So I've been asking around to my colleagues haw many supervisors they has in their EM career and what percentage of those supervisors they considered good, and what percentage they considered terrible, and a pretty consistent answer is emerging:
90% are terrible!
I'm curious to know what's the TheLayoff community rating.
Here's mine: 12 supervisors in 15 years. 1 good, 1 ok, 10 terrible.
I can't rate my current manager or supervisor, they're milking it for everything they can on pointless long haul flights and I've not had any meaningful communication with them for months.
My Supervisor is a 5. She thinks she is an 8 or 9.
I am sure a chubby chaser would rate her at least an 8.
The best managers (10%) that I ever had were technically competent in the group he/she managed because they had previously worked as a technical contributor in the group.
80% of my managers were technically competent at something but had no clue about the technical competencies required to manage the group that they were asked to manage. Our job as subject matter experts was to (1) help these managers avoid landmines and (2) get them promoted as quickly as possible so that they became someone else's problem.
The other 10% were technically incompetent at everything they managed and no matter what group they were assigned they were very destructive to the overall corporate mission.
20 years and I haven't had any problems with my supervisors. They are imperfect humans doing the best they can. Try cutting them some slack like you want others to do for you.
21 years (left in 2021)
First - high strung, paranoid, don’t rock the boat
Second - he was so fascinated with the young new hire, he could not see the forest for the trees.
Third - outstanding. High expectations but always followed through at ranking and with salary increases. Taught me so much about the company.
Fourth - Quiet, total game player. Would throw anyone under the bus if his Mgr asked him too, with an innocent face.
Fifth - she had a favorite and everone in the group knew. In ranking when I went down a notch and was dissapointed and voiced it - asked me how i thought “insert peer name here” must feel. Never supposed to make those comparisons
Sixth - first time supervisor whose dad retired from EM. Knows everything, about everything, just shut up and listen to the babbling.
Seventh - surely had no training. Handed salary increase post it note to me in the hallway?
Eighth- Had no idea what was going on, and short lived before transfer
Ninth - wolf in sheeps clothing. Saw many disparaging things under his watch.
Tenth - Great. Did the “right thing”. Had been through some BS with company and understood.
Eleventh - nightmare. Lied, took advantage of people. Made awful hand gestures. CoVid outfall sent them back to non supervisor, shortly after left on medical leave
Twelfth - completely clueless and robotic. Had no idea what I was talking about when I asked about setting up my 20 year anniversary lunch. Did not know company policies and questioned everything.
Thankfully after twelve, only two worth working for again, I early retired.
Enjoy my new workplace so much more. Treated like an adult team member.
My Supervisor has no clue about our group’s work.
She is adamant that we can improve by transitioning to Sharepoint.
She does not seem to have any interest or capability to understand our work.
We build stuff. Sharepoint usage cannot help build stuff.
She is destined for management no matter how ignorant she remains.
This seems to be a pattern in EM.
Not sure where KB is now but I'm sure she's climbing the ladder steadily.
My sup is fantastic!! He's great at taking care of himself, getting kickbacks, and spending his time on "business" travel and letting the team rot on it's own. Sups are accused of not trying, and let me tell ya... he tries darn hard to squeeze this lemon for all its got.
@3hci
Is this the KB with AB?
I had many supervisors but the one that stands out for its psychopathic behavior is KB.
She was supervisor during 2020/21. During those assessment cycles she PIP'd 3 (one in 2020, two in 2021) and other 4 resigned.
Even her hi-po and the only one in the team who got a promotion resigned, imagine that.
Since then she received like 3 promotions.
It is unfortunate that we do not return to the 1990's management practice which required a manager to punch their ticket as a technical contributor in the group before they were eligible to manage the group. One cannot divorce management skills from technical skills in any energy company.
My new young female supervisor must be a diversity promotion.
Not a clue about the work.
Absolutely dangerous because too ignorant to be able to phrase a question about our work.
I am trying to escape the group before she destroys a project and looks for someone like me to blame.
Been at EM for a year. My manager is HORRIBLE! Manipulative, constant gaslighting when given the chance, and is arrogant as he-l (without any true skills).
Is somebody rating the Midland supervisors?
He is very Gut! (indian accent here !)
haha
Suggest you help her get transferred to her next assignment as soon as possible so that she is someone else's problem.
2 great, 3 dilberts and the last one is a woman that is everyone’s worst nightmare.. Her brother was fired and I have no idea how she has stayed here as long as she has. Plays the game well but a back stabbing, self absorbed cameilion that will lie, cheat and steal anything to make her look good in front of management but behind their back she is a tyrant. I really hope I can outlast her but it’s not looking good. She has made me not look forward to going to work any longer.
I guess I was lucky. 4 great bosses, 3 mediocre, 2 terrible in 13.5 years. One mediocre started great and like a light switch, flipped to mediocre once a terrible boss came back from special assignment to lead the group, sh-t really does roll downhill.
18 years at the company… 3 great supervisors, 10 plus needed significant improvement.
Our values as a company do not match the behaviours we see in our supervisors.
6 supervisor over 5.5 years in Exxon. 1 was great, 1 okay and 1 gaslighting bi--h SLS working in Fawley FAB building. She was an absolute nightmare of a person to work with. She is manipulative and will gaslight the he-l out of you if given the chance in meetings. What comes around goes around, I hope you get backstabbed in your KO feedback you piece of human filth.
....The new leadership culture....????
What new culture?
Are you saying that there's an initiative to change the culture?
If anything, the same old toxic culture has exacerbated in the last few years.
Many throughout my storybook career; I don’t waste my time trying to recall who they were. But, all OWD, which of course I carried them on my back with exemplary accomplishments (especially RT).
Truly yours,
DW
The challenge with getting a good manager/supervisor is that the behaviors we rewarded at Exxon for many years are those that generally don’t align with good development or care for employees.
The new leadership culture is trying to change the tide, but unfortunately, too many of those who have benefited from the prior jaded system are still in positions of prominence. The culture will persist unless enough people have the confidence to stand up to it and call out the bad behaviors. People to call into question the means by which a supervisor accomplished their tasks. Even the assessment training they put us through has examples of two supervisors who had different sets of pros/cons and the one who got results trumps the one who took care of their people. This encourages a “work over people” mindset that is toxic. There needs to be a harmony of the two, but if tasks always wins the tiebreaker over people skills, then that is what you will get.
Needs Improvement.
21 years, multiple managers. In order from first to last:
6 - 8. Blur of rotating managers that made no significant contributions.
Wow, overall, I’d give management a solid 4/10. Majority were quite awful and should NEVER have been in roles managing others.
7 supervisors in 7 years.
1 good, 1 mediocre, and 5 bad. 1 of the 5 was the ultimate worst boss. He should never be put in charge of people or running a business.
1 excellent, 1 good, 9 OK 1 terrible psycopath, who is now a tech manager at a US refinery.