[NFBCS] Unrealistic expectations of team leaders and supervisors on the job

Sun Nov 29 23:03:10 UTC 2020

Michael,

I've been thinking about this question some which is why I have not written sooner.  A question like yours is usually not as simple as you have stated it, so I would like to explore it some.  Like Tracy, I've been in the IT field for a long time and have had to think about this very question often.  I don't know much about your background, so please forgive me if I make any incorrect assumptions.  I'm not one to claim that my experience has given me all of the answers.  Rather, my experience has made me want to try to help others avoid some of the mistakes I made.  Of course, I hope something here is helpful.

First, remember that your team leader is likely having to deal with unrealistic expectations of his or her manager for the entire team.  It means that perhaps for different reasons, your co-workers are sometimes being expected to produce more or meet rigid time lines that they can't meet reasonably.  It is unlikely that any of your co-workers are only doing what they feel they can do.  They are not likely only working 8:00-4:30.  Therefore, you have to try to separate out this part of your team leaders expectations from this question.  Some of what you may be feeling might well be felt to some degree by most of your co-workers.

Second, if you are relatively new at your job, there are going to be things you don't think you can do that in five or ten years you will be doing routinely.  Some things you may do differently as a blind person, but you will almost certainly be doing things you did not think you can do.  While your situation is different, all employees find that they are pushed beyond their comfort zones as part of their jobs.  When I was new, I would consider calling in sick when I was expected to talk to customers within my company about a new project.  How would I communicate with them as a blind person?  What if they don't know I am blind?  Will they take me seriously.  Fortunately, I figured out that calling in sick would just delay the inevitable, so I never did that.  Later, I developed an enjoyment for that part of my job.  A good team leader is going to try to stretch everybody on the team as a way to find out who is good at what.  Therefore, sometimes the same will happen to you as well.

Third, remember why you were hired.  You were likely hired to fill a specific position to do a particular job.  You likely came to your employer telling them why you could do the job they were offering.  My assumption is likely that you are paid similarly to your co-workers, at least with those having the same background.  The expectation is therefore that your employer will get from you, one way or another, the same results from you that they get from other employees.  They are not likely paying you less because they think they will get less from you as a blind person.  In fact, they probably couldn't pay you less even if they wanted to without violating the law.  So to some degree, your management does have to figure out what you are best at so they can get what they need from you.  However, a bigger part of the responsibility to figure out what you can do is on your shoulders.  The reason for that is simple.  If your management finds they can't get what they are paying for from you, they will get somebody else to do the job and you will be out looking again.  Getting paid equal to your co-workers do only do the parts of the job you are comfortable doing will only work if you are so good at that portion of your job that it makes up for the areas where you don't feel you can perform well.  Most of us are not that good at what we do, at least at the starting point.  Therefore, most of us have had to try to find ways of doing those parts of our jobs that we may not be real good at doing.

So what do we do to fit into such an environment?  Please note that some of what I describe here has nothing to do with what is necessarily legal.  Various laws don't apply equally across all jobs for one thing, and sometimes one has to pick their battles.  

First, we must learn as much as we can about what is expected of our co-workers.  How much are they working outside of normal work hours to get their tasks done.  What tools are they expected to use.

Next, we need to think about which of the tasks can we do in the same way as our co-workers.  What might we need to learn that would make it possible for us to complete those tasks as quickly and efficiently as we can. In many cases, being very good at using Word or Excel or something else like Google Docs is important.  You will be able to do what your co-workers do, but you will have to use keyboard commands with which they won't be familiar.  Learning how a co-worker does a given thing can be useful, though, because it might make it easier to find a keyboard shortcut to accomplish the same tasks.  This can mean that you will have to do some extra studying and investigating, and maybe even reach out to others on this list.  Also, while your employer likely allows everybody some time for personal development, they are not paying you to find out how you can do something as a blind person that your co-workers are already doing.  You may need to do some of this on your own time.

Finally, what is it that your co-workers do that you can't do?  Getting a handle on those tasks is important.  In some cases, there might be alternative ways to accomplish the same task.  People on this list might be able to make suggestions.  Remember that your Team Leader does not likely know much about how blind people do things.  In some cases, you will find things that you don't know how to do but other blind people may have found answers.  It could be that you find a way to accomplish a given task in a way that is different than your co-workers.  In the end, if you make an honest effort to figure things out, your team leader will likely recognize that you are making an effort and will probably be willing to be more flexible.  Keep in mind, though, that employment is different from being a student.  If you fail to meet an important deadline, the opportunity is gone and it is on your record,  You can't just retake the course.  You will find that sometimes there is flexibility in deadlines because things can change.  As much as possible, though, you don't want to be the reason your team misses a deadline.

Now, more than ever, a lot of pressure is placed upon Information Technology to produce results.  In that sense, it is not always the most pleasant career path to follow.  However, if one likes working with computers and has an aptitude for it, a career in Information Technology can be rewarding.  There is no doubt, though, that figuring out how best to match one's skills to the job at hand can be a challenge.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Michael Walker via NFBCS
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2020 7:19 PM
To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
Cc: Michael Walker <michael.walker199014 at gmail.com>
Subject: [NFBCS] Unrealistic expectations of team leaders and supervisors on the job

Good evening,

How do you cope with determining whether expectations of a team leader or supervisor are realistic? Suppose expectations are not realistic, or there are misconceptions about what you can do on the job in this field. How do you approach that? Tell me some stories where you have faced that, and what you did about it. I am completely blind. I am currently experiencing some conflict with my team leader on this subject. She sometimes has beliefs about what I am not able to do, or may have unrealistic expectations about what I can do, regarding possibly frontend development.

Thank you,
Mike
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