how is the spatial working situation for you is your entire team sitting in a clustered together PBM14
yes we said together well mostly we said together sometimes it happens these last years we have sat more or less together we have a couple of guys developers in Hamburg.
Lead interviewer
do you feel that help sort of create a team spirit or does it not affect your daily life at all PBM14
having people in Hamburg Lead interviewer
no having people close PBM14
no I want to have people close to me that is important I think Lead interviewer
can you elaborate on that
PBM14
no just because communication is easier I think you use less time resolving issues
misunderstanding is avoided you can explain you can draw picture on the board solve issues as they can not wait and write an email which the recipient doesn't really understand and answer something completely different. so I think it's more efficient you save a lot of time Note taker
how much input do you have in deciding how your project team will look like is it purely and utterly I need these disciplines and then someone will assign them to you
PBM14
no usually I just get the people assigned Note taker
but you need to say which disciplines you require PBM14
yes but mainly it's for Development so it's kind of… yeah Note taker
so you just say I just need X number of people PBM14
yes and then I get them, usually I don't say that, usually I get a number of people and this is what you have
Note taker
and then you work with it and if you're under resources you ask for more PBM14
maybe or adjust the scope and get on with it. I usually solve the stuff anyway I don't make it complicated we have these resources and then I try to see how we make it happened
Note taker
and your client is usually internal
PBM14
yes yes Note taker
regarding the surveys is that surveys given by the HR department PBM14
mostly I think I don't know Pcall or whatever they call themselves Note taker
and when you complete them the reason you think it's a waste of time is because you don't see any follow-up
PBM14
yes I don't see anything really anyway I've stopped filling them out, it's just a waste of time it doesn't give me anything I just regard them as a cost for the company
Note taker
and have you ever given that feedback to your line manager for example PBM14
I am not ready to commit suicide (laughing). I won't considerate it to say that. I had a scale of 8 on an alignment with my manager I want to keep it there (laughing)
Lead interviewer
are these all anonymous surveys on about how satisfied are you with your job very general working climate and things like that
PBM14
yes and how you work with your line manager and colleagues etc Note taker
do you also have input into your colleagues PBM14
I think that is a part of it but since I haven't answered them I'm not sure but that was a part of it before
Note taker
and then nothing ever came of it as far as you saw PBM14
yes I don't think any has seen anything come of it, probably some article on the intranet Lead interviewer
yes I think there's some KPI's in annual report PBM14
yes there is some KPI's Note taker
do you know it has there been a fall in the response does that also get logged PBM14
I think last time it was lower than expected I think but I seem to remember I think I remember that on the intranet an article
Note taker
so that gives you a good indication that you're not alone with your thoughts PBM14
I know I'm not alone (laughing) Lead interviewer
thank you I think that we have got a lot of information here Note taker
thank you very much for taking the time really appreciate it PBM14
that's ok it's just time off really (laughing) [PBM14 prepares to leave interview room]
Lead interviewer
you have given us a lot to think about how feedback works in Company B, Not ideal, perhaps PBM14
I think it's kind of the culture, we never really give negative or corrective feedback Lead interviewer
here in Norway or in Company B PBM14
no I think in Norway that I never do that and that creates situations like with this guy nobody dares to say anything here.
Note taker
so they end up just floating PBM14
yes if they float around in the organisation Note taker
have you noticed any difference in the German culture have you had enough interaction to see that
PBM14
in a way no and in another way yes. because the differences that they were a top down and you do as your manager say but that doesn't really mean... but I discovered now really, it means that you do exactly that what your manager says, right or wrong, and the result is what the manager expected. but the amount of work and quality behind the scenes is no more effective. in fact, that is kind of a bit disappointment I thought they were better on that. but they have also a completely... yes this hierarchy is restrictive.
Lead interviewer
thank you very much indeed
Interview PBM3 on 23 April 2018 at COMPANY B.
Q1: Supervisor
Lead interviewerare you supervisor, as in do you have people reporting to you?
PBM3
no not at the moment I had before but not now
Q2: Effective feedback
Lead interviewercan you think of a time when you experienced effective feedback and then describe that time to us in as much detail as possible?
PBM3
effective feedback as in when I received some kind of feedback from someone
Lead interviewer
some kind of feedback that you felt was effective
PBM3
[effective – receiver]
oh my god that's a really good question, I had a really good boss at my first job he was really thorough and even though he didn't have the overview as it turned out in the end, but he really had his head in the right place. in the beginning I was quite naive and of course new workplace and people and I was trying to give a 100% I was trying to make everything perfect and he had a meeting with me and told me that I don't have to. That sometimes we have to be okay with 85% and that is okay. he made me accept this by explaining that everybody else has this kind of problem, and that I was not to feel like I was not doing a good enough if I didn't do on 100%. which made me feel better about myself first of all, and also help me to concentrate on the things that need to be taken care of. that is something I can't recall.
