Ask Miss Management

Advice to Those Who Will Not Listen

Well again it has been quite a while since I’ve posted to
this site not because I have a lack of material but rather a lack of readers!
Please spread the word if you find this information helpful.

This posting is completely analogous and a bit philisophical and I’m curious to know
if you will understand what I’m referring to. Let me know.

New seeds of elitism germinating, emergent, growing too fast,
thin and sideways with only short bursts upward – not tall and strong,
fledgling. They have limited experience; intelligence and ignorance in one
plant. They are young and very smart but lack compassion that stems from
experience – experience that was cultivated with rich interesting soil
consisting of worms, manure, mulch, rocks, slugs, rich AND poor dirt, and
varying levels of alkaline and acidity. They’ve worked relatively hard but only
by today’s standards; 9:00-5:00, Monday-Friday, at their desks with their
computers and their minds. These vines are spindly and weak and do not carry
empathy and kind-heartedness for lesser, ground cover plants and lack respect
for older plants of similar heights but perhaps with thicker stalks, deeper
roots and wide, spanning leaves. They’ll get thicker and wiser with age but the
vine will be disproportionate – thin on the bottom and heavy on the top and at
some point will stop growing or come crashing down! Slow down young, elitist
vines, learn not just from books but from life, and from those vines perceived
as less fortunate, less educated, less smart because you will have to co-exist and
someday you may need those lower growing plants to brace your thin, lower stem as
you continue to strive upward toward the top, toward the sun, for now of which
you only dream.

Fire an American General but let BP Slide?

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!