I'm kind of 50/50 on this. Some days I want to work alone, not be bothered at all, do the work and go home. But sometimes I actually do want to be collaborative and offer up ideas and solutions.
However I'm also one of those people who internally groans when the company starts some new "goal" that is buzzword bullshit, wastes a bunch of time in meetings, and ends up only making processes worse.
Do you keep your head down, or do you actively engage in your workplace?
Absolutely! People are always wondering "how do you get experience in X?". The answer is "be the person that volunteers to research and implement it". Multiple times in my career I've done this and I took that knowledge and experience and got a better higher paying job from it. Rinse repeat.
If your employer is going to pay you to learn a skill or product that will make you more valuable, if you turn that down you're passing up an opportunity to advance. That advancement just may not be at that employer.
Or a more cynical version of this is "make your mistakes in learning at your current employer and if your efforts are not rewarded, take that knowledge and experience elsewhere for higher pay".
Yes, I do suggest improvements, and it's how I got promoted to my current role as a manufacturing project manager (Yes, ugh, project manager. At least I'm technical).
I think the approach matters a lot. Nobody appreciates some corporate jagoff like me coming in and saying that everything is being done wrong and I have a better way. The people who engage in a given process every day are the experts in that process. Regardless of what I think could be improved, they have to buy in and agree that the changes I proposed are actually useful, which they won't do unless they feel some ownership over or stake in the change.
If I have ideas on how to improve, I start by asking about the current process and why things are done that way. It's easy as an outsider to think that there are opportunities to improve something, especially when I don't have a lot of insight into that process.
Sometimes, the answer to why we do things in a certain manner is "we've always done it that way," which indicates to me that either:
The opportunity is ripe for improvement, or
Somebody already went through this process and found the optimal way to do it.
The second option doesn't necessarily mean there isn't room for improvement, as technology and capabilities evolve over time, but it may not be worth further exploration.
Often times, in asking those questions, I learn about some nuance or technicality that totally invalidates my idea or changes how I would approach it. Sometimes we accept inferior ways of doing things because they make something else more efficient or easy.
It's important to pick your battles when proposing improvements. Not everything will bring the same degree of cost savings, efficiencies, or whatever other benefits to the table. Choose the ones that will have the biggest impact with the least amount of effort/cost to implement, and you have a formula for success.
I will suggest things when it starts with “this thing we do isn’t working” and it’s in an area that actually affects my work. It helps to include a suggestion on what would fix it. I’m talking about process things that people often stop noticing after a while.
If some sales guy sleeps at his desk 6 hours a day I don’t say shit and don’t give a fuck. That’s his manager’s fault and problem.
My general attitude toward work is that I want to be able to do my job with as little friction as possible. I’m there to stay in my lane and do excellent work. The other lanes, corporate strategies, managerial book-of-the-month, corporate culture and values do not interest me.
Whenever I’m able to get one on one time with junior employees I always remind them “it’s a multi billion dollar company. It is not your friend. Do what you do for your own career, not this corporation.”
When I was still an employee, I did that for a while. The "reward" was always that I had to work unpaid overtime, and once the project was finished, someone else—who had absolutely nothing to do with it—took all the credit.
I offer suggestions sparingly. I don't speak up unless asked for my opinion. The time I tried convincing colleagues/bosses is over, I'm not getting paid enough to argue with people set in their ways.
In my experience, people mostly hate "methods of improvement". It's easier in the short term to just tell all the possible future issues to fuck off, and then they can bite you in the ass later instead. This is sometimes rationalized some more, "not phrased correctly" or some such, but if no phrasing is good enough to take it seriously, then obviously the phrasing was not the issue...
I'm a senior xyz in one job and "the guy who's been here 24 years" in the side gig. Half my job is asking "is that the best way to do that when it's gonna also do this?" if I know it's sub-optimal.
I hate to say it but depends. I have to feel im compensated and treated fairly and given enough time to do thinking. Meetings sure will discuss and suggest. Im pretty good at recommending we do things a particular way or not do things and not be listened to though.
No. I'm saving all my good ideas for when there is one unified world government and all private ownership has been eliminated. Until then, they would just be wasted by the ruling capitalist pedo glue-sniffing south-paw elites.
Somewhere in between. A big part of my role is making processes better. I could spend the entire year as a top tier programmer then get shitted on in my review because “what larger initiative did you lead?” So I do the stuff. When someone has an idea I get it done. When I have an idea I get it done. But people are hard so usually I just get it done
It can be frustrating at times - we just had all hands on deck response to a business emergency. 3 of 4 initiatives were things I started and worked my way through the teams to 80% done and counting, yet somehow it’s someone else’s idea and they didn’t even include me until I said “wtf?”
I always tell my customers that they're free to watch me work but the moment they start giving me advice is when I hand them the tools and sit back myself.
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