President Obama had only two choices, according to the media, for addressing the issue of General McCrystal's comments in Rolling Stone Magazine. The left said he should be fired and the right said he should just be slapped on the wrist. Miss Management has another suggestion.
First of all there are four options, ignore the issue, fire the general, discipline him, or find out the root cause of his actions and address the REAL problem. My daughter has the sweetest little, well behaved dog who suddenly started chewing things - specifically the babies' toys. Sarah had two beautiful babies 15 months apart. Do you think yelling at the dog and making her wear a time out, baby t-shirt is going to fix the problem - yes this is a loaded question? Perhaps giving the dog more attention and bringing her in on playful activities with the kids might be a better solution.
In Miss Management's opinion, the President and his staff should have unearthed the cause of the problem that drove the general and his staff to "act out" in such a manner. Were they insubordinate? No. Where they disrespectful? Yes - but why?
If the REAL problem is not addressed it will eventually resurface in a similar or different manner and then Obama will be back to square one. Here is an example, there is a leak in the ceiling of a first floor office so the maintenance person changes the wet tile and all looks good - until the next time it rains and the same thing happens. Changing the tile is not the solution, perhaps changing generals was not either, examining the roof and other potential points of entry for the rain, water seeks the path of least resistance, and patching the hole is the solution.
President Obama could have taken the time to speak with McCrystal to find out the root cause of his and his staff's actions, which I will admit takes time and skill but is critical for success. Miss Management is not going to speculate that perhaps McCrystal and staff are frustrated with Obama’s management style, lack of experience and understanding, my way or the high way attitude, living in extremely volatile and stressful conditions with no respite, or like almost every other employee in America just likes to dis the boss, are possible reasons for their actions. Perhaps McCrystal took the bullet for the disrespectful comments from his staff, like a true leader should, because the opportunity to get to a potentially endemic problem was not an option. Frankly, Obama should have taken the approach of firing McCrystal to show his assertiveness, command and leadership skills and used it on BP; and taken his standoffish, compliant stance with BP and applied it to the issue of the magazine article.
The hardest part about being a manager is not the tasks but the people performing them!
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