Re: Make it Pretty for the SMEs You Want to Interview

Subject: Re: Make it Pretty for the SMEs You Want to Interview
From: Donna Horowitz <horowit -at- en -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:19:53 -0400

We had a situation at the place that laid me off. I had worked there
11 years. I had established a level of respect and understanding of
my team's expertise. The engineers/SMEs used to say at first, "You
can take what Harry wrote here and do your magic." At first that
meant taking Harry's exact words and adding punctuation, headers,
footers, blah blah blah.

After a while, of course, with my persuasive enlightenment, they came
to realize that I did more than add aesthetic embellishments. So then
when they said, "Take what Harry did and do your magic," it meant
something completely different. I worked hard to establish respect
and was often told (kiddingly) that the engineers were scared of
me--they knew I'd always stick to my guns when we had a difference
but also said they knew I'd do it right.

Now, since I've been laid off, the junior writer is still there, and
they have nearly started from scratch with her again though she was
part of my team. She simply says ok, if that's what you want, no
problem. It bothers her that they do not recognize that she does more
than embellish, but she does not like to have to ask for the
continued respect she believes should be forthcoming. When we talk, I
suggest to her ways to impress her point, but she is very reserved
and seems not to want to do that. Plus, she is soon to leave for a
better position, so part of her doesn't care.

I on the other hand fight to the end to maintain my respect with my
SMEs. I don't think it's something you can ever assume, and I think
you can lose it. Much of it is a matter of trust, and once they trust
you, they respect what you do even if their way of complimenting you
does not seem to support that. I always felt that if I'm a
communicator, I should be able to communicate what I do, well and
with some degree of finesse despite the instigation or the reaction.

Pondering whether being laid off invalidates my opinion but ignoring
any impediment to sharing my perspective ?




--
Donna M. Horowitz

Hectic but free
no other way to be
life is joyous when
you pursue
what you love.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com

Sponsored by Information Mapping, Inc., a professional services firm
specializing in Knowledge Management and e-content solutions. See
http://www.infomap.com or 800-463-6627 for more about our solutions.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Previous by Author: Re: The softening marketplace
Next by Author: Re: Make it Pretty for the SMEs You Want to Interview
Previous by Thread: Re: Make it Pretty for the SMEs You Want to Interview
Next by Thread: Re: Make it Pretty for the SMEs You Want to Interview


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads