First Step Up the Ladder

“You’re doing a great job, Dave. We’re going to put you on a bonus plan in addition to your salary.” Dave blinked. He’d been working in IT for several years, starting as a programmer, then a systems analyst and now a team leader. He had never expected to be repaid with productivity bonuses. That was something that only happened to management. He tried not to appear surprised, imagining how he’d respond if he had been expecting it.

“Can you tell me how that works?” he asked. “Are there specific targets to meet, and is the amount of bonus predetermined?”

Nick, his boss, nodded his approval of the response. “Yes. The targets will come with each project – meeting deadlines and quality criteria, customer feedback, and so on. The bonus will be based on the value of the project to the company, so we’ll discuss it at the start of each project. You’ll be working on the Caythorpe Life project starting in a couple of weeks, so we’ll sit down next week and go through the numbers and the key dates. If you meet all the targets, you’ll get the full bonus. If you only meet some, the bonus will be reduced appropriately. Does that make sense?”

Dave grinned. “Makes perfect sense. Thanks. Is that the end of the review?”

Nick stood up and held out his hand. “That’s it. Good work. Looking forward to seeing your work on Caythorpe.”

* * *

Dave had a kick-off meeting with the Bird & Co. team on Monday. The formal meeting, including the customer representatives, would happen on Thursday; today was just to make sure all the employees were on the same page. In the last few weeks, he’d read a lot about running projects and motivating a team. It wasn’t easy because he hadn’t ever been part of a highly motivated, successful team. IT people were generally not strong on soft skills. But now there was real money and promotion on the line for him, and he needed to step up.

Bird & Co. was a small consulting company, and the Caythorpe contract was big by their standards. It would take five people, including Dave, plus three Caythorpe resources to complete the work, which was planned to take two months. Of course, Dave knew this team well. To clarify for everyone, he went through the roles each of them would fill.

“Carolyn, of course you’ll be working with the end users on requirements, testing, and training.” The aristocratic Carolyn nodded, leaning back confidently in her chair. “Any questions or comments on the plan?”

“Thanks, Dave. I know the Caythorpe team already, and we’ve talked about these changes before. I’ll want Tarun and Yevgeny with me for the user requirements sessions so we can get started on design and development after the first week. I can handle the testing and training by myself, as long as I get weekly looks at the system.” She spoke with authority as she looked around the room, challenging anyone to disagree. Dave noted that almost everyone in the room was afraid of Carolyn – but apparently, she was much nicer to customers, as they all seemed to like her.

Dave chose to tackle Mike next. Mike was not particularly close to anyone else on the team. He didn’t socialize with them, finding them too geeky and fancy for his blue-collar taste. Dave wanted to make sure the team respected Mike, who could handle all the technical tasks the rest of them didn’t know how to do. He felt that it was most important to have Mike on his side, as he did not know how to do that job at all. He would need Mike’s help if things went badly wrong on the project.

“Mike, you’ll be doing what you do best, setting up and maintaining the environments, creating the delivery package, and updating the tech procedures for the customer. You and I will work closely together so everything is ready as and when the rest of the team needs it. I’ll need you to look through the plan with me before the client kick-off on Thursday. Thoughts?”

Mike had been doodling on a piece of paper (phones and pads were banned in all group meetings). He looked up, pushed his glasses back up his nose, and tipped his chin aggressively at Dave. “You got it. You want me to deal with the customer data center as well?”

Dave considered carefully. He really didn’t trust what Mike might say to the customer staff, but he could hardly say that. “You and I can tag team the management steering meetings and the tech meetings together. Make sure everyone’s singing from the same hymn book – and keep each other honest as well.”

Mike’s eyes narrowed, but all he said was “Okay, fine.” Dave felt that perhaps he should have put more thought into how he communicated that. But Mike was notoriously prickly. Maybe they would bond more as they worked together.

After going through the remaining team members, Dave talked about his own role. He wanted them all to understand that he’d be involved in everything – they were all experts in their own fields, but he was the person who oversaw everything, and the person who had to solve any issues. He was conscious that he was speaking now as a new boss. The bonus plan had moved him from part of the workforce to part of the management team.

* * *

At home that night, he talked about the meeting with his wife. Maria was in telephone sales, and his work environment made little sense to her. “So how is this different from what you’ve been doing?” she asked patiently, hoping that he’d stop talking about the technicalities and talk more about the dynamics, so she could offer him support.

