Middle Management Blues

Organizations tend to take on the personalities of their leaders.   I fought this one, I really did.   I tried to find examples in my organization where this wasn’t true.   I failed, utterly.   There are considerations to make.   In the case of my group, after about 12 months they began to be a little more relaxed, a little more willing to change, and a little less likely to make excuses when things didn’t go well (in other words, more like me).   Unfortunately, they also bitched a lot more about upper management, they were less patient with their operations counterparts, and they were too easy on the mechanics (in other words, too much like me).   Of course their personalities did not fundamentally change.   I’m asserting that they all moved just a tad (a noticeable tad, mind you) closer to me. I admit to changing as well.   I am definitely less laid back than I was when I took this job.   Though I’ve had more bosses than Bill Simmons...

I’ve blathered more than once in these pages of my admiration for Phish.   I’m not a true Phan, because I’ve never been to a concert, but that doesn’t stop me from having opinions (imagine that!).   Though I’m a connoisseur I think the overall quality of the songwriting has gone downhill since the golden age of Phish that occurred in the early 1990s.   It’s no coincidence that the four members of Phish were all in their late twenties at the time.   Let’s look back… After forming in the mid 1980s, the band released a series of self-produced CDs that features many songs still in the band’s playlist.   Many have unusual chords, tempos, keys and arrangements that are interesting and entertaining, but they don’t always work.   The songs lurch in spots.   The first time I heard them I thought it self-indulgent, but I’ve learned to disregard such foolish thoughts.   This is what an artist calls “challenging the listeners”.   Bearing in mind here tha...

You would think that if your chosen management style was to act decisively after bad things happen (in other words, being reactive) then you would be pretty good at it.   You would think that if you declare for all to hear that your management style is being pro-active, then you wouldn’t be reactive.   You would think that it would be impossible to combine to naturally opposing management styles, but I’m here to tell you all that it is indeed very possible and astoundingly bad. Bad in this case is called over-reacting.   One of my favorite sayings around work is that there’s no use reacting when you can over-react.   It purports to show your underlings that you are in control (even though you’re not) but what it really shows is that you are clueless.   Here’s the story… The Mardi Gras of the plant calendar is the week we shut the boilers down for maintenance.   Since the plant barely operates without steam, every department gets in on the act and does...