As of today, March 2006 is history.  I was at a leadership offsite for much of the day.  While some of the key symptoms were recognized, the meeting never got to the heart of the problems or what might be done to fix them.  It was recognized by all that we spend far too much time fighting fires.  It was also recognized that frequent and open communications and feedback was essentially.  However, there was no clear delineation of who does what.  Different elements of the program office are stovepiped and people are not given the autonomy to do their jobs effectively.  There is far too much decision by consensus for my taste.  Yes, it is important for higher level management to be kept in the loop.  But, there is a fine line between staying informed & involved and micromanaging.  We have to give our people the freedom to do their jobs ... even if that means allowing them to make mistakes from time to time.  Such is how we learn.  Surely, others see that there are major problems in how the organization does business.  I can't be the only one.  But, who is responsible for the "organization"?  Individuals move in and out of the various positions in the organization far too often for them to be anything more than partly responsible.  Yