when things go to shit at work, I like to read Michael Lopp's Managing Humans. Awesome book if you're a techie. 15 thumbs up. I happened to be unwinding after work, flipping through the chapters. Some of them I've been photocopying and giving to my boss, who's never been a manager and appears to need some assistance.
As it happens, I'd just read this one passage, from a chapter on how to read your manager. Lopp says you must ask 6 questions about your manager, one of which is "How much action per decision?". Here's what he says about a manger he once had, who he calls "Members Only" because he showed up his first day wearing a sky blue Members Only jacket ("when you put it on, something happens.")
Lopp writes:
"I'd given the VP, Members Only, a thumbs up during the button-up and tie phase of the interview, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Thre months in, we had a problem. Members Only was doing a phenomenal job of discussing and dissecting the problems facing engineering.We'd leave meetings fresh with new ideas and promises of improvements, but then nothing would happen. OK, so follow-up meeting. WOW! He gets it. I'm fired up again. Let's roll. Ummm, two more weeks and nothing is happening here.
Now, me being the director of engineering, you can argue that the onus of action was on me. Problem was, I was doing everything I signd up to do. The VP wasn't. He wasn't talking with the CEO about our new plans. He wasn't handling the other director who was totally checked out.When the third follow up meeting was scheduled, the VP again demonstrated his solid problem-solving skills, but I wasn't listening anymore. I was waiting for when we get to the next-steps portion of the conversation where I'd pull up the meeting notes from the previous two meetings and carefully point out these where the same next steps *as the last two meetings.*"
The problem with people I suspect? 99.9% wear sky blue Members Only jackets and think that, "when you put it on something happens."
Problem is, like Members Only, the meetings keep happening every week. Every week, the "next steps" outline is the same as the meeting before that and the meeting before that and the meeting before that and the....