copyright 2013 kenneth m. chipps ph.d. navigating the workspace last update 2013.06.20 1.1.0 1

Copyright 2013 Kenneth M. Chipps Ph.D. www.chipps.com

Navigating the WorkspaceLast Update 2013.06.20

1.1.0

1

Navigating the Workspace

• In this presentation I will provide one example of how to navigate through the 40, 50, or 60 something years you will be employed

• Some of these techniques may be of use to you as well

• Some were successful• Some were not

Copyright 2013 Kenneth M. Chipps Ph.D. www.chipps.com 2

60s and 70s

• I was a child of the 60s• I took in all of the influences of the times• When John Kennedy said

– ...the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God

– Let the word go forth.....that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans


60s and 70s

– Let every nation know... that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty

– If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich

– And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country


60s and 70s

– With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on Earth God's work must truly be our own

• I signed up• Not that exact day as I was only 10, but

the idea grew slowly over the next 12 years


Success

• In 1972 as I approached graduation the question was– Which way to go

• History• Law• Social Work


Success

– All I had to do was take one more course in one of three fields to decide on my major• History• Political Science• Sociology

• But then what• Something in business in the private

sector• The public sector


Success

• But what, where• I decided on public service• Kennedy planted the general idea and

Lyndon Johnson suggested the method of execution when he declared a War on Poverty

• I enlisted


Success

• The question was how to put this decision into practice– I happened to find someone working for the

state welfare department– That should do– I arranged a visit at her office

• I was advised how to interact– Most of the staff at the time were spouses of the local

Baptists seminary students– So all day I was a Baptist


Failure

• I decided that that had worked well I would lay a little more groundwork for after graduation in a few months

• I make an appointment with the director of HR

• At this point the ground fails out from under me while being interviewed by a psychopath


Failure

• Hum, that did not work out well• Even worse as graduation approaches the

state instituted a hiring freeze• Time to rethink as I was now stuck in the

useless job I had been doing while in school


Success

• Then that Fall I find that the hiring freeze has been lifted when I received a letter inviting me in for an interview

• I do considerably more preparation for my second meeting with the HR psychopath

• I find this interview with the assistant HR director consists of an extended handshake mostly to see if I am indeed not dead


Success

• Evidently as long as I am alive, I have the job

• There seems to be a lot of turnover in these positions

• I wonder why


Success

• I know I am working for the welfare department when on the very first day on the job the phone rings


The Plan

• Always– Have a job– Know exactly what the next job you want is

and be working on getting it– Have a fallback plan if everything goes to crap


Success

• After a year on the job it was time to move up as it is quite clear why there is a lot of turnover in this position

• I am at the 4th Street office• All of the important people are at the 7th

Street office• Clearly I need to find a job at the 7th Street

office


Success

• A piece of you know what type of job opens at the 7th Street office

• I land this job and move to the 7th Street office

• I am now at the 7th Street office, but part of this job is to establish what – Paternity

• I do that by asking what


Success

• Oh well, at least I am in the right building• But I find I am on first floor• All of the important people are on the

second floor• I drink soft drinks a few times a day while

working• I find that the only drink machine is at the

back of the second floor breakroom


Success

• I am not fully awake until about noon so I wander into the breakroom a bit after 8 am or a little later

• Over the course of time, I observe that– The important people gather at 7am in the

breakroom to drink coffee, and then wander out about 8 am


Success

• A plan is formed• Despite being half asleep the initial trip to

the drink machine starts to occur before 8 am

• Slowly, very slowly• Never be in too much of a hurry• Never be too obvious• Never be too pushy


Success

• Day by day, week by week I wander in and out of the breakroom in most, not all, never all, mornings

• Of course at some point someone says– What is your name– What do you do here


Success

• Over time, remember slowly, always slowly, someone says– Have a seat – Tell us about yourself

• Oh you are working on a masters degree• What in

– Ah, an MPA degree


Success

• But the breakroom is outside of the magic doors

• How to get on the other side of those magic doors is now the question

• As I wander in and out morning by morning, never joining them unless asked, of course eventually someone asks– What is the topic of your thesis


Success

• On what• Mapping• Mapping using a computer• I didn’t know you could do that

– Remember this was a long time ago• Our offices to bus routes you say• Really, how interesting• So you are interested in planning


Success

• At this point the next part of the plan is executed when I ask– I wonder if I could get access to some data

• Of course the response is– Probably, come by my office this afternoon


Success

• I am now no longer outside, but inside the magic doors

• After a brief discussion of what I need the statement I expected to hear floats though the room– I will have to check to see if this data can be

shared


Success

• This requires asking the highest of the local higher ups if this will be ok– Who of course say, he is working on what,

who is this fellow, what is his name, that sounds interesting, let me know if he gets it to work


Success

• Everyone who matters now knows who I am

• Knows I am working on a graduate degree• Knows I am working on a project that

might be useful to them• Sees me often in the breakroom,

restrooms, and inside the magic doors as I ask questions about the data


Success

• Later on I notice a position for a planner appears on the job openings board

• While walking down the hall, one of the important persons says – Have you applied for that job yet


70s and 80s

• Things are moving along well• I am inside the local inner circle• A minor player, but inside never the less


