Chapter 6:
Rob is picking his battles
Rob was glad his catch-up with Gene was at the local pub that Friday afternoon. He needed to get out of the office. His plan was to race through the scores, then sit back, enjoy a few beers and have a proper talk. He hadn’t seen Gene outside of the office since he had moved to the capital.
Rob and Gene had joined the agency as grads at the same time. Rob had always liked Gene. He was the smartest guy Rob had ever met and, somewhat annoyingly, everyone else liked him, too. He had charm, but it was genuine. Rob sometimes wondered if life would be easier if he were more diplomatic like Gene, but being in his mid-thirties, he knew himself. He wasn’t about to change now.
Gene was late, as usual, flashing an apologetic smile when he arrived. Rob just shook his head and smiled back. Typical Gene.
Once they were at a table with beers in hand, Rob got down to business. ‘Let’s get this crap out of the way so I can order another round.’ He took a sip, giving Gene a wicked smile, which made Gene laugh and roll his eyes.
‘I see you haven’t changed,’ Gene teased.
‘Why mess with perfection?’ Rob replied with a grin, then pulled crumpled printouts from his trouser pocket. He scanned Gene’s scores. ‘Okay, so you’ve got Medium for being proactive and High for the rest. I don’t see an issue. You know yourself best.’
‘Stuart has been breathing down my neck about admin,’ Gene said. ‘I knew he’d be reviewing the scores, so I gave him what he wanted to see.’
Rob flipped to the page with the comments. ‘Yeah, Stuart’s a good guy—he must be getting pressure from above.’
‘The senior execs are focusing on retention so everyone’s frantic about performance plans,’ Gene said.
Rob rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t see how paperwork helps if you’re not in the trenches with your team.’
‘Apparently, it’s what the latest staff survey showed people want. I had my one-on-ones this morning and I see the value, but it’s hard to make time for admin on top of the actual work,’ Gene said with a shrug.
Rob paused and looked at Gene. ‘Do you have anyone to help you out? Like a business manager or an admin officer?’
‘Yes, we have a business manager in our division who helps Stuart and his directors. It’s just that the admin pile seems to be ever-increasing. As soon as you clear something, more comes in. And that’s on top of the Minister’s office tightening the policy advice timeframes recently.’
Gene looked defeated. ‘How do you stay on top of it, heading up a whole division?’
‘I don’t. I mean, I don’t stress about it,’ Rob said. ‘I give it a solid hour every Wednesday morning. I clear as much of that crap as possible, then I don’t think about it until the following Wednesday. If it’s insanely urgent, Rachel, my director of operations, bullies me into it before I leave the office. I don’t do it alone and I don’t let it pile up until it’s a problem.’
Gene raised his eyebrows. ‘That’s actually brilliant.’
Rob felt a small surge of pride. Even whiz-kid Gene could learn a thing or two about surviving corporate bullshit. ‘Right. My turn. Let’s finish this.’
Gene flipped to the page with Rob’s scores. ‘Straight Highs across the board? No surprises there, Mr Confidence,’ he teased.
Rob laughed. ‘I’m not in this job because I’m underperforming.’
Gene paused and shot Rob a knowing look. ‘You gave yourself a High on “considering how your working style affects your colleagues”?’
Rob shrugged. ‘I deliver. That’s what matters. If I have to push the team to get a result for the regions, they understand.’
‘Right…’ Gene said in a tone that suggested he wasn’t entirely convinced. ‘But Steve’s comments mention “thinking broadly” and “modelling behaviour”. Anything you want to share, partner?’
Rob shifted in his seat. ‘He gave me a talking-to a few weeks back. Said I have to “play ball” now that I’m in head office. But that’s not why I took this job.’
‘Why did you take it?’ Gene asked.
‘I wanted to get rid of red tape, not become part of it. Make life easier for the regions so they can focus on the work that actually matters.’
‘Maybe you should spend less energy resisting the system and more on working out how to use it,’ Gene said. ‘I’ve never had problems getting exemptions or streamlining things. You just have to know the big-ticket rules and who to call to help you navigate them.’
Rob looked at Gene sceptically. ‘I can’t stand those corporate types. I break out in hives as soon as they start going on about “policies and procedures”.’
‘Surely not all of them are jerks! Maybe you’re the jerk, Rob!’ Gene said.
They both laughed.
‘Seriously, though, try a different approach. You’re good at building relationships and fine with people you know and like,’ Gene said. ‘The CFO is pragmatic. He might give you pointers on how to navigate head office—maybe even how to deal with Claire.’
Rob groaned. ‘Don’t start. Have you heard about this working group? Talk about things I don’t want to do,’ he said. ‘Actually, I was going to ask you to join. I need someone to balance things out. Quinn is on it, and so is Claire. Quinn’s nice enough, but I don’t want those two ganging up on me.’
Gene hesitated. ‘Mate, I’m not sure. Stuart’s already on my case about managing my workload and I’ve got a personal project I’m trying to protect time for—some lecturing on the side. I need to clear my plate, not add to it.’
‘Come on, man. Save me!’ Rob pleaded. ‘First meeting’s a week from Tuesday. Just come to that one. I’ll make sure Claire doesn’t task you with anything—not that she won’t try.’
‘All right, fine. One meeting. But if she assigns a whole workstream to me, you’re taking the bullet.’
Rob raised his glass. ‘Deal. Now can we talk about literally anything else?’
Gene laughed and clinked his beer against Rob’s. ‘Gladly.’