Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound kind of obnoxious, OP. I think you can look for another job with a culture you prefer, but maybe watch and listen for a bit and consider if there's another way to understand the culture where you are beyond "no standards" and "they don't value excellence."

For example, I come from an academic background and currently work in government. In some scientific and fieldwork based disciplines, you'd get judged for visibly trying hard to look great, wear designer clothes, do involved hair and makeup, etc, because the vibe that is valued is "I am a serious scientist who could go into the field/lab RIGHT NOW and I don't get distracted by shallow stuff." Similarly, relationship building is important everywhere, but it may not happen in the same ways it did in your own job. You're not seeing what's there because you're too focused on what's not.

Speed isn't highly valued because following compliance and review processes is so critical; I try to get my IC work done quickly and well, but then sit back and wait because of the review layers, which exist for the sake of accountability and are not optional.

I don't know about not valuing accuracy, that's a red flag. I value competence, expertise, and good judgment highly and so have all of my managers. But I also think "excellence" is a meaningless leadership buzzword and it makes me roll my eyes.

I might be obnoxious - totally possible! I am naturally a bubbly, upbeat, extroverted person and make work friends easily everywhere I go, so it’s not a “personality” problem.

Let me give you an example: I was asked to develop a very simple Excel template for other colleagues to use going forward. When I presented, people made comments like “this looks amazing!” Etc - it was extremely basic but well-formatted, color-coded etc. Not to brag, but other people’s PowerPoints/emails/Excels will be poorly drafted, with misspellings, errors, just kind of sloppy looking. (We’re talking director-level people.) I don’t do work like that. This is the kind of thing I’m talking about.

As for excellence being a meaningless leadership word: maybe? What I mean by a culture of excellence is one in which there is a high bar for all components of work culture - your interactions, your discussions, how you present yourself, how you run your meetings, and the outputs you produce.

Hey...I work in corporate America where former consultants show up and burrow in. Some of them after wasting the company's money from the outside.

One of the reasons I didn't go into consulting after MBA was that during mock interviews, I was told that it was very important to understand that consulting is a service and it's super important how the client feels about the delivery of that service. So higher focus on selling and lower focus on problem solving and getting the right answer than I expected. As a corporate client, and colleague, I haven't been too impressed by the ex-consultants we've hired in from fancy companies. They don't know as much as they think they know, even though they make nicer PowerPoint (for now).

It could be possible that your standards for presentations and meetings are a little tighter than is necessary for this job because you are no longer billing on a clock and you are not selling new work.

There are a lot of dynamics going on but in general, people don't care much about typos anymore. Texting and crap autocorrect have taken a toll. I also seem to be the only person in my vicinity who understands the difference between affected/effected and discrete/discreet. But you can't bring that kind of thing up...it makes you look like you focus on the wrong things. If you find cell reference errors in Excel...that's a bigger deal.

Where I am, people get things done by making friends, being super nicey-nice (thankful), and not escalating situations. Escalation never works because people stick around for a long time and their jobs don't change. Remember that old saw about people always remembering how you made them feel?

If your company is too sloppy for you, you just need to move on. You can get them to like you better, but you won't be able to make them smarter or care more.

Here watch this John Oliver skit...don't come across like this. We have a former McKinseyite at our work. She's a strategist and has gotten promoted. Her chief accomplishment seems to be that she proves our company is somewhere an ex-McKinsey person would work.

Your real problem, unless this is a government job, is how viable economically is your workplace? If they are all incompetent slackers....

Your problem is how to get other people to be better, which is a big problem if you don’t have any leverage over them. You cannot become someone who makes mistakes like typos, sloppy calculations and missed deadlines. When a deadline is missed on a project, what happens? What happened in the past before you came on board? Do people get dinged in their performance reviews? Is there a way to incentivize with bonuses for people who hit their targets?

When other people are sloppy, there’s a difference between something internal that’s sloppy and something that goes to an outside client or stakeholder. Sloppy internal emails with typos are annoying, but ultimately don’t affect the work itself.

What are the main problems causing people to miss their deadlines? Can you institute more frequent check-ins to see whether something is on track? Can the other employees be given to understand that you are reporting up the chain about where projects are?

Anonymous wrote:There's a difference between doing a good job and holding other people to standards the organization doesn't hold them to. For the latter, part of your job is figuring out if someone is late or doing a bad job, what are you supposed to do about it and what would be overstepping your role? That will very a great deal not just employer to employer but also across roles.

But it's not a problem to just be good at your job.

Agree with PP.

There's a difference between doing a good job and holding other people to standards the organization doesn't hold them to. For the latter, part of your job is figuring out if someone is late or doing a bad job, what are you supposed to do about it and what would be overstepping your role? That will very a great deal not just employer to employer but also across roles.

But it's not a problem to just be good at your job.

Anonymous wrote:You sound kind of obnoxious, OP. I think you can look for another job with a culture you prefer, but maybe watch and listen for a bit and consider if there's another way to understand the culture where you are beyond "no standards" and "they don't value excellence."

For example, I come from an academic background and currently work in government. In some scientific and fieldwork based disciplines, you'd get judged for visibly trying hard to look great, wear designer clothes, do involved hair and makeup, etc, because the vibe that is valued is "I am a serious scientist who could go into the field/lab RIGHT NOW and I don't get distracted by shallow stuff." Similarly, relationship building is important everywhere, but it may not happen in the same ways it did in your own job. You're not seeing what's there because you're too focused on what's not.

Speed isn't highly valued because following compliance and review processes is so critical; I try to get my IC work done quickly and well, but then sit back and wait because of the review layers, which exist for the sake of accountability and are not optional.

