Getting respect when doing high/low tasks?

October 19, 2015 10:10 PM

I've had a meandering career path which has given me a level of expertise in a number of areas. However, I'm currently engaged in work which puts me sort of on the middle rung, working under the direction of a manager. In the past, in these positions, these employers have been very interested in some of the other skillsets I have. It's like, "Aha! I can now get some of this expertise for very cheap!" And in the past I've been willing to offer it. However, I don't want to offer this anymore without renumeration. Can you help me navigate this?

I'll be a little more specific. I'm working under Architects and/or seasoned Architectural Designers. I'm very much still learning and enjoying learning and am willing to take on a lot of the grunt work of drafting and doing "production" as I learn. The two skillsets that I have in my past are website design and branding, and project management with an emphasis on success metrics, strategy and team processes. I'm a certified Scrum master even (which means nothing to Architects and nor should it but in the process of getting this, I've picked up some great skills which apply in lots of ways).

I've really had some issues in the past with offering these skills even though people seem to want them. Here's what I feel like happens....

"Hey, that's so cool! I could really use some help with my website/marketing/project process/utilizing cloud-based services to be more efficient."

So, I sit down to work with them but as I feel I have some expertise, I am pretty confident and I think this sets up a dynamic where the person who was previously The Boss is now having to interact with me in a way in which I am more prodding and forceful. After all, I can't help you with your marking/branding/project processes without digging in to your system, figuring out what is working and not working and then recommending a path. And, typically, it's a path that requires more work from the individual and then I'm saying, ok, here's what we need to do, here's the information that I need from you, here's a list of things for you to work on....

And then they don't like me anymore.

So, while architecture in particular and small businesses sometimes tend toward antiquated processes and manual home-grown methods, and while I have spent the last two years very immersed in how to work more efficiently, use technology to business advantage and break down the fee-for-services methodology (and whether architecture can ever be considered a profitable profession) I just don't know if it's possible to help people with what I consider high tasks in the course of doing low tasks.

I'm also a woman. I feel that a lot of interactions seems to get off on a bad foot just based on the I-don't-want-to-listen-to-a-woman factor. I've worked hard to be more feminine and acquiescent in my interactions in office situations. This has been a conscious choice to try to get ahead in business though I don't know that the results have been that much better. I'm just an outspoken person who is fairly ambitious. "Softening" my demeanor has helped with peers and lower-level employees but hasn't had much effect on management or in these scenarios.

Anyway, a situation is coming up which may go down this path and I'm considering two options –

1. Just not offer this.
Sure! Let's use paper timesheets and thumbdrives and one workstation that we all share when we want to use a particular piece of software and let's not wonder whether we should be giving away all these hours or whether we have any idea whether any single relationship/project is profitable. Etc..

2. Offer a disclaimer that glosses over all of the above and charge a different rate for "additional services" with scheduled hours.
I would love to help you out with these issues but I've found that the relationship changes significantly when I put on my strategy expertise hat which draws on a very different and higher-level skillset. We can do a consultative discussion but if you are interested in this kind of assistance, I have a different rate and would prefer that we set aside dedicated time to work on the project explicitly. Also, my rate for that is [CurrentRate]x4. No joke. That may get me out of the hot-seat quicker than any other method.

Has anyone experienced this high/low task disconnect? Have you successfully navigated this?

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (4 answers total)

Don't offer the skills.
posted by thebrokenmuse at 11:58 PM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

We have super similar profiles. I am still suffering the consequences of programming a tool for my own work together with a friend and then refusing to offer it to the entire organization for free (importance since my buddy helped). They were offered it at a very advantageous rate if they were that into it. I also find that the help asked for is ultimately unwanted as they not actually want to do things properly, they want to do them the way they do them (unless they can have you do the entire thing solo). I think it comes down to don't offer the skills unless you can do the whole thing solo, that way it at least becomes a cv-point Where you developed and implemented a blah from a-z with results you can stand behind as opposed to "advised the pr group on blah, my advice was taken into consideration".
posted by Iteki at 12:45 AM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

The question to me is whether you were hired to do a specific set of tasks or because you were capable of doing them. Did they hire you to work for the company or did they hire you to do something specific? This is a classic case of do you wish to make yourself more valuable to the company or to yourself? I think the answer is very specific to each individual and to the situation in which they find themselves, but in general, my viewpoint has been that making myself more valuable to the company made myself more valuable to me. YMMV.

I always viewed that as the company was buying my time at a set rate. If they wanted me to do something different than what I was first assigned when onboarding, ok, but then I would have to decide if I wanted to stay at the company doing that work for that rate. I always offered to pitch in where needed. If they thought it was a better use of my time and their money, that is their call to make. I did some things that were far from my hired expertise, but I knew what they wanted and could do it quickly. It saved the company lots of time and money. I just made it clear that this was a one off item and that I did not want to move to that area.
posted by AugustWest at 6:19 AM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Don't offer the skills.

I've fallen into this trap myself far more than I'd like to admit. I bring some solid technical / tech support skills to the table as well as some project management skills, and have many times offered them because watching other people do these things badly has to be one of the uglier circles of hell.

But inevitably, if you do these things, you will come to be the person who does these things, and not the one who does the heavy thinking/planning/strategizing/consulting/whatever. That will be somebody else... who in spite of their lack of project management skills and tech savvy will eventually become your boss.

Don't offer the skills!

(And for the love of all that is holy, never let anyone know you can fix a print jam.)
posted by kythuen at 11:30 AM on October 20, 2015 [3 favorites]