I have had the privilege to have worked for some excellent managers over the years, who I credit for helping me to develop my career and skills by allowing me the scope to shape the role I was employed for.
Right the way back to the various managers I had when working in the book trade all those years ago in Sydney, who gave me the freedom to do everything from establishing new branches, recruiting staff, ordering stock to refurbishing stores. Basically to do anything I thought would help grow the business.
And of course the various managers I have worked for in the past in London, in particular at PwC and Royal Mail.
The interesting thing is that my final role at Royal Mail turned out to be very different to the one I was employed for (Development Manager). And it grew into being the best role I’ve ever had in the UK, without a doubt.
And it was accidental. I had little idea what a “dev manager”, and later, what a “channel manager”, should do so I just got in and did what I figured was needed.
Dennis, my manager, once said to me “just keep doing what you think needs doing”, giving me an open ticket to sort out any areas I figured needed tuning in order to drive service improvements in the online space. A brilliant opportunity to shape the role, keeping me challenged, allowing me to build my web experience and hopefully helping Royal Mail at the same time.
Same with PwC. I had the pleasure to work with some brilliant managers there, including two for whom I took on roles that to be honest, I didn’t really know a lot about.
When I joined the internal IT Department, I really had no idea what a typical “relationship manager” should do. It sounded interesting but at the time I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to do it. However, another great manager simply advised me to do “whatever it takes to keep the customer happy”. Simple enough guidance and it helped define the scope of the role for me – and certainly kept me engaged and busy.
And I loved it.
But to expand my experience, I decided I needed to move into a more technical role so I took on a “service manager” role. Again, I had another great manager who really let me shape the role into one that made the most sense for the organisation. And I built my experience and learned loads along the way.
Great managers allow their staff the freedom and scope to shape their roles in ways that make the most sense for the business, and to work how they feel they need to in order to “get the job done”. It results in a win-win situation and has to be good for the organisation.
Its great fun to work with great managers – I hope it continues 
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