Dave sighed and tried to explain. “I won’t just be working as part of the team. I was already offering some guidance, but now I’m actually running the show, making sure everyone plays their part. I need them to respect me and do as I say, but not resent me now that I’m rising above them.”

Maria put her arm around him. “You’ll be so good at that,” she said. “After all, you’ve been in their position, so they already respect you, and they know they can trust you. You’re on a fast-track to success now. This will change our lives.” She was excited about their future, already imagining a new house, having a child, and giving up her day job. But she didn’t want to put added pressure on him right now.

* * *

Five weeks into the project, past the halfway point, the team was running smoothly, and Dave was pleased with his work. He had started to believe that the project would be completed without a hitch and show Nick how well he was suited to this position. Then a bomb dropped. Caythorpe had realized that they couldn’t actually do things the way they had planned, and they needed significant changes to the software. Their management called Dave and told him to fix it. In their minds, this was why they paid Bird & Co. In a panic, Dave called Nick and let him know about the problem. He was expecting Nick to step in and solve the problem, but he was disappointed.

“What are you planning to do about it?” asked Nick calmly. Dave realized they didn’t hand out bonuses if they thought the work was easy. He was literally being paid to solve problems like this. His heart started racing.

“I’m going to have a crisis meeting with our team and figure out possible solutions,” he said, thinking through the approach as he spoke, “and once we have a real plan to address it, then I’ll go to the steering committee and get Caythorpe to approve the changes to dates and costs.” Then he paused, seeing why that wouldn’t work. “But they are very date sensitive. I think they’ll agree to the costs but not the date change. So, I’ll need to have the team work longer hours and weekends to keep us on track. Even on Thanksgiving.” He stopped talking and held his breath. Would Nick agree to that?

Nick was completely unfazed. “It’s your project, do what you have to do. We can pay extra expenses, but not overtime. If and when the project succeeds, we’ll talk about giving the team some time off in lieu.”

The crisis meeting with the team didn’t go well. The team members were naturally upset about having to redo their work and felt that “management” needed to step up and make the client change the dates. Luckily, Carolyn spoke up for the client. “It’s a pain, but it wasn’t something they could foresee. And the changes still have to be live by the start of December to meet the legal requirement. We’re in IT, people, this sort of thing happens all the time. Dave, I’ll clear my calendar so I’m available seven days a week until the end of the month.”

Dave smiled gratefully at her. “Thank you, Carolyn. It goes without saying that I’ll do the same. Does anyone have a commitment that really can’t move?” He looked around the room. There were a few scowls and meaningful glances, but no one spoke up. “Thank you all – we’ll make this happen for Caythorpe.”

* * *

The project succeeded. Everyone worked long hours for a few weeks, but they met the deadlines, and Caythorpe wrote a letter to Bird & Co. commending the efforts and professionalism of Dave and his team. Dave was giddy with excitement, and eager to see his first bonus check. At the next company meeting, he proudly gave a presentation to the staff on the experiences of that project, giving recognition to the individual team members for their contributions. Then Yevgeny, the programmer, stood up.

“It’s great that everyone pulled together and we did such a good job for the company and for the client. And I’m pleased to hear that we’ll get a few days’ time off in lieu over the Christmas holidays. But it doesn’t seem fair. We all put our plans on hold and gave up our time with our families, and we don’t get any overtime pay. Dave was running the show and persuaded us to pitch in for the common good – but I hear he’s getting a financial bonus so there was a lot more in it for him than for us.”

Suddenly Dave’s mouth went dry. His excitement about his bonus was because he thought he’d earned it. But in fact, Yevgeny was right. The whole team had earned it, and only he reaped the benefit. He looked at Nick, who was addressing Yevgeny with a standard management-speak answer. All about taking the extra responsibility and earning the extra benefit. He nodded as Nick spoke, but he couldn’t make eye contact with any of the team now. He understood that by taking that move toward management, he had given up his right to be a real part of the team.

At home that night, he opened his heart to Maria. Was this really worth it? Could he live with taking all the benefits from the efforts of other people? She was puzzled and frustrated. “I thought you wanted this. You’ve always wanted to be promoted, and now it’s happened. This is our future, our chance to start a family.”

Dave realized that Maria couldn’t see this the way he did. Like Nick, she just saw it as the way life worked, and she expected him to step up and do what had to be done.

And there was no one he could talk to about it who would understand.