by Liz Green
Dorothy said, “Look, that’s not a problem. Please each take a copy of our report, and as the presentation simply follows the same content, we can use this as our point of reference.”
The participants each took a report and handed the rest to the next person around the table. Dorothy felt a sense of relief at her ability to think on her feet.
“If you could turn to page three,” Dorothy said.
As she opened the report, she saw that every one of the pages behind the professionally printed title page was covered with symbols: *@#^s. There was not one legible word.
Dorothy saw a smirk on one of the faces in the room, and her manager’s face revealed a combination of rage and disappointment. How could this be happening? she thought.
“Dorothy, what is this? I thought you said you were well prepared?” asked her manager.
“I was. I mean, we were. My team and I have worked extremely hard on this project and am confident in the plan I was here to present to you today,” replied Dorothy, with as much strength as she could muster.
“So why is it that we are here wasting time looking at a blank screen and an illegible report?” he asked firmly.
Dorothy was going to explain how she had others in the team print the final report, copy it, and bind it, and that she had delegated the responsibility for making the final changes to the presentation and saving it to USB. She quickly realised, however, that she was the one accountable. She did not check the file on the USB after it had been given to her, and she had not opened the final printed and bound reports.
“Unfortunately, it’s because I failed to check the materials before the meeting,” she said. “It will not happen again.” Dorothy did not know what else to say.
“No, you’re right. It won’t,” her manager said. He pushed his chair back from the perfectly formed boardroom table and left the room. His male disciples from around the table also made their way out silently, leaving Dorothy alone, staring at the blank white screen.
Dorothy felt her lip quiver and fought back her tears. She could not understand what had happened. Was the wrong version of the presentation accidentally saved to the disk? Did the printer fail to recognise the font used in the report? It all looked fine the day before yesterday when she approved it in their team meeting. Something just did not make sense.
On exiting the lift on her floor after the meeting, Dorothy had imagined she would have been returning to her floor with positive feedback from her manager that she could share with the team. She had also imagined the team waiting eagerly to hear if their hard work and efforts had been appreciated. When she exited the elevator, however, she sensed something quite different. Many of her team members were looking at her with anticipation that Dorothy felt was not genuine. Others kept their heads down and did not smile or say ‘hello’ as they normally would when she walked past. Dorothy could see her assistant on the phone giggling, with her hand cupped across her mouth, unaware that Dorothy was walking toward her. While walking this ‘green mile’, Dorothy could feel the eyes of all the workers on the floor burning into her back. The realisation swept over her. She had been set up.
As calmly as possible, Dorothy went to her desk, checked her e-mails, collected her bag, and left for the day at 5:00 p.m., for the first time in years.
The same day…
CHAPTER 9
The Queen Bee
Tim Woods’ meeting went well very well, in fact. Tim had recently been winning several new regional accounts and had been called into head office to meet with the national business development manager. He was not sure what the manager’s motive for this meeting was, as business development was not a core function of his role, but he was pleased nonetheless that head office had taken notice of his efforts.
The national business development manager, Fiona Miller, was a tall and slender woman with a charismatic presence and the capacity to persuade and influence like no other. She had been working for The Organisation for more than six years in various capacities and was well liked by those who worked with her and for her. She was not the traditional sales type: Her focus on collaborative and genuine internal and external business relationships was the key to her success.
During their meeting, Tim and Fiona discussed his region’s progress and its overall contribution to the business. They also discussed Tim’s future career plans. To Tim, this seemed irrelevant as he had been captivated by Fiona’s beauty from the moment they sat down. It had been such a long time since he had looked at a woman this way.
Little did he know that Fiona was equally taken with him. She had heard that Tim was a strikingly handsome man and that he was single. She even thought perhaps his appearance may have been one of the tricks to his business development success. After meeting him, however, she realised there was so much more to him. He came across in their discussion as a genuine, sensitive, and caring man. Fiona was planning to offer Tim a promotion but she could not imagine herself having to work with someone she found so attractive especially considering the potential implications of an office romance. It was ironic really. She loved her job and the satisfaction it gave her, but she desperately wanted to meet a man and have children. She had now potentially met the perfect man, and she would have to pass on the chance of pursuing something between the two of them in order to do the right thing by The Organisation. She would just have to push her feelings aside.
“So, Tim, I would like to offer you a promotion,” Fiona said, hesitating, “as a state business development manager.”
Here Tim was sitting across from a woman whom he had begun daydreaming about spending cosy evenings with in front of the fire, and now she was offering him a job. The thought of seeing her every single day was a joy, but to never be able to form a personal relationship with her was too much to bear. Earlier in his career, Tim had thought that his career was the most important thing to him. But in more recent times he had been longing to share his life with a partner.
Throwing caution to the wind, he said, “Fiona, I am ever so flattered to be considered for the role, but unfortunately, I don’t think that it would be the best fit for me.” Tim was not sure how to continue.
Fiona interjected, “But, Tim, you would be perfect for the role.”
“Of course, I think I would be great at the job, but I’m not so sure I could work in your team,” he finished.
Fiona wondered what was wrong with her team or with her. Why wouldn’t Tim want to work with them?
“Why? What’s wrong with them?” she asked.
“Why, nothing is wrong with them,” Tim replied. “It’s just, well, more that I don’t think I could work with you.” He blushed.
Fiona was thrilled to see that Tim was equally attracted to her. “Go on,” she said, holding her breath as she waited for what Tim may say next.
“You see, I think I would rather have dinner with you,” he responded.
Tim was shocked at his own forwardness, but was pleased he had found the audacity to speak up as Fiona’s reply made it all worthwhile. “Your place or mine?” She grinned.
Tim did not take the job, and he and Fiona started their relationship that very evening with drinks, when Fiona met Trent, Scott Crow, and Catherine Lyons.
“Can you believe what happened to Dorothy today?” Trent asked the group.
“I know. It’s horrible. If I were her, I would go to bed, pull the covers over my head, and not come out for days,” Catherine said.
“When I called her to see if she were coming tonight, she just mumbled that she couldn’t believe that someone could have done that to her and said she just wanted to be left alone,” Scott said, with concern.
Tim shared with the group what he had seen and overheard in the reception area earlier that day. The others retold the rumour they had heard about the sabotage of her presentation, for Fiona’s benefit.
Fiona was mortified. She had met Dorothy a few times and was thrilled that other women had begun to find their way up the ladder. She also kne
w what a boys’ club The Organisation could be. Fiona had not for a moment considered that her organisation could be so pathetic as to sabotage one of its own, albeit from an acquired and merged organisation. She would have none of it.
Leading the charge, Fiona strategised with the group to devise a plan to weed out the ringleaders without their knowledge. Due to Fiona’s reputation and relationships in the business, with just a few phone calls, she was able to quickly and discreetly uncover who was behind the incident.
To get the plan to work, the friends decided that Trent was the right person to visit Dorothy. First thing in the morning, he would try to convince her to return to work as though nothing had happened the previous day. He would have to come up with a plan to ensure that Dorothy arrived late, to make it appear that she was not coming in at all and lull her team into a false sense of security.
Dorothy had barely slept a wink all night. She tossed and turned as she stewed over the events of the day before. She was hurt, angry, disappointed, and miserable. How could she ever step foot back in The Organisation again? How could her team have done this to her? What did she ever do to them? Was success really worth it? Maybe she should quit while she was ahead. The thoughts continued to roll around in her head all night, like a tumble dryer full of clothes.
Just as Dorothy had seemed to drift off and capture her first moments of sleep, the sound of the alarm cut the air sharply at the usual time, 6:00 a.m. Her eyes opened wide, and she stared at the stuccoed ceiling. It was still dark outside, as it always was this time of the year, but today the dark bothered Dorothy for the first time. Why should she have to roll out of her safe and cosy bed to be confronted by those disingenuous, double-crossing monsters?
Dorothy lay flat on her back, drifting in and out of slumber, all the while reliving the disastrous meeting and the realisation that her team had planned for her to fail all along. Little did she know there was a plan in action to rectify the situation.
The group of friends rallied early to run through the plan again. As busy as bees, they fled their early morning hives and scattered to set things in motion.
Trent called Dorothy’s phone multiple times, but it rang out. Clearly, she had set it on silent. No one could sleep through a phone ringing that often and for that long. He felt confident that Dorothy would still be at home, wallowing in self-pity. At 7:15 a.m. Trent pressed the buzzer at the front door of Dorothy’s recently renovated Art Deco-era apartment block. There was no response. He buzzed again, for longer this time. No response. So he pressed the buzzer one more time and for a length of time so irritating that no one, not even Dorothy in her state, could resist but pick up.
A groggy Dorothy answered, “What?”
“It’s me, Dorothy. Let me in,” Trent enthusiastically replied.
“I would say go away, but I have a feeling you won’t, so come up,” said Dorothy as she pressed the buzzer and shuffled to the kitchen to put on some coffee.
As Trent entered the apartment, he realised there was going to be no trouble getting Dorothy to arrive at work late. It would simply be a miracle if he got her there at all.
Trent perched on the bar stool at the kitchen bench and waited for Dorothy to finish making her coffee and join him. She looked terrible. Her eyes were all puffy, likely from crying and lack of sleep, and she was still wearing her shirt from the day before. After a few minutes of silence, Dorothy began to retell the events of the day before in detail, sharing the thoughts and feelings she had been tossing around in her head all night.
“I can’t go back there, Trent,” finished Dorothy.
Trent said nothing and waited for Dorothy to notice his silence. When she finally looked up at him, he began. “Dorothy, since when have you let a loose brick in the road trip you up and keep you down? Your career is the most important thing in the world to you,” he said. “Don’t let some pathetic cheating liars win this one over you. How would you be able to live with yourself if you quit now, when you have worked so hard to get here? You would be letting those people make that decision for you. Take back control.”
Dorothy listened to Trent’s speech and was impressed with his eloquence, which he was not known for, but his honesty was as brutal as ever. His truthful words stung. They both sat without talking, but this time no one broke the silence.
A few uncomfortable minutes later, Dorothy stood up from the bench, disappeared into her room, and closed the door behind her. At this point, Trent was worried he might have failed and that Dorothy may have gone back to bed, but to his relief, he heard the shower running. He called Fiona to let her know he would take Dorothy to breakfast and then have her at the office at 9:05 a.m. precisely.
Catherine’s role in the plan was to impersonate Dorothy’s personal assistant and arrange for Dorothy’s manager to meet with Dorothy at 9:00 a.m. in her office to go over the material that should have been presented the day before.
Fiona’s role was to enlist the support of some of her own past and present colleagues and direct her reports to secretly strategically plant themselves on Dorothy’s floor just before 9:00 a.m.
Scott’s job was to sit discreetly in the patisserie next door to the office to watch through the window for Trent and Dorothy’s approach and then make the call to Fiona to set the plan into motion.
Just before 9:00 a.m., Fiona’s decoys arrived on schedule and, as part of the plan, began to gossip with the culprits, mainly Dorothy’s personal assistant and her senior business analyst. Unaware of the impending arrival of Dorothy’s boss, the senior business analyst proudly boasted to all those within ear shot how he successfully made a fool of Dorothy. The analyst went on to say that since it didn’t look like Dorothy was turning up today for the job only a man should rightly have, he would finally get the job he deserved.
A deep and angry voice thundered behind him. “You’re right. You will get the job you deserve!”
The voice came from Dorothy’s manager. He had heard every word the senior business analyst had said. It was now exactly 9:05 a.m., and as the elevator opened with Dorothy inside, her boss’s voice echoed furiously across the floor. “Who else was involved?”
The plan had gone off without a hitch.
One year later…
CHAPTER 10
The Gatekeepers
After Dorothy’s boss had fired the villains on her team for gross misconduct, she was able to get back to business. In fact, Dorothy’s manager had been rather impressed that Dorothy had taken the blame herself and not deflected the fault of the mishap to her team. During the following months, they developed a professional relationship that ensured Dorothy was entrusted with additional responsibility and was exposed to sensitive organisational information she may not have otherwise been privy to. Her manager’s coaching and mentoring meant that Dorothy was gaining invaluable experience, and unbeknownst to Dorothy, her boss had even identified her as his successor.
The following year, all Dorothy’s friends were back on track with their careers, and things were running smoothly.
One evening, when the friends gathered together, Catherine Lyons was excited to share all the details of the end-of-financial-year, three-day executive conference. Catherine, now an organisational development manager and working on the conference, was thrilled with the responsibility and opportunity to have such a major impact on The Organisation.
Dorothy listened to Catherine with her undivided attention. She heard her describe the five-star hotel, the glamorous cocktail party, the expensive executive gifts, the harbour cruise at dusk, and the agenda for the daytime conference that was full to the brim of powerful and successful people.
Dorothy desperately wanted to attend the conference, but she was just a little too low on the totem pole to be invited. Not even her manager would be going. If only there was a way, she thought.
Months passed, and the financial markets were booming. The Organisation was expanding rapidly, and opportunities were ripe for the picking. Dorothy’s manager was promoted
to senior manager. She was thrilled for him. She believed he truly deserved it, having dedicated eighteen years of his life to The Organisation.
Still unaware of the succession plan in place, Dorothy met with her manager in his office on his last day before his move to his swish new office.
His current office was not too bad at all. It was large enough to fit not only a large desk but also a meeting table and a bookshelf full of reference titles. The view out of his office window was a combination of city skyline and harbour views. His desk was perfectly clean and orderly, with a framed photo of his wife having pride of place. Dorothy had spent countless hours in this office, working through issues and problems, brainstorming solutions, and devising strategies. She had also learned a lot and grown a lot in this role, under the wing and watchful eye of her manager.
Dorothy sat patiently in the visitor’s chair as her boss replied to an e-mail. Without notice he said, “Dorothy, you have continued to impress me since we began working together. Your commitment to your career, your hard work, and your focus are commendable.”
Dorothy was surprised by this outburst of favourable feedback, as he had tended in the past to coach and mentor Dorothy with constructive criticism rather than with praise.
“One of my key performance indicators was to have identified and developed a suitable successor for my role should it become available,” he added. “And whether you were aware of it or not, that was you.”
Dorothy was shell-shocked as she left the meeting with her manager. As she grappled with the news, she felt a combination of feelings fear and pride, anxiousness, and excitement. Despite Dorothy’s self-doubt, she was pleased with herself and knew that her path was heading in just the right direction.