Quick Note: I wrote this in 2003 and thought I'd share it with you here. I think it illustrates how much I knew at the time and also how much I had to learn. I don't agree with everything that I've written below - I can spend time later giving my own personal rebuttal to this piece. I don’t go to normal resources for wisdom and advice when it comes to how to get through my job. I’ve learned that there are enough discrepencies in working in Corporate America that my personal motto is “Sense the Irony”. Among my coping mechanisms, I look to sources like “Dilbert” for inspiration and I recommend to anyone in or considering joining this monkey house to go out and read Work Would Be Great If It Weren't for the People. Kernels of truth erupt out of this place. One of them being that if Bill Gates were to hand me a signed check for $2 Million, I’d be out of here so fast you’d never catch me. I checked around and it turns out most of my co-workers feel the same way, so it drills a few holes in that whole “I’m excited about this company” mantra that every HR on the planet is chanting. Of these truths I've gleaned I've added my own bits of wisdom. One of them being from Scott Adams' "The Dilbert Principle". He discusses a lot of different aspects of the corporate system and suggests his own business model to encourage people to contribute to the system by leaving earlier and thus making the time they are here more productive. He mentions in all of this that a company can't really do much topush creativity but it can do a lot to discourage it. His point was: hire the right people, give them the tools and get out of the way. I like his thinking and this is just my personal spin on his idea as it applies to me. The job doesn't really require much creativity but communication is paramount. Heck, I AM the e-mail admin - my paycheck begins and ends with communication. Inter-group communication is something that the powers that be are pushing and I've been thinking about it: this falls in the same arena as creativity. They can't enforce communication but they can go a long way in stopping it. I find it humorous that my company is layering communication upon communication instead of ensuring that the low-level stuff is taking place.
In my new group, Operations, we've got Computer Operators. Tragically, it's not a very glamorous job. They do 12-hour shifts that consist of being there, changing tapes and calling if something blows up. It's thankless and boring but it's necessary to ensure that we have someone here 24 hours a day if something should happen. Like firefighters without the women chasing after you. Some folks in the company have this breathless "We need to get this going ASAP" line that just makes me want to ban the word 'ASAP' from any conversation that takes place. It's not like someone's going to die if they don't get this e-mail sent. It's not like the world will fall down if a print job doesn't go through. Not to hear them tell it. They get so cranky and upset if a single thing isn't working that you may need to call Grief Counseling. Oddly enough, these are the same people who nastily ask why you’re requesting extra in the budget for all these new toys they want to play with.
Before this turns into a bitter "I-hate-my-job" rant, let me change some focus. If I were running the show, I'd model this a lot more like my previous boss Jearome has it. He encourages his people to get the job done, points them in the direction of the people they need to talk with and then steps back. No staff meetings or meetings to discuss meetings. If he has a question, he'll come to you to discuss it or call. Other than that, nothing more to say. He senses the irony and oftentimes when I was hot under the collar about some mundane little thing he'd remind me "Keep cool, it's just a job." Words to live by. So, what would Tim do? Here’s a few suggestions from the trenches:
Good management is more than just writing policy - Any organization can be easily turned into a galumphing, over-managed beast through the overapplication of policy and official decisions. Just look at any governmental organization, GM or AT&T. What makes smaller companies better is that decisions flow faster, people react quicker and the company adapts more rapidly. As a previous employee of McDonalds (for all of three months. Can you imagine getting fired from a ‘trained monkey’ job?) it was the only job I’ve ever held where every single detail of that job was documented on 8 ½ x 11 in 3-ring binders. Everywhere else, some seat-of-the-pants flying was involved. My limited experience has told me that it’s impossible to write a policy to cover every single event that happens within this place, not without hiring double your current staff and tasking one half do the job while the other half writes up documents on how to do it. Sometimes you have to make decisions and go. Later on, you can refer to your original decision in making new ones in the future. If it’s major enough, if it happens often enough, policy can be enacted.
Change for the Better – Be very careful that the decisions you make do not make the problem worse. In my current capacity, I’ve seen a lot of decisions made by management that involve changing our schedules. The new edicts they’ve handed down serve only to punish the subordinates, without whom the situation would have been much worse. This kind of goes back to the first suggestion, but it’s unique in that most managers try to create a blanket fix for problems, but blankets aren’t always the answer. Sometimes, it’s specific people and nothing solves those problems except for a nice eyeball-to-eyeball conversation. If movies about the Mob have taught us anything, it’s that sometimes by making an example of one person, you keep the group in line. Managers’ success depends on the efforts of their people. If those people are making things worse and not listening to direction, they’re making it a clear cut case of them-or-me.
Lead the People, Moses - Leaders are managers, but managers aren’t necessarily leaders although the good ones are. Lao-Tzu once said,"The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, 'We did it ourselves.” Great management is so subtle that those being led usually don’t realize it. Great ideas are ones that don’t have to be sold. The best form of subtle management is leading by example. There will always be the ‘grunt jobs’ that are dished out in any organization. Covering the weekend pager, working the dead watch in a data center, on and on and on. Why not volunteer to take a few of those shifts? It’d certainly foster a “We’re all in this together” spirit. It would also prove that you believe in the decisions you make. As a grunt, I need to know that you know what you’re doing and that you’re serious about the decisions you make.
No job is perfect. If you find you hate a certain person at work, I guarantee you that his or her clone works wherever you’re going next. It’s best to learn to make peace with them, learn to get along or get around them. At the same time, you need to remember that the higher up the ladder you are, the more you’re likely to make someone’s day or ruin it by your decisions. Like all the backups I make before I work on a server, you need to leave yourself room in case something goes south. Be humble, listen and act on some suggestions and you’ll make yourself that much more fun to work for.
