The difficulty in deciding things

One of the first things that decides the worth of your professional salt definitely has to be the clarity one has to take tough decisions and at the same time convey the message across diplomatically..
Balancing these two aspects would according to me give an indication of one's coming of age (to a small extent) in the corporate world.

It is really difficult to decide on certain things on behalf of a department when you see that there have been people in the department who have been around since the last so-many-years.

The incident related below is a personal dilemma which I have faced since a couple of days at work. The gnawing thought of offending a senior but at the same time desperation of not being able to give a fair chance to a fresher whose ideas smells of spring had been making things a little awkward at workplace...

I take the privilege of sharing the incident with my fellow bloggers, with the intention that the same might be of some use to someone if they have the dilemma of deciding.

Period.

A sweet little farewell and the person who had been designing certain journals in the department since the last 11 years was ready to take off to the Middle east. On personal grounds.
11 years in an organization taking care of a particular thing is no small task. Tears marked the farewell with my colleague wishing well to the department and the newly entered chap.

All's well that ends well.

Period.

2 weeks the green horn of the department comes out with amazingly fresh ideas, totally impressing us with his eye for design. We set to work, making some amends time and again at the work place and culture. Mind you we are not an extra large department. 3 people. And that's it!
14 days is too fresh for a green horn to settle and thud the ex-designer comes in. Reason. Visa delayed for 2 months or so.

On grounds of familarity and with the intention to advice the new fellow, the management takes the person. On project basis work would be alloted, decides the HR. Fine with it, we device some projects. The fortune of not having lavish projects put us on great fixation.

1 week and all the project is over. The ex-colleague is totally jobless..
Private organization and joblessness is not digestable to say the least.

So, what my ex-colleague does is take over the hot seat of designing, make the green horn pull a chair and look at the veteran at work. Absurdity at all its colours!

If that was not enough, whenever the new fella designed something new, the veteran just comments that this was not how it was done earlier...this was not the font to be used..this was not..this was not...confidence subtly but surely going to the dogs!

Attempted to indirectly comment about the new guy's role to the veteran and the need for providing opportunity to vent his skills but to no avail...Things would just not stop being done at the whims and fancies of the veteran..

Not an easy thing to see when you are responsible for the departmental ongoings..Thinking about means and ways to suggest the veteran, I finally decided to talk across.

Today, after lunch, called the veteran and we sit for a dialogue which goes as follows:

Me (M) Veteran (V):

M: So how are things going at your end?
V: Fine, it wuld take some time for visa to be processed and then I would be away.
M: Its nice that you have been around to look after how the new guy is faring..
V: Ya, he's doing quite well...
M: I was just thinking that looking at his skills, we should be able to give him a confirmation by say 3 months! What do you say?
V: Ya, ya, he's quite talented and does his work quite well...
M: So he's learning things fine right?
V: Yes
M: I was just wondering that if we want his confirmation soon, we should be giving the guy more avenues to express his creativity. What are your feelings?
V: Correct
M: And for that, we should be giving him more time in the design table right?
V: Right
M: We are really glad that you have been around to guide the guy. You actually would be more of an consultant to him, right?
V: Hmm..
M: By the way, has he understood everything that is required?
V: More or less, but the placing of photographs have to be looked into..its more of a plain thing.
M: Have you discussed with him?
V: Yes, and what he says is that I do the photographs this time..
M: You know, that's where you should help him but exactly as a consultant. You guide him, explain how things should be done but give him hands on experience on the thing
V: Hmm..
M: Its really nice to see that the guy has been fortunate enough to have you around...
If there are any mistakes happening, you can always guide him, right?
V: Correct..
M: Can we do something then? Can we let the giy come out with whatever ideas he has on the paper. If the design is coming as per the aesthetics of the journal well and good, if not we can always sit, discuss and guide him how to go about it, what say?
V: That's fine, I have no problems.
M: And moreover having hands on experience would do a world of good to him...
V: That's fine..I'll just guide him through the process..
M: Ya, just let him come out at his creative best and if there are any recommendations, we can always discuss after he finishes the design aspect..
V: Okay..thats fine with me...

Hence, we parted. The veteran promising not to intrude in the work of the young gun and me satisfied about a matter settled well...
All's well that ends well..let's see if this thing did get into the head...

But as I finish, there's a small voice that is ticking somewhere in the background

Old habits die hard dude..old habits die hard....

Well,hope for the best!!!!!

(Note: It would be quite a cake walk for professionals who are in the industry since a long time..But for starters like me, it was quite a learning...baby stepping into corporate diplomacy:)