This is a bit off beat from my usual. I want to talk about organisational behaviour; specifically managers. Not management, managers. Specifically those that manage teams of people. Keep in mind this is from the perspective of someone who has never been a manager, and though I've sat through several classes on the subject, one very important thing was not taught to me, I learned it by having both good, and bad, managers.
I've recently butted heads with someone I would consider to be a bad manager. Let me set the scene. They're a good person, for the most part, but they suck as a manager. They run a volunteer outfit, and I was involved in their operation for several years. I believed in supporting the groups we volunteered for, so I kept coming, regardless of many things that should have caused me to stop. I finally stopped being involved in that group after a recent incident. The specific incident doesn't matter, but I'll say this: it was a dispute over how to do things. Procedure. I won't go into detail, like I said, the specifics don't matter; but this has echos through my main point. Long story short, they decided that I was "insubordinate" (whether I was or not is immaterial to the point, but I obviously disagree), and as a result they decided I should be disciplined for it, and put me on suspension. I felt this was unjust. Here's the thing about suspension: in a typical organization, suspension is an effective tool. You can no longer do the job and you are denied any compensation for the work you no longer can perform. As a volunteer organization, this is less than ineffective. Go home and don't return for two weeks is basically telling me that the services I am providing, for free, are not valued by the organization. I don't see a reason why I would ever be motivated to accept that and why I would ever decide to ever return.
You don't want my help? Ok. Goodbye. Good luck.
The manager in question doesn't know how to deal with people who have no stake in showing up, beyond helping the organizations that the volunteer group is assisting with whatever services they are providing.
My opinion on this is simple: if people want to show up, are not actively making things worse and are not bumping someone out that would be more helpful, then why deny them the ability to help?
The group previously, during my tenure, lost members. Some for very good and very personal reasons, others were ejected because they were causing more problems than they were solving. This action was new from my experience with the group. It was the wrong call.
Another example, which is one I'm sure more people will resonate with, is from a previous employer of mine. I was getting very overwhelmed by the work assigned to me at this job. I couldn't seem to keep up with new daily tasks, following up on old tasks, taking time for analysis as it was required, and all of my other duties. I distinctly recall my last meeting with my manager there. I asked him, point blank, if all of these things are too much to do in a day, what should I de-prioritize so I can get everything else done? His response was none of it. I should do all of it.
I'm here, asking you for a solution, and you told me no, figure it out. Thanks. That's not helpful.
Let me flip the script. I've had a handful of good managers over the years. Let me preface this next section by saying that my role is usually advanced diagnostics, root cause analysis and troubleshooting. This might be called tier 2/3 or system administrator type positions depending on a few factors. I don't say this to brag, I've just gotten a lot of experience dealing with stuff that's really messed up, and I know my way around computer systems. It's all experience, I don't consider myself to have any unique talent, skill, or know how. Everything I know can be taught to, or otherwise learned by someone else given enough time.
More than once I have had situations where my time is generally better spent elsewhere. When a customer asks me about something billing related, or is generally being difficult, chatty, or not very helpful in progressing what should be a routine support request. I've brought these tickets to the attention of my manager in the past and they have been dealt with. They removed the obstacle so I could focus on what I do best. I could do something that's more valuable to the company, that I'm uniquely well suited for.
Other times, I've gotten into discussions with managers about how to do something. Those that insisted that things be done their way, often ended up with egg on their face, because I always cover my backside. Good managers tend to give me the SOP, their suggestion, then get out of my way, because I'm being paid for my knowledge, not for my ability to follow directions, so I take their suggestions into consideration, and work towards the most effective solution, in whatever form that takes. I've found new, more reliable, more consistent, and more effective solutions and documented them, increasing the ability of all staff, current and future, to complete tasks effectively, consistently, and reliably. Saving many man-hours of people trying to figure it out over and over again.
Good managers foster that kind of action.
The Good manager vs bad manager discussion can be summarized quite succinctly by saying: good managers remove obstacles from your path so you can do your best work. Bad managers make your task more difficult.
People don't quit jobs because the job sucks, they quit jobs because their manager sucks. There's always going to be exceptions, and people making lateral moves for career growth, but for the most part, people quit either because their pay is unfair, or their manager is unfair.
I'm disappointed that I've had to learn this the hard way. I'm disappointed that managers continue to get hung up on process rather than looking at results. I'm disappointed that so many managers are so bad at their job that they cause people to quit regularly. Things shouldn't be this hard. We, the workers, already have so much on our plate trying to deal with increasing costs with little wage growth, dealing with family and life challenges that eventually come for us all, and all the little things in-between, from changing lightbulbs, to getting our tires rotated, haircuts, grocery shopping, and all the other life things we need to get done.... We don't need bad managers making our lives any harder than they already are.
For everyone who isn't a manager, good luck out there. If your manager is more worried about how you do the job, than whether the job gets done, maybe it's time to look into moving on.
I'm convinced that bad managers are the reason why everyone is afraid of UBI; but that's another post entirely.
Good luck, have fun, don't die.