I don't know about not valuing accuracy, that's a red flag. I value competence, expertise, and good judgment highly and so have all of my managers. But I also think "excellence" is a meaningless leadership buzzword and it makes me roll my eyes.

I might be obnoxious - totally possible! I am naturally a bubbly, upbeat, extroverted person and make work friends easily everywhere I go, so it’s not a “personality” problem.

Let me give you an example: I was asked to develop a very simple Excel template for other colleagues to use going forward. When I presented, people made comments like “this looks amazing!” Etc - it was extremely basic but well-formatted, color-coded etc. Not to brag, but other people’s PowerPoints/emails/Excels will be poorly drafted, with misspellings, errors, just kind of sloppy looking. (We’re talking director-level people.) I don’t do work like that. This is the kind of thing I’m talking about.

As for excellence being a meaningless leadership word: maybe? What I mean by a culture of excellence is one in which there is a high bar for all components of work culture - your interactions, your discussions, how you present yourself, how you run your meetings, and the outputs you produce.

Anonymous wrote:Keep looking for another job. In the meantime, see if you can turn it down by 10%. I agree with the PP who said to be very friendly to everyone and cultivate relationships across the board.

Can you give some concrete examples of what you’re doing and what others aren’t doing? Does your work affect others, will they be compared unfavorably to you or are you separate from them, and if there a way to hold your high standard but be more quiet about it so those other than your boss and certain colleagues aren’t really aware?

This is OP and I appreciate your advice. Fortunately/unfortunately, my role is very visible - I’m a project manager supporting administrators (the executive team) - and my job is clarifying timelines, action items, owners, dependencies etc. This is a culture that hasn’t held people to account in this manner so even though I’m just “translating” task ownership etc I might come across like the hammer, of sorts. I also experience scope creep common with project managers where I am expected to drive progress - the execs lean on me heavily.

I have been super friendly and feel like people like me, but it’s hard to be patient and understanding (this is a personal problem) when dealing with people who don’t have a sense of urgency, especially with the kind of complex and time-sensitive projects I’m working on. I do my best to overcommunicate current state to the executive team but as PM I will take the brunt if deadlines aren’t met, right or wrong.

Keep looking for another job. In the meantime, see if you can turn it down by 10%. I agree with the PP who said to be very friendly to everyone and cultivate relationships across the board.

Can you give some concrete examples of what you’re doing and what others aren’t doing? Does your work affect others, will they be compared unfavorably to you or are you separate from them, and if there a way to hold your high standard but be more quiet about it so those other than your boss and certain colleagues aren’t really aware?

You sound kind of obnoxious, OP. I think you can look for another job with a culture you prefer, but maybe watch and listen for a bit and consider if there's another way to understand the culture where you are beyond "no standards" and "they don't value excellence."

For example, I come from an academic background and currently work in government. In some scientific and fieldwork based disciplines, you'd get judged for visibly trying hard to look great, wear designer clothes, do involved hair and makeup, etc, because the vibe that is valued is "I am a serious scientist who could go into the field/lab RIGHT NOW and I don't get distracted by shallow stuff." Similarly, relationship building is important everywhere, but it may not happen in the same ways it did in your own job. You're not seeing what's there because you're too focused on what's not.

Speed isn't highly valued because following compliance and review processes is so critical; I try to get my IC work done quickly and well, but then sit back and wait because of the review layers, which exist for the sake of accountability and are not optional.

I don't know about not valuing accuracy, that's a red flag. I value competence, expertise, and good judgment highly and so have all of my managers. But I also think "excellence" is a meaningless leadership buzzword and it makes me roll my eyes.

Keep doing what you do and how you do it. You also might want to kiss butt to coworkers and your supervisor. For example, ‘hey greg I heard you did a great job on those deliverables’ or ‘I appreciate that email you sent. That was really helpful to me’. Go out of your way to complement the people around you to be disarming. Your other option is to keep looking for jobs and find a better job.

Anonymous wrote:I was informed that "snitches get stitches" by a low performing colleague.

Do your work, keep your head down, do not be critical about others' work either in content or tone. Just identify areas where you might be able to improve efficiency or timeliness, within your own work stream. Always be pleasant.

You will have a target on your back at some point. It's inevitable.

This is great advice, but to clarify: you think everyone ends up with a target on their back at some point?

I was informed that "snitches get stitches" by a low performing colleague.

Do your work, keep your head down, do not be critical about others' work either in content or tone. Just identify areas where you might be able to improve efficiency or timeliness, within your own work stream. Always be pleasant.

You will have a target on your back at some point. It's inevitable.

If this place isn’t the right fit, why do t you move on?

Slackers always appreciate someone willing to pick up the slack. No need to overthink.

Help me figure out what gear to operate from please.

I was laid off from a consulting role early last fall, weeks after buying a new house - it was very difficult timing. After months and months of searching I took a new job that I may not have taken if I weren’t so desperate for work.

I hold myself to a very high standard at work in terms of speed, accuracy, relationship-building, appearance etc: it is just how I’m wired. My new workplace doesn’t hold its employees to high standards (any standard?) and a lot of people coast/do the bare minimum. There’s not really a culture of accountability and certainly not of excellence.

My question is: is it appropriate to maintain these same standards I’ve always held for myself? I think it makes me stick out, for good or bad. I don’t upstage anyone, I’m very respectful and friendly to all, but I don’t want to put a proverbial target on my back or become a scapegoat: basically, I don’t want to be vulnerable by not “fitting in.”

My supervisor and closest colleagues seem to appreciate my efforts but the question remains. How do I “blend” more and how do I maintain neutrality?