the company's style guide went through several revisions. The editors
passed the hat. Each time the revisions were finished, the style guide was passed
on to another editor. The manager did not get involved unless the editors could
not agree.
Getting Friendly
Question: Are there limitations on how friendly a manager can
be with the employees that he or she supervises? Should there be a particular distance
from employees? If so, what purpose does that distance serve?
Answer: There are limits as to what is acceptable behavior and
what is not acceptable behavior, particularly in a professional setting. When you
are working in a startup company or some other high-pressure situation in which
projects must be around quickly, everyone gets involved and contributes. A good
manager moves things out of the way and does not place things in the way. While
there is some distance built into the situation, the managers are right on the line
with the writers and editors.
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Taryn Light |
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Photo by Anne Louiselle |
A good manager removes obstacles and makes it easy for people to do their jobs.
They make sure nothing hinders the writers. A manager should be close to what everyone
does. A manager can be friendly, but there are definite limitations.
As a manager, it is important to care about people. In order to care about people,
you have to get to know them. It is good to be friendly and informal, but it should
not appear that you have favorites because that can cause bad feelings.
You should remember to carry over the same behavior as you would in any professional
situation and take your degree of personal contact from that.
New Managers
Question: Do you have any experience or advice about situations
in which managers come up from the ranks and have former peers reporting to them?
Answer: The dynamics do change. You have to be conscious of your
level of frankness. It is not something that is easy to deal with.
Treat everyone with respect and work out the individual relationships. There is,
in fact, a distance built into the situation. If you ignore this fact, then you
cause more problems than if you had just acknowledged the distance in the first
place. You have to change the dynamic when you are a new manager.
Insight into Company
Question: As a manager, are you more in touch with the nerve center
of the company? If so, how does that change things?
Answer: It depends on where you are in the organization. You do
become more involved in the programs and become privileged to more information,
sometimes more information than you want to know. Sometimes you are asked for your
input as a manager and sometimes you are not. If your manager wants to involve you,
then he or she will. It is a different perspective.
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| Cindy Cookson and Deborah Carley |
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| Photo by Anne Louiselle |
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As a manager, you look at things in a different perspective. You must translate
things into money. If you want to influence your own manager, then you must be prepared
to talk about reduction in cost, the bottom line, and so on.
Managers have different perspectives. Individual contributors deal with tools and
providing deliverables. Managers have people on the team and deal with projects,
processes, and people. Managers have a different toolbox, and managers are trained
differently.
The panelists said they have met individual contributors who have been managers
and do not wish to work as managers, because they have a passion for writing and
they do not have that opportunity as writers.
Training Opportunities
Question: Do you have training as a manager? If so, at what point
did that occur?
Answer: There are many training programs, and managers should
attend them early on in the process. They are very helpful. There is usually additional
or refresher training provided, but it is usually based on the same ideas. Training
is an excellent way of introducing new managers to other people in the company who
can help.
Resume Attention-Getters
Question: What resumes catch your attention?
Answer: Good ones and bad ones. It is not necessary to talk about
which tools were used on a specific project. A list of tools is more effective.
It is effective to list company involvement in something other than the writing
process on the resume.
A good resume uses key words from the job requirements. It should highlight skills
that match the position.
A resume that refers to a Web page is nice because it allows the manager to research
skills in more detail. A manager can review writing samples this way.
Resume Lengths
Question: Is there a particular length for a resume? How far back
should a resume detail?
Answer: A resume should detail as much as is relevant to the position.
If you are very experienced, then it is acceptable to have a two- to three-page
resume, but the material should be relevant to the position. The resume should be
focused on the job.
Hiring Expectations
Question: Do you expect candidates to know everything in a job
description?
Answer: The core of the ad is usually from the hiring manager.
Human Resources managers also add some information. The list in the advertisement
is the best-case scenario that the hiring manager hopes to get. In most cases, the
successful candidate does not know everything in that list. Don't be discouraged
from applying if every detail does not match your experience.
Program Feedback
The Ask the Manager program was well received. One attendee described the program
as "one of the best—maybe the best—program all year!"
For more information about the STC's Boston Chapter programs, visit the Programs
page at http://www.stc-boston.org/programs/programs.shtml.
Anne Louiselle has been a member of STC since 1997. Anne can be reached
at alouiselle@attbi.com.
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