Lack of feedback from management

bear1

Bit of a tricky one here.
Back in September 2016 I discovered a way for the company to save a few hundred thousand dollars a year in maintenance fees.
Got talking to the tech teams, managers etc about its feasibility and everyone was happy with it to progress.
Fast forward almost a year and I've hit a stumbling block.
There is one main guy on the management side who is just not responding to any emails which require his help.
He is being chased by numerous other people to get the response to a question being asked so that this can move to the next level.
He is much higher than me on the scale but I tried chasing him when he was online via Skype and got no response.
I've raised this with my manager and got no feedback worth mentioning.
I completely frustrated at this stage as I'm so close to getting this closed off and implemented.
It would look great on my cv and is also worth quite a bit of prize money which do nicely about this time of year.
Any tips? Should I simply wait for the guy to finally answer or simply chase every single day?

Victor

One wonders:
* Does this person have a conflict of interest in not having the issue solved?
* Is this person on leave or similar?
* Might you / your manager have an alternative route, e.g. via finance or internal audit?

bear1

Victor wrote: »

One wonders:
* Does this person have a conflict of interest in not having the issue solved?
* Is this person on leave or similar?
* Might you / your manager have an alternative route, e.g. via finance or internal audit?

He is one of the bosses of the department so it would be in his interests in a way to have the company save money.
He is in, I see it everyday. Available and online. Just ignoring.
I thought about escalating but I think this will do me serious damage so I don't want to go down that route.
I was thinking of simply venting slight frustration with an email today but I can imagine being pulled into a meeting because of it.
Complete lack of professionality

Ranjo

I suggest looking for an alternate route in conjunction with your manager. You need to clearly spell out your idea, the approach and what steps/approval/support you require to get to the goal of saving the money, and who is required for each one.

Teyla Emmagan

Put a meeting in his calendar or rock up at the door of his office for a chat. Or ring the man.

Don't chase him every day by email. Clearly that isn't working.

Neon_Lights

I feel you op, I have a manager in work who openly spends more just because she can retain a higher budget each year.

It's the most idiotic thing from an expense point of view, and it's not as if it generates more value, generally throwing money at a problem doesn't.

You've just got to realise at the end of the day it's not your money. However I do concur, what I would like to do is take it out of an external contractors pocket and put it in my own where possible.

bear1

The meeting idea has been tried and tested but to no avail.
He's in a different city so can't do that and escalating him involves going to the managing director and cause I've a much lower position than him it could end badly.
I've decided to ask my own manager for a 10min meeting to try and get some ideas on how best to confront the problem.
All I need is his answer to a question and we would be good to go which is what makes it so frustrating.
Thank you all

bear1

Neon_Lights wrote: »

I feel you op, I have a manager in work who openly spends more just because she can retain a higher budget each year.

It's the most idiotic thing from an expense point of view, and it's not as if it generates more value, generally throwing money at a problem doesn't.

You've just got to realise at the end of the day it's not your money. However I do concur, what I would like to do is take it out of an external contractors pocket and put it in my own where possible.

For the company it isn't a whole lot of money. Talking about 200k usd per year.
But still it's a significant saving for one person to bring about so I'd have thought management would be jumping at the idea which in fairness they are.
Logistically it's a problem, you go from warsaw to dublin to London to new york just to get answers

jackboy

bear1 wrote: »

The meeting idea has been tried and tested but to no avail.
He's in a different city so can't do that and escalating him involves going to the managing director and cause I've a much lower position than him it could end badly.
I've decided to ask my own manager for a 10min meeting to try and get some ideas on how best to confront the problem.
All I need is his answer to a question and we would be good to go which is what makes it so frustrating.
Thank you all

Forget the emails and skype. Just keep ringing him. Try to get him first thing in the morning.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Will questions be raised why the manager you're chasing hadn't come up with your cost saving plan? Perhaps a reason he/she is reluctant to engage with you.

bear1

Otto Faint Butter wrote: »

Will questions be raised why the manager you're chasing hadn't come up with your cost saving plan? Perhaps a reason he/she is reluctant to engage with you.

It might as it's also a cost saving plan being monitored by his bosses but they aren't engaging at all.
I've a feeling it also has something to do with my title within the company.

If this is a project presumably you report on it? If so your current/next progress update should detail that you need a response/info from xyz to proceed.

$200k/annum is a decent saving in anyone's estimation. I worked on projects that required $1m being spent to attain less savings per annum and those projects were in the Top10 projects in a site that employs 1000+ people.

You mention their are numerous other people trying to get the response, I think the best thing is a team/project meeting where one person is assigned to deal with the chap, it might not be you....... whoever the best person is, might be the person closest to him on the seniority scale or whatever.

helimachoptor

doorstep him, unfortunately with these evasive people its the only thing that works.

Go prepared with print outs

bear1

Unfortunately I'm quite restricted with contacting him other than electronical means. He is in a different city so only his superiors can physically go there.
I'm waiting for my manager to free up some time so we can meet and discuss our next steps.