Failure

• Then the welfare department decides planning ahead is a waste of time

• They will just play it by ear• Who cares if nothing works• See slide 14 above as it is time to put the

fallback plan into operation


Semi-Success

• As the entire planning department tries to find a chair to sit in in the course of a conversation on this the phrase– Oh you used to be the assistant to an

accountant while in school• We’ll transfer you to the budget

department• You do know what is fund accounting is

don’t youCopyright 2013 Kenneth M. Chipps Ph.D. www.chipps.com 32

Semi-Success

• Sure I say• I have never heard of it• Time to study day and night


Success

• After a number of years the local budget director leaves

• I am now the new budget director• No job posting• No interview• Just an offhand, oh by the way Mr. Chipps

is the new budget director so ask him about that


90s

• Things are indeed working along well• I have actually learned how to manage a

multimillion dollar budget using fund accounting and various expenditure forecasting techniques

• But I sense that this is not really my area of interest, but whatever a job is a job


Failure

• Perfect storm• Blame must be assigned• Musical chairs ensues• I am left standing• I remove sword and fall to the floor


Failure

• No, no, no - no loss in pay• You can move over to this project team and

help them out since you know so much about computers– Notice fallback plan put into operation on short

notice– The fallback plan being during the 80s as PCs

and LANs began to appear I found I had a naturallinterest and talent in working with these


Failure

– So I helped the IT people, whether they wanted the help or not since after all this is a fallback plan, as we start to use PCs and LANs

• Unfortunately the new team has no interest in a new team member

• While pleasant at all times it is clear this will go nowhere


Success

• Time to create a new fallback plan• As noted above IT was switching from

mainframes to LANs• The local IT staff knew nothing at all as

this new PC and LAN support staff’s pervious job was data entry clerk

• They just shifted the whole bunch over to PC and LAN support


Success

• This is kind of like having the truck driver for a NASCAR equipment truck take over for the driver of the race car since after all they both know how to drive don’t they

• I had assisted with implementation of this since I brought the very first computer most of them had seen when I carried my own Campaq luggable back and forth to work while budget director


Success

• I must say they did object at times to this help as it did not show them in a good light

• Implementation of the current fallback plan now commences


90s and 2000s


Success

• I had noticed that the IT director, who used to be the data entry clerk supervisor, smokes outside of the same door several times everyday

• I make sure I always enter and leave the building through this door regardless of where I am outside or inside the building


Success

• When the headquarters staff in Austin eventually figures out that moving the data entry staff from that to IT support was not such a good idea after all a job for a network analyst is posted

• While chatting as I walk in to work through that door which is way out of my way the local IT director says – Have you applied for that job


Success

• I am now a network analyst who is a whiz on PCs, but knows absolutely nothing about networks of any sort

• Time to study fast, day and night


Failure

• The local IT director retires• The new director is the stupidest, most

spineless, most useless person I have every encountered

• His only interest is in staying out of trouble• As the reason he is in this job is that he

has failed at every other job he ever had with the welfare department


Failure

• Clearly I need a new fallback plan as this job is now very uninteresting since he refuses to take on any interesting work for fear it will go wrong


Success

• A memo arrives• Yes on paper• Memos used to be on paper

– It says something about the legislature met– They changed the retirement rules– Something about a Rule of 80– Age and years of service


Success

• Wait, wait, wait– I am forty something– I have twenty something years of service– I have a year of vacation time and a year of

sick leave• Let’s add all of this together• I can retire when ?• In a couple of years


Success

• Alright• But what will I do retired at 50• I still have to work


Failure

• I am not a consultant


Success

• Remember all those years back when I was a social worker

• The fellow who showed me around way back then in the 70s calls

• He says he is teaching at DeVry• They need some part-time teachers due to

the Internet boom• Would I be interested


Success

• Teaching at a trade school• I don’t know about that• Oh DeVry is not a trade school• Whatever, I always need more money• Notice where the call came from• How long ago did I make that contact


Success

• So I teach one course, make 1,000• They ask could you teach two courses this

time• Teach two courses, make 1,000 times 2• Yes, I can do that


Success

• While chatting with fulltime faculty over the course of time

• Remember, slowly, always slowly• Never too obvious• Never too pushy


Success

• Oh you teach three courses as fulltime faculty

• Oh you make how much• So I am teaching two courses three times

a year for a total of 6,000• You are teaching just one more course

and you are making 8 times what I am making


Success

• Hum, time to implement campaign for a fulltime job with DeVry so that when I retire I can just slide over here

• How to do this• How to do this• A Christmas party is announced• I discover that none of the faculty in my

program area goes anymore


Success

• The program dean must attend• The program dean is new• He does not know anyone• He is a nerd• He will likely be found in the back of the

room, leaning against a wall, checking his watch every minute, figuring out how soon he can duck out


Success

• The plan is executed• My wife and I arrive• Dean and Mrs Dean are spotted in the

back of the room, leaning against a wall, checking their watches every minute, figuring out how soon they can duck out


Success

• I make sure the dean sees a familiar face of sorts, mine

• As we slowly wander toward each other a conversation ensues as being social animals we always engage in conversation whether we really want to or not


Success

• At one point he says• You teach part-time for us don’t you• Yes I do• Well come have a seat with us here at this

table

• The dean now has someone to talk to, someone with some common interest

• The dean stops checking his watch


Success

• Further conversation ensues– What do you do– Oh you can retire soon– At so young an age– What are you going to do– Really, you like teaching here, we will be

adding fulltime faculty


Success

• While I am walking down the hall to class one evening as the dean leaves for the day the words – Have you applied for that job – drift through the air


Other Points

• Take advantage of fortuitous circumstances– Nissan Sentra

• Observe your environment– NFL


Other Points

• Always stay slightly ahead of everyone else– Know how it works so you do not have to look

at your shoes– CCNA– PhD

• Growth to 10• Reduction to 2


Other Points

• But do not stand out too much or someone will chop you back


copyright 2013 kenneth m. chipps ph.d. navigating the workspace last update 2013.06.20 1.1.0 1

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