There was an event which ignited Linda’s career aspirations. Emma, Linda’s German colleague in HR, moved from HR Department to Engineering Department suddenly. She was promoted to the position of Director. Emma’s promotion was supported by Thomas, the German Head of Engineering, who had been recently recruited from another company. Emma had been instrumental in helping Thomas transfer to his new position, bringing promising engineers from various parts of the world to Switzerland. Thomas was organizing the central Engineering Team and Emma’s attentive support was much appreciated by Thomas. Arriving from a different company in a different industry, Thomas was known for his difficult character. Having Emma was a big relief for Thomas; he didn’t know who was trustworthy and who was not. Germans were attached to other Germans even if they were in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
Emma was a nice person who talked a lot cheerfully and was popular among colleagues, but had no background in Engineering and Product Design. She simply arranged meetings for Thomas’ global Engineering team as a HR person. At the same time, an Argentinian man who was in charge of the “Voice of the Customer” project for new product development in the Engineering Department ran into a problem with his boss. At the beginning of the search for his replacement, Thomas offered Emma this position. It was like a promotion off the shelf, and everyone around her was skeptical. No matter how talented Emma was, she had absolutely no training or any experience in product development or product design. All of sudden Emma was to work with engineers in a jargon-filled environment in the engineering department, in charge of ensuring end-customer views reflected in new product design.
Emma held a PhD in Organizational Studies from a prestigious Swiss university and had been in the HR department ever since she started at the company 12 years ago as an HR specialist. She was a complete stranger to Engineering, even if the new central team is located in the same Swiss office. No wonder this appointment was an exception to the rule and a surprise to everyone. Linda lost her team member to Thomas but for once Linda did not interfere, either in person or behind the scenes, and did what Thomas asked. In reality, Linda was shocked by the fact that she was almost overtaken by Emma in terms of career level. Still, Linda smiled on the surface and congratulated her. She knew that at this stage, she shouldn’t do any strange move; it would be a lot better off to do a favor for Thomas and Emma. That way, Linda could at least gain two other German’s support. If she objected to it, Ben, the CEO would hear about it, it would damage Linda’s image of a nice reliable person. Just let it go for now. Linda should just sit back and wait; there would be plenty of opportunities to attack Emma secretly and cunningly.
Linda took one thing to heart in this matter. Germans help each other. Germans trust other Germans naturally, especially when they are at a new company. Even the most senior person reporting directly to the CEO was not free from this bias, or even more so as it should be more difficult to tell who were trustworthy at a position high-up. That was great news; in principle, any promotion for Linda would be possible under German influencers. Linda should just take advantage of this compatriot’s love among Germans or prejudice, more precisely speaking. With Germans in control of management, Linda was likely to get a big promotion, despite her purely HR background so far. To do so, she needed to establish herself as a trustworthy German. No matter how incompetent some German employees were at work, Linda should be a compatriot to them by helping them keep in the employment. They would in return support Linda when Linda’s career would take a leap forward. Long live the Germans! Glory to the Holy Linda!
While imagining the cheers for the German Queen, Linda prepared for the next move. Linda approached Emma to congratulate her and suggested setting up a meeting between two of them, flattering to her that Emma should be a role model for the women in the company.
Linda started, “Emma, you’ve gotten a great promotion, but the other women in this company are still struggling to get that kind of opportunity. Let’s discuss any opportunities for women’s advancement within this company. As the head of HR, my concern is how to promote women to key positions in a male-dominated industry and company. I am truly disturbed to see the low percentage of women in management, which is not growing at all. What roles or positions would be available to women that do not require engineering or special expertise? How can they switch careers between departments? What would be the obstacles? Are there ways to overcome them?”
The discussion was disguised as a general discussion for the benefit of the women in the company, but it was actually intended to give insights on Linda’s own advancement opportunity. How could Linda be promoted even in a male-dominated environment? What would it take for Linda to move from a supporting role in the HR department to a more mainstream, important department? Linda was imagining herself going up to the glorious stage, while exchanging those questions with Emma. Linda, not Emma, should be the shining gem of talent, and Linda should find some way to advance in her career, in a leap. After brainstorming, Linda had one useful clue. Opportunities would exist in departments related to “customers”, for women and for Linda. Customer centricity was becoming an important topic for any company. That theme was about understanding human psychology, and Linda’s experience in the human resources field would likely count. This may be wishful thinking, but it won’t be a complete negative, at least.
There was another key point that Linda took note of. It would be recommended to have a project experience that provides some kind of transition opportunity. For Emma, that was a finance system migration project; the old legacy system was replaced with SAP and Emma was leading the project from the HR side. The topic was more related to IT that allowed her to transition into the engineering theme. Internal recognition, technical terminology, project management skills came all from working on this SAP project.
Last but not least, in order to be the “chosen one”, there should be no other outstanding candidates. Luckily, Emma was timely around there when there was a good position, Director for Voice of the Customer, becoming available as the person ran into trouble with his manager. Even before the predecessor officially left the position and HR put job advertisements for the position, Thomas pushed Emma to the position. If there were other (German) persons with outstanding careers in the same field, or if there were applicants with proper experience available, Emma wouldn’t have had a chance. In terms of candidate profile, it was hardly possible to consider a person from HR Department for such a position. Emma didn’t say it explicitly, but Linda concluded so.
That applied well for Linda’s intuition and her practice so far. In order for Linda to make a big career jump from the HR department, there should be no other suitable women on the shortlist. The position of Linda’s interest, let’s say, Vice President Customer Centricity, shouldn’t be advertised officially to a wide audience. Linda should be chosen to fill in the position behind the closed door. Of course, Linda would have a much higher chance when the attendees were mostly Germans in that meeting room with the closed door.
In terms of career transition period, it would be ideal to have a project like “customer centricity” in the company, and also Linda must be involved in a technical project. Linda was convinced that there should be a chance in due course. To secure Linda’s career, it was also important to invest in the support ecosystem in her private life. There was another vacancy becoming available – Linda’s “House Husband” position, reporting to Linda directly. Linda was convinced that Taro should be the best fit, and the hiring decision was already made even before Taro’s application. Linda was excited about the rosy prospects. The Big Day was coming.
This story is fictitious and is not based on any real persons or organizations. Copyright: Kunoichi4You 2024
Psychopath in the Next Office 