When is a Door not a Door?
I had a blog post - or at least an idea I thought should be converted to a blog post - and then I sat to write. Suddenly, everything I was thinking I'd write about disappeared. I really need to take note from now on.
Oh wait! There it is! I remember! ...
Last Friday my team at work had our quarterly "team outing." This is supposed to be a time to get together with your team in a more social setting, getting beyond the co-workers relationship and developing stronger relationships.
Of 17, 5 of us showed up. Well, five at first. After the manager and a couple of other people left, another co-worker and her girlfriend showed up, bringing the total back to four. After three more left a final co-worker showed up.
Of 17 total team members, 7 showed to the team outing. Which is pathetic and any manager worht their salt should be wondering why their team didn't, or wouldn't, show to a fun event.
Our department has soft start and ending times. That is, we can start any time between 6:30 and 8:30AM and work the corresponding 8 hours. A vast majority of our team arrives at 6:30-7AM most mornings while a few people show closer to the the close of the window. One co-worker said she thought the team outings should begin later because not everyone is finished with work at 3PM. By the time she left work and arrived at the venue (a crappy little dive bar, if you must know) it was closer to 5PM and the manager as well as others had left.
This morning I went to the manager and said as much to him. "Hey," I said," [co-worker] had a great suggestion and that was to start the team outings later since it would allow more people to show while there was still food and a majority of people were there."
His reply was that he wanted to let everyone arrive early so they could leave early and have a head start of the weekend. Which, in itself, isn't a bad idea, however, no one was allowed to show up until they finished their 8 hours.
That's right. The company allows one outing a quarter, to a crappy dive bar, but you have to work your shift first. And, per the manager, you have the option to show up early and leave early therefore there is no excuse. Regardless of people's lives and routines, drive distances or other commitments.
For those who know me in real life, you'll know I'm an astute observer of leadership and there are so many failures of team building here that I'm left speechless. I've made no secrets about my manager's lack of managerial skills, his complete inability to inspire or lead and his total indifference to anything remotely resembling leadership.
Had he been team building then team members would have shown for the outing. Had he inspired, then team members would have wanted to be around their co-workers. Had he created a team and not just a group of individuals then he would have known that teams are stronger than the individual.
I almost wrote a blog about his "franchise" metaphor. He said, each of us is a franchisee at the company and it's our job to build our own customer base. You can't say this and be a leader at the same time. You can't expound the virtues of individualism over team work and pretend to be a team leader and he proves it time ad again. When we have inter-team competitions half the team walks away and a surprising number of team members compete against others in the team as opposed to the other teams.
Take this lack of leadership with the lack or morale on the entire floor (across 6 teams) and you have a workplace that's an emotional drain that saps the life out of you.
Oh wait! There it is! I remember! ...
Last Friday my team at work had our quarterly "team outing." This is supposed to be a time to get together with your team in a more social setting, getting beyond the co-workers relationship and developing stronger relationships.
Of 17, 5 of us showed up. Well, five at first. After the manager and a couple of other people left, another co-worker and her girlfriend showed up, bringing the total back to four. After three more left a final co-worker showed up.
Of 17 total team members, 7 showed to the team outing. Which is pathetic and any manager worht their salt should be wondering why their team didn't, or wouldn't, show to a fun event.
Our department has soft start and ending times. That is, we can start any time between 6:30 and 8:30AM and work the corresponding 8 hours. A vast majority of our team arrives at 6:30-7AM most mornings while a few people show closer to the the close of the window. One co-worker said she thought the team outings should begin later because not everyone is finished with work at 3PM. By the time she left work and arrived at the venue (a crappy little dive bar, if you must know) it was closer to 5PM and the manager as well as others had left.
This morning I went to the manager and said as much to him. "Hey," I said," [co-worker] had a great suggestion and that was to start the team outings later since it would allow more people to show while there was still food and a majority of people were there."
His reply was that he wanted to let everyone arrive early so they could leave early and have a head start of the weekend. Which, in itself, isn't a bad idea, however, no one was allowed to show up until they finished their 8 hours.
That's right. The company allows one outing a quarter, to a crappy dive bar, but you have to work your shift first. And, per the manager, you have the option to show up early and leave early therefore there is no excuse. Regardless of people's lives and routines, drive distances or other commitments.
For those who know me in real life, you'll know I'm an astute observer of leadership and there are so many failures of team building here that I'm left speechless. I've made no secrets about my manager's lack of managerial skills, his complete inability to inspire or lead and his total indifference to anything remotely resembling leadership.
Had he been team building then team members would have shown for the outing. Had he inspired, then team members would have wanted to be around their co-workers. Had he created a team and not just a group of individuals then he would have known that teams are stronger than the individual.
I almost wrote a blog about his "franchise" metaphor. He said, each of us is a franchisee at the company and it's our job to build our own customer base. You can't say this and be a leader at the same time. You can't expound the virtues of individualism over team work and pretend to be a team leader and he proves it time ad again. When we have inter-team competitions half the team walks away and a surprising number of team members compete against others in the team as opposed to the other teams.
Take this lack of leadership with the lack or morale on the entire floor (across 6 teams) and you have a workplace that's an emotional drain that saps the life out of you.
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