I was a mid career hire, coming in after 2020, and a lower end psg in a technical role. I landed a spot in wave 1, and now I’m being asked to come in help put out fires for other BUs - and What I’m seeing is alarming. Every team leader who’s summoned me is so wildly unqualified for their roles, it’s laughable. I’m the lowest psg in all of the rooms by a margin, yet by far the most qualified and experienced. And here’s the thing - I’m AVERAGE at my job outside Chevron. Don’t get me wrong, everyone here is smart and well educated, but the lack of expertise and experience is just astounding, particularly as you get into the mid 20 psgs. And it’s not one area, I’m jumping in multiple BUs in multiple regions, and it’s all the same: Team leads who are fluent in CVX speak (which, btw so weird and often feels like they’re trying to fit in a certain amount of buzz words per sentence), but almost immediately reveal themselves as empty suits. If these individuals were to apply for these roles as outside hires, they wouldn’t have passed the screening phase. I’ve read here that CVX is a caste system, and I’m starting to understand what that means. The lower caste comprised of folks who do the work, know how things operate and who have to deal with all the sh!t, and the high caste that get priority in upper end jobs, yet have zero accountability. And what’s painfully obvious to me as an outsider, if you’re in the lower caste you’re not getting out. I’m far more qualified than most of the TLs by any measure (degree, experience, certifications), yet I can’t even apply for the jobs due to psg. So, i smile and nod politely in meetings, making sure not to threaten these fragile egos and comfort their insecurities, and just wait to offer actual substance. And all these life long CVXers just accept it as natural order. It’s like a bizarre mix of the Stepford Wives meets the Emperor Has No Clothes. To be clear, I’m no victim here, i see this as an opportunity. But it is embarrassing to see so much systemic incompetence, not to mention the delusional thinking that somehow moving boxes will fix the problems.
17 replies (most recent on top)
funny... i went here a few days ago and almost no down votes for OP. Someone loaded up their incognito mode - the truth hurts
@nd OP here - the PDC process is a total sham. 1) because I was brought in at a psg below my equivalent CVX peers, I’m not even able to apply to most of these other roles, or anything really that would be true advancement (which, btw, if I’d understood how they brought in outside hires at 75% psg equivalent of our peers, and how that essentially ensures you’ll never advance, I’d never have taken the job) ; 2) every time I’ve asked to post to the PDC, I was told there wasn’t a “business case” to allow me to move on just yet, since I was so valuable in my role - so I’ve stopped asking. Meanwhile, I’ve had 3 bosses in this span. In other words, the upper caste gets to keep ascending, because they bring so little value it’s not a problem if they’re moved, but I cannot because i can actually do the work. Why would you possibly want someone technically sound moving up, when you can promote someone from your alumni network?
And before you think I’m some self righteous and insufferable blow hard, I should note I primarily get EEs on reviews. I have a deep list of positive feedback, particularly around “building relationships”. I’ve been asked to mentor team members in my approach, and told I’m the sort of talent the New CVX is looking for (i.e., “results focused” and efficient). I like my job and actually love the people I work with. However, I’ve just grown wildly disillusioned leadership’s approach, and I’m fed up with the obvious gas lighting and 2 class system that rewards everything but job competency. Oh, and can we all stop pretending all of the vaunted CVX processes came down from the mount with Moses along with the 10 commandments? They’re mostly intellectual masturbation by hipots. I’ve yet to see one that adds value.
@nd the PDC process is at the root of Chevron’s demise: the fundamental assumption that you can move totally unqualified people into a position to make the game of musical,chairs go vroom is the reason there are so many people that focus solely on following process and CYA, and so few leaders focussed on genuine strategy.
In my time at CVX (> 10 years), I had one supervisor or product owner who had formal any background in the field they were supposedly leading - that was only for six months. The rest were all there because of either:
a) PDC (and it was a learning opportunity)
b) ROMs (and there was no one to fill the role or they were protected)
c) nowhere else to go
This resulted in supervisors who:
a) resisted taking on any extra work beyond the bare minimum
b) asked you to come to them with problems so they could help
c) asked you to come to them with solutions, not problems
d) if you had a solution, asked you to implement it
e) were obsessed with following processes they didn’t understand
f) if a solution to a problem involved a change to the process, didn’t want to know
g) had no strategic vision that would improve the effectiveness and impact of the team
h) became task managers instead of leaders
I) complained when throughout and output wasn’t high enough
j) couldn’t differentiate between high quality and low quality work
k) routinely misrepresented or misunderstood the team’s progress, or individual contributions
@OP I understand how you feel. Some Team Leads have a lot of expertise in their area but may lack personality and leadership abilities. Others might be less experienced in their current positions and don’t have the technical knowledge to be experts. Since you are an experienced hire, possibly with a strong technical background, the business units are looking to you for support. If you prefer to stay focused on the technical side, that’s perfectly fine. However, some people find it monotonous to tackle the same issues repeatedly and look for new challenges to learn and develop. This is the purpose of the PDC process—the emphasis is on development. Through the PDC, individuals take on different roles to gain new skills and grow. They rotate through various positions, which might include the people you mentioned. You might also find yourself in such a role in the future. Good luck.
This is also what makes all the talk about streamlining “decision rights” absolute rubbish. The reason we were paralyzed by indecision wasnt org structure, it was the totally unqualified/inept LTs being so scared to make decisions (knowing they were wildly out of their depth), they bring as many people as they could into decisions - not for consensus building, but entirely for CYA/blame distribution. And the new org structure ain’t fixing that.
@op, get out of my head.
I used to smile and nod, but after more than a decade, I decided that my integrity was worth more. I stopped playing the game and now I’m out.
The amount of incompetence is staggering, and I won’t miss that. I will miss the money.
Unfortunately, I'm seeing issues in geology functions as well. There is a lot of confusion going on with who is responsible for what and people are getting upset they're being bothered at all instead of being considerate that of the fact that most people haven't been given clear direction of what each role is supposed to be. We're all just trying to navigate the new org at this point. People are disenchanted with the company for putting us all through the months of stress and uncertainty and now that we're on the other side of it, people are either unwilling to help or don't fully know how they're supposed to help. It's going to take time to figure it out. It su-ks right now but I'm optimistic it will get better.
I've been here for well over 10 years as an experienced hire worked on many different companies.
I totally agree.- for the most part - not impressed with almost all of the team leads and managers. They know how to "gamify" the system and "talk well w/ CVX culture" and majority of them do not have experience outside of Chevron and could not get results needed as expected from other companies outside.
"Every team leader who’s summoned me is so wildly unqualified for their roles, it’s laughable. I’m the lowest psg in all of the rooms by a margin, yet by far the most qualified and experienced."
"So, i smile and nod politely in meetings, making sure not to threaten these fragile egos and comfort their insecurities, and just wait to offer actual substance."
You have no idea, dear @OP, hos strong and loud these words are resonating in my head.
I am glad to be out from this faaakin cult.
@OP I’m not implying what you say isn’t true, but why specific disciplines or functions are you talking about? I think this issue is more a cute in certain functions than others. Are you seeing this in Petrotech or support functions?
@aa my favorite thing about lifelong chevrons is watching them fawn over anyone who’s pay is above theirs. It is absolutely funny to see the level of deference and groveling.
I literally had to do a double take to make sure I hadn’t written this post while I was half asleep. This person could be living in my brain. As an outsider as well, what they say is 100% true. Most team leads wouldn’t make it 2 hours outside of Chevron. Incompetence is the worst I’ve ever seen. Most have never done the work. I used to throw lifelong Chevron applications in the trash because of this. The people they claim to “build relationships and influence” literally laugh at them. I have some BP’s that straight up ask me to not bring certain leaders in the field because they can’t stand them. The same leaders tout how they are masters at building influence and leading. It is embarrassing.
This would be funny, if it were not true! Spot on.
You nailed it; well done OP. It borders on ridiculous. Some of the most basic questions or decisions that could be answered swiftly and effectively by experienced, knowledgeable personnel result in needless meetings comprised of buzz words, group think, and eventually ineffectual tasking of subordinates toward wrong actions. CVX really is a sh-t show. Sad and demoralizing.
This is the world that MW and the ELT wanted and got through this reorg. No one will hang the accountability onto the correct responsible parties when the next major incident hits the newsfeeds. It's that technical competency that you are referring to that is no longer there that helped avert these process and operational incidents. Maybe the Engine folks will save the company through the leveraging of their wealth of industry knowledge. In the meantime, I am laughing all the way to the bank with my severance and pension. Good luck!
OP here - what’s fascinating is the play book is always the same. I get an IM, which leads to a call, and I’m told “we just need an individual contributor for a few hours a week”. I get to the onboarding meeting, where it’s obvious it’s no understands the fundamentals of their task - and by the week’s end I’m leading the effort. And again, outside Chevron, I’m average. But here, there is a total void of technical acumen. It’s as though there is an assumption that if your a psg 24+, your a superior human and by default qualified to lead any activity. The relief is physically palpable when they realize there is a baseline of competency.
P.s. - If what I’m seeing is any indication, this reorg is a total fu--ing failure. Already seeing people fighting for resources, and band aid fixes that aren’t sustainable.
Remember CVX is about "doers" and "Human Energy".....you are both.