Lead interviewer
how long ago was this
PBM3
approximately, it was a long time ago, approximately 11 years
Lead interviewer
and do you feel that that is effective still today?
PBM3
Yes definitely and I've also built around it when I do my job I prioritize I also use this I sometimes have to say that's all I can do and it's good enough
Q4: Ineffective Feedback
Lead interviewercan you think of a time when you received an effective feedback and describe that
PBM3
[ineffective – receiver]
That is more difficult, I don't really know how to ... because if someone tells me something that doesn't really change anything, I just don't register I just think ok that happened and then I let it go.
but for some reason I had a really bad boss and he really didn't understand people for some reason I don't know why I whenever we had some kind of meeting with him and he would tell us to do
something in a certain way because he thought that was the right way, it was really difficult to reason with him that no we shouldn't do this. so if I got a feedback that wasn't really good I would tell him why why I think it's not a good idea of why we shouldn't do that way. but I can't recall a certain scenario specifically.
Lead interviewer
when you see it was ineffective is that because you had to do it the way it was suggested anyway
PBM3
the reason it was ineffective was I kind of tried to see the bigger picture and I saw that it didn't fit in the bigger picture. so I explained to that person at the time why I would not be following his advice.
Lead interviewer
in the end of the deal where are you permitted to go ahead with your ideas
PBM3
that's an interesting thing because that was actually quite close to the time I said ok I'm going to leave the company and because both me and my colleagues were struggling with him. in that particular scenario we had a meeting and I got to the point where I told him my views and why I was not going to be doing a certain thing I said when because he chose to follow the management blindly.
I never was the kind of person that would just do things because people told me, I would always find the reasons or what the people would need in these cases, so he actually told me at that point that maybe I'm not the right guy for the job. then of course I finally laid my cards out there and told him everything. so in that particular scenario the way it turned out was he actually got sent away, that's
what I like to think. we got an email at some point saying that he was going to leave the company but I believe that he got sent away because we were not the only ones who had difficulty with him and then the management saw my intentions of what I wanted to do and they let me go ahead. but I don't know how isolated of an incident this is I don't think it is possible everywhere but I was lucky enough to be in an environment where it was so I could do good for the people instead of doing bad.
Lead interviewer
So the way it was ineffective was that he was not listening to your side he was not open to your suggestions.
PBM3
Exactly
Lead interviewer
what was his immediate response when you confronted him and said I don't want to do it this way I want to do it that way, what tended to be his immediate response, did he just tell you no and walk away or did he try to come accommodate you what did he do specifically?
PBM3
there were several scenarios I can't remember clearly but for example one time we were talking about using paper as in sending paper around for some kind of process and I told him no we are not going to go back to the 20th century and his response was just that it worked before so he had his own reasons for why he was thinking that way which was a bit faulty in my opinion. I think he was maybe a bit too egotistic. I felt that you wanted to have control over someone or some people.
Lead interviewer
so you felt that he was micromanaging you
PBM3
yes
Lead interviewer
how long ago was that
PBM3
that was in 2012 or 2011
Q9: Demographics of participant
Lead interviewerwe would like to ask you some details about you as a person at the time, if you can give us
approximations to our questions - thinking of the effective feedback how old were you at that time
PBM3
21
Lead interviewer
and you come from where
PBM3
I'm from Hungary
Lead interviewer
what was your highest education at the time
PBM3
I'm a land surveyor and a geo Informatics technician. I went to college but it was one of those times are Crossroads when I had to decide what I wanted to do and it turned out not to be something I wanted to do so I had to decide do I stay or do I go somewhere else or try to work. so I dropped out after the first year so I guess my highest education was this technician.
Lead interviewer
how long have you been with the company
PBM3
it was my first year
Lead interviewer
how long have you worked with the person giving effective feedback
PBM3
I think it was two or three years because of all the changes in the company we had to change
manager but he was still kind of in the background he still visited us and I remember a time when we were having this meeting at the end of the year when everything was finally done we thought as we agreed and then we had a conference call with our new boss and our old boss and our new boss was like we told him we've done 80% everything was fine and our new boss was why not everything? and
we said that's what we agreed on we worked our asses off to do it but he still wasn't satisfied and then our old boss was keeping him in check I had to leave the room at that point because I was so angry. but he was still around for a few years then he moved to another branch in the company.