As a 10 year veteran of Staples, I know my time is nigh. The salary increases I earned over those years is no longer supportable as sales continue to decline and the work for myself and my "onshore" team is drying up as we train "offshore" and contract workers in our jobs. One doesn't need a Masters degree to see the handwriting on the wall.
As I sit here at home burning through my vacation time, enjoying moments with my family and friends, polishing my resume, and preparing to embark on my career transition, I thought, "What is the one thing that really shows me where Staples went wrong."
More importantly, what do other people think is the one thing that depicts Staples' failure.
So, in the spirit of the Solstice and the end of the year as well as to the rebirth that awaits us as the new year begins, I invite you to join me in letting go of that "one thing" about Staples that "turns your crank", pisses you off, and shows the level of ineptitude that really spells out f-a-i-l-u-r-e.
For me, it is the culture of meetings propagated by the "command and control" top-down management philosophy. The meetings are time killers and are used by managers and above to make themselves look busy. In Staples, communicating that work is being done is more important than actually doing any real work. Most meetings are completely unnecessary, many could be replaced with an email, and at least half of my team's work hours were consumed by an endless parade of meetings rather than actually getting work done. All this despite the repeated refrain of upper management saying we need fewer meetings, but in true Staples hypocritical fashion, calling more meetings themselves. Man, that felt good.
Happy Solstice and a safe and enjoyable Holiday Venting Season (Airing of the Grievances) to you all.