"Hungry for Success" by English Professionals. EPISODE 10 : Where do you stand?

Tim needs to make a decision. But where DOES he stand?

Transcript

Hungry for success 

by English Professionals

10. Where do you stand?

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

Now firmly convinced that James knew more than he was letting on, Tim was unsure what to do next. The optimism that he had felt when James had first announced the news of the Macrosoft takeover had well and truly disappeared. It had been replaced with a deep sense of powerlessness. Tim felt like a pawn in someone else’s game. Even the fact that he had finally shared his fears with Rebecca, after an initial sensation of relief, now did little in the cold light of day to reassure him.

Looking round the office Tim surveyed his colleagues. All seemed oblivious to the possibly job-threatening if not life-changing events going on around them. To some extent he envied them - better to be left in the dark he mused.  Just hours before Tim had hoped to convince both Rebecca and her family that he was not a loser. Was he actually a loser after all?  This was the first real test in his career. This could be a defining moment - a time to separate the men from the boys - he was beginning to sound like Steve. He smiled despite himself. 

Tim remembered the earlier conversation with Steve and Sue - the day of the conference call. 

“Are you with us or against us?  We need to know where you stand.” Steve had asked.

Exactly where did he stand? Tim was still not entirely sure. He was forever telling his team that some things were not black or white but perhaps a little grey.  It was a useful clichè probably used by managers on occasion to avoid making a definite decision which could turn out to be wrong. Well, if ever there was a situation which was not clearly black or white, this was it. 

Tim decided to make a list of pros and cons. I’m an accountant, he said to himself.- I’m used to weighing up different options. This is nothing different.

First, pros -

One  : possibility of working for Macrosoft, multinational company, unlimited prospects etc etc

It sounded good yesterday. Today there seemed to be too many implied maybes in that sentence. Tim himself realised that he had used the word “possibility”!

Pros were not going too well so he decided to switch to cons.

One - Macrosoft get rid of existing employees

Two - My role replaced by existing Macrosoft staff

Three - less autonomy 

Four - uncertainty

Too many cons. Why had he started this? A fresh wave  of  worry began to rise up inside Tim. By this point he had realised that his accountant’s approach of making a list of pros and cons, was not going to reach any kind of concrete conclusion and in fact was going to make him more tense and concerned rather than resolve anything. 

Tim tried to focus on his work and turned his attention to the spreadsheet on his laptop. It was a cost variance analysis of overhead expenses. He tried to draw some comfort by studying the green positive variances - actual against budget. Lightning had done well. Everything was green that should be - and very little red. Income was going up and expenses were going down. Tim could in reality claim a lot of the credit for this favourable performance. He had been instrumental in making changes to the company’s cost structure which had significantly reduced ongoing expenses. This had allowed Steve to offer some additional discounts to entice a flurry of new clients to come onboard. The additional revenue had done wonders for Lightning’s P&L.

Unfortunately none of this was relevant to the immediate issue. What to do now about the impending Macrosoft takeover? - never mind the visit scheduled for just a few day’s time. At this point Tim realised that he had to choose sides. He could no longer sit on the fence. He rose and strode over to HR. Sue was sitting alone at her desk. She looked up as she sensed Tim approaching but said nothing, waiting for him to speak. Tim glanced around. Walls have ears he thought. There was nobody in the close vicinity. HR consisted of only three other staff and all seemed to have found a reason to be elsewhere at that particular time. 

“I’m in”, said Tim, “tell Steve I’m in “ 

“whatever it takes” he added as an after-thought

Sue smiled . “OK then” she replied

COMMENTARY

So Tim is in a very difficult position. Stuck between his initial hope to improve his career and now his growing fear that he will instead lose his job. He feels that he has no power to change the situation. In fact he feels that he is being manipulated by others. A pawn is the least powerful piece in a game of chess. Tim uses the analogy of feeling “like a pawn in someone else’s game” to express his fear of powerlessness and feeling that decisions affecting him are being made by others without his knowledge - hence he is a pawn in someone else’s game.

He comes to this unwelcome conclusion “in the cold light of day”. If we talk about “in the cold light of day” it means that we are talking about a scenario when we can clearly think about something without being influenced by emotions and distractions which may unduly influence us. For example : 

In the cold light of day, my decision to accept the job no longer seemed such a wise decision. 

Perhaps when we originally accepted the job, our judgement was compromised by something else - making our thinking less objective. Now away from that distraction and being able to think clearly (“in the cold light of day”) we are beginning to have doubts. 

Tim’s colleagues are “in the dark”. In other words they are unaware of what is happening. If you are left in the dark about something it means that you were not told about it - it was kept secret from you.

Sounding a little like Steve - who loves to use as many idioms as possible when he speaks, Tim uses the idiom “to separate the men from the boys”. This idiom should be used with care since in other contexts, it can be interpreted as having sexual connoctations and so could be considered offensive by some. However, in this context, it means simply to show who are the strongest and bravest (in other words the men). The boys here refers to people who only pretend to be strong and brave - their actions when they encounter difficulties do not match their words.

We often talk about situations not being black or white and perhaps a little grey - or being in a grey area. We mean that there is no obviously right or wrong answer. Perhaps the answer is a combination of both or even difficult to determine.

Pros and cons are advantages and disadvantages or good points and bad points, for and against. If we are finding it difficult to decide on a particular course of action - :

I’m not sure which one to choose. There are pros and cons to each one.

A good accountant like Tim will sometimes list pros and cons of a particular action in order to help make a decision. In effect he wants to weigh up the pros and cons - compare two lists - good points and bad points  - more pros or more cons. He is hoping to see that one side is bigger than the other and he can then choose the option with the most pros and the least cons. Unfortunately life is not always so simple - as he realises when he tries unsuccessfully to adopt this approach.

Tim decides to direct his attention to something more concrete - a cost variance analysis. Accountants usually prepare these to compare actual costs against the original budget or forecast. The variance being the difference between the two. Positive variances are good and are often shown in green. Negative or adverse  variances are shown in red. He hopes to draw some comfort from this - in other words make himself feel better. 

Steve has been able to attract a flurry (in this context a large number) of new clients. The effect has done wonders for Lightning’s P&L, meaning the sales resulting have significantly increased the profits generated by the company.

To do wonders for something means to significantly improve it

His new promotion has done wonders for his confidence.

Finally Tim somehow manages to make a decision. He’s  no longer wishing to sit on the fence meaning to remain neutral. He chooses his side . As he arrives at HR he thinks to himself “walls have ears”. This means that you have to be careful what you say because there could be people listening. Since everybody else is absent Tim tells Sue that he is in - he is prepared to be in Sue and Steve’s camp - on their side. And, in addition, he is also prepared to do “whatever it takes” in order to achieve their objectives.

It’s great that Tim has finally decided to take sides and to stop “sitting on the fence”. However the fact remains he still doesn’t know what is going on and, even if he did, is he able to influence events?

Macrosoft may be a huge international player but they don’t know yet about Tim’s secret weapon. They don’t know he is married to Rebecca.

What can Rebecca do? Find out in the next episode

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