Are you being trampled by a HiPPO at work?

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Unless you work in a zoo or safari park, you’re probably thinking it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever encounter a hippo at work. After all, why would a sub-Saharan African animal weighing in at about 3,500 kg be hanging out at reception––or in the breakroom?

Talking about hippos in a workplace context actually refers to something quite different, but with no less potential to cause havoc. Coined by author Avinash Kaushik, a HiPPO is, in fact, an acronym for the highest paid person’s opinion. Their presence and opinions combined with the sheer weight of their authority can derail decision making, send people off on tangents, and make processes and projects worse.

Evidence-based decisions

But how? Take data as an example. Data scientists are in high demand because of the exponential growth of data which businesses are generating. The ability to extract valuable insights from data, so that specific evidence-based decisions can be made around improving operations, products, and services, is a key business imperative for most companies these days. 

Crucially, data scientists also have the skills to build predictive models and develop algorithms to automate processes and form a snapshot of what a company needs to do in the future. So if you’re trying to make structured, data-driven decisions to fuel your team’s workflow and projects, and yet the default decision always goes in favour of the highest paid person’s opinion or gut instinct, you’ve got a problem.

Equally, being overruled repeatedly when you have factual reasoning to support an argument or step you want to take is not the right way to get the best work out of employees who have likely been hired because of their specialised skill sets. 

Constantly being passed over for the opinion of the highest paid person can lead to disengagement and burnout. Gallup’s 2022 State of the Global Workplace Report found that engagement amongst European workers is just 14%––the lowest globally.

Disengagement can lead to you becoming detached from work, not offering good solutions or being proactive––essentially, you check out in the form of “quiet quitting”. 

It’s not surprising that unfair treatment at work is the leading source of employee disengagement, according to Gallup. It is followed by unmanageable workloads, unclear communication from managers, lack of support from bosses, and unreasonable time pressures.

Ideal solution

The ideal solution is for a HiPPO to do some self-reflection and realise they are getting in their own way, as well as everyone else’s. If this is happening to you at work, know you’re not alone: One study found that 80% of survey respondents said they relied on data, with 73% using data to make decisions. However, a huge 84% reported that managerial judgement remains a factor when making key decisions.

If it’s not possible to convince leadership using hard data––and it often isn’t, depending on company culture or if you’re dealing with a manager who has lost touch or finds it impossible to remember that other people are subject experts––then one solution is to look for a new role. 

A company with a flatter structure or a more collaborative decision-making process can help you in a number of ways: you’ll progress quicker, owning your decisions, projects and results, and re-engage with a job you love. Below, discover three jobs that are currently hiring, with plenty more to discover on the Silicon Canals Job Board.

Java Software Engineer (m/f/d) in the field of NLP / Artificial Intelligence, Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation, Ulm

Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation is seeking an experienced Java Software Developer to work on tailor-made solutions in the field of artificial intelligence, in particular natural language processing and semantics. “Make others better” is an important pillar of the culture here with active exchange within teams and the entire company, and the sharing of knowledge. If you like the sound of that, and have very good knowledge of object-oriented programming and several years of experience in software development with a focus on Java/JavaScript, this could be the role for you.

Senior Python Engineer, AYA Software, Berlin

AYA Software in Berlin is seeking a Senior Python Engineer to develop software that can analyse readings from oil/gas drilling sensors at drilling sites, notifying operators if there is a potential leak. You’ll collect readings of multiple sensors, apply statistical models to those readings and predict if there is a leak of oil or gas at the site. Key qualifications for this position include five years’ of Python experience (preferably backend or data engineering or IoT), experience building REST API-driven web applications (Flask, Django), writing well-tested code, and a background in statistical modelling, working with prediction algorithms. Get the full job description now.

LiveOps Engineer – DevOps, Metaverse, Improbable, Remote

Helping your peers to succeed is a key requirement of this LiveOps Engineer – DevOps job at metaverse company Improbable. You will also host blameless postmortems to share learnings, discover gaps, embrace transparency, and improve reliability across the company’s services, and employ your systems knowledge to triage problems and tune resource usage. If you love to solve novel and exciting problems, dislike solving the same problems over-and-over, so you automate or eliminate them and are inspired to make everyone’s job easier by improving workflows, this could be the perfect role for you.

Want a new job with decision-making powers? Discover thousands of opportunities on the Silicon Canals Job Board.

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