Otto Faint Butter

Otto Faint Butter wrote: »

Will questions be raised why the manager you're chasing hadn't come up with your cost saving plan? Perhaps a reason he/she is reluctant to engage with you.

bear1 wrote: »

It might as it's also a cost saving plan being monitored by his bosses but they aren't engaging at all.
I've a feeling it also has something to do with my title within the company.

I'd get all these type of thoughts out of your head before discussing anything with your manager. At least don't voice them.

The chap could quite simply be prioritising his time and sees your query as a low priority if a priority at all. Not replying at all isn't a great response but such is life.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

What about an email to all involved with a status update on your plan.

A positive email that progress has been made but that you are waiting for response from department (person's name) to proceed to next step/stage.

It sounds like there is some office politics going on. I would be wary of pushing too hard to get a response from him directly, in particular as you say his bosses are monitoring the progress.

A competent manager should give you *some* sort of update. If he is too busy to review your plan, he should at least tell you that.

bear1

Otto Faint Butter wrote: »

What about an email to all involved with a status update on your plan.

A positive email that progress has been made but that you are waiting for response from department (person's name) to proceed to next step/stage.

It sounds like there is some office politics going on. I would be wary of pushing too hard to get a response from him directly, in particular as you say his bosses are monitoring the progress.

A competent manager should give you *some* sort of update. If he is too busy to review your plan, he should at least tell you that.

You'd think so wouldn't you.
Good idea about the progress email.
I've chased two people to try and get this guy to respond. One didn't bother answering and the other said he'd try and catch him today.
Asked my manager for a meeting to discuss next steps but I was brushed off till tomorrow.
Very hard not fire a few f bombs at these people.

Victor

Otto Faint Butter wrote: »

Will questions be raised why the manager you're chasing hadn't come up with your cost saving plan? Perhaps a reason he/she is reluctant to engage with you.

Not necessarily. The manager can say 'his team' worked on it and moved it forward, so this shouldn't be a reason.

bear1 wrote: »

Very hard not fire a few f bombs at these people.

Realise that €200,000 is a lot of money for most people, but there might be much more important things being discussed at a higher level.

I once knocked £1m (2%) off a construction project with a single suggestion (have 4 apartments per floor instead of 2), resulting in much fewer lifts and stairs needed. They still complained my budget looked high.

bear1

Yeah I realise that the amount saved is not a huge amount for the company but I think it's a reasonable amount considering the project at hand.
Essentially they have a system which is reduntant and which no one uses but yet they are paying the upkeep of said system. I've shown a way to close the system down without losing it's purpose but encorporate it into another system.
All going well till this lad stuck his head in.
Yesterday I was told that next week he'll try (sigh) to answer the email.

bear1

Just to get back to this.
It's a never ending saga.
We had a call last Monday with one of the managers of the team as he said in january he asked questions which no one answered...
I then showed him that indeed I did answer the questions and sent on proof as well.
Nothing came of the call except that they will get back to me.
Not a peep since and my own manager seems reluctant to proceed.
Should I just throw in the towel?
Seems very very ignorant to me that if I refused to answer someone I'd be escalated but it doesn't work that way if I do it to someone higher than me.

bobbysands81

Very interesting thread.

If I was the OP I'd tread carefully. It's obvious you have a good idea and you're showing good drive to try and implement it.

However, your priorities are different to your senior manager's priority. In fact your priority might be really far down the list of your manager's priority. So whereas your idea is saving 200k your manager might be working to bring in tens of millions of $$$ in increased turnover. He might be interested in your idea but sees pitfalls you don't or just doesn't have the time to devote to the issue.

There comes a time when you have to take a step back from this... maybe not give in but take a step back. Your manager has all the info he needs and might decide to visit it properly at some stage.

Would you consider providing an e-mail synopsis of what's happened to date and what needs to happen to implement the savings? In the mail spell out what you need from your senior manager to implement your plan?

Then... take a step back and wait for a final reply.

bear1

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Very interesting thread.

If I was the OP I'd tread carefully. It's obvious you have a good idea and you're showing good drive to try and implement it.

However, your priorities are different to your senior manager's priority. In fact your priority might be really far down the list of your manager's priority. So whereas your idea is saving 200k your manager might be working to bring in tens of millions of $$$ in increased turnover. He might be interested in your idea but sees pitfalls you don't or just doesn't have the time to devote to the issue.

There comes a time when you have to take a step back from this... maybe not give in but take a step back. Your manager has all the info he needs and might decide to visit it properly at some stage.

Would you consider providing an e-mail synopsis of what's happened to date and what needs to happen to implement the savings? In the mail spell out what you need from your senior manager to implement your plan?

Then... take a step back and wait for a final reply.

Yeah i mean everything is possible.
Whether it be intentional or not i think simply refusing to be of any help is just beyond ignorance.
His bosses are aware of the project but they seem to be completely removed from the topic.

bear1

Sent out 3 separate chasers today to 3 different individuals to try and get some movement but alas to no avail.
As I'll be off from next week I've decided I've had enough and I'll take a break from the project.
Annoying that's it defeating me now but I'm wasting too much energy on this.

mirrorwall14

What are the official penalties for cheating?

bear1

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

What are the official penalties for cheating?

Cheat with what?

mirrorwall14

bear1 wrote: »

Cheat with what?

Sorry totally wrong thread!