His Brand of Motivation

“A leader leads by example whether he intends to or not.”
~Unknown



This small, short quotation flashed upon my screen when I was working yesterday – sitting in five hours worth of meeting hell before lunch. I found the coincidence to be quite humorous really as the executive in the meeting was ranting about how the consultants onsite were to “listen to what his team had to say, but don’t believe them because they don’t know anything”. And his team was sitting right there in the meeting.


He calls this motivation.


I call it being an asshat as well as being an incompetent leader. 


I mean, if his entire team – including those that were hired under his watch – are considered incompetent, then clearly someone needs to look in the mirror to see true incompetence.


I have managed many people over the years. I have had some great hires – people I still to this day will help because they are hard workers, good with people, continually learning, and good with technology.  I have had some bad ones too. And I am happy to say that I either managed them out (got them to see it was time for them to leave) or fired them.  Bad people are like poison to a good team, so as a boss, it was my job to deal with it. 


Regardless of the individuals, I never criticized them openly to consultants. I never criticized them to the users they supported. I never criticized them to peers. If I had issues, I worked with HR and/or the other IT managers. And I always focused on the issues not the people. Except for that one time, but that guy was a dumb ass who deserved to get knocked on his ass repeatedly. (In the end, he decided it was best for him to leave before he got fired. I concurred.)


And I managed them based on expectations. If they were a newbie, I would micromanage them, but teach them how to approach problem solving or tacking tasks or dealing with certain people. If they were experienced, I would give them the vision of what needed to get done, set expectations, and have them go do their job.  It’s called situational management among other names.


To see these managers here not able to access what their team’s need – not seeing them dealing with performance issues at the detriment of projects and day-to-day task – just drives me bonkers. 


And I get to deal with the ramifications.  


If a junior manager sees his boss be rude and overly assertive where he should not, he emulates the behavior because he thinks it is acceptable.  I had that one yesterday when the finance manager decided to talk down to me.  Fuck you, little buddy, I have more experience in my little finger than you do in your whole body. I don’t give a damn what letters are behind your name (MBA, in case you are wondering) – it doesn’t mean people believe you can do anything if you can’t communication at a rudimentary level. Plus, I could also throw a rock right now and find an unemployed MBA to take his spot. Trust me, I’ve worked with many over the years who got the degree, but couldn’t do the work.


Or dealing with two other of his junior managers who are like super fun balls constantly bouncing around the room as they go whatever direction he smacks them this time. The result is they are never successful. They piss everyone off. They don’t get anything done. And you can’t count on them for anything.


Or his head accountant who is supposedly a CPA but operates at the level of an accounting clerk. The only thing he does well is get spun up like his boss whenever something minor occurs.  And he complains. Oh man, does this guy take complaining to a whole new level. He rarely solves the problem.  But, I get to hear from him how great of a public accountant he once was. Yeah. 


As you can see, he has created his own problems. A group full of people who individually and outside of his leadership could operate at a very high level and be very productive – but under his wing are incompetent nut cases.


Now that is definitely motivating me each day – to leave on-time and never put a lot of stock in anything they say.


But, to quote a wise woman (despite her fear of sexuality in general, let alone her own) Eleanor Roosevelt, “I am not inferior without my consent”.  These guys all keep coming back for more each and every fucking day. If I were in their shoes, I would have told the man to fuck off and left.  To quote a boss who I loved and was a fabulous mentor, “no one comes to work to be treated like that.” 


I just wish they would remember that the door swings both ways. 
But hey, some people like being treated like shit. I guess for them, they get the experience of a domme AND get paid. I guess I can only hope they are getting off on it. 


Now that’s an image I shouldn’t have put in my head.
Excuse me as I attempt to find a way to get rid of it.

4 Comments Add yours

  1. Ugh. Your old boss is right, “no one comes to work to be treated like that.”

  2. ChrisYYC says:

    And this too shall pass! The guy is a jerk and can not hide his incompetence for too long. Hopefully he will be moved to a place where he can do no harm before he drives away or destroys all the members of his team.

    Some people forget that they spend 1/3 of their lives in their workplace and they just do not have to put up with that stuff. Everyone deserves to be respected and content in their workplace.

  3. Well it seems you work for a complete moron and an HR nightmare. You have my condolences and a case of beer.

  4. Just me... says:

    “Fuck you, little buddy…”
    Why did the Skipper and Gilligan flash through my mind? Thanks for the chuckle!!
    As for work, thinking they could drive you past beer and straight into absinthe!! :):)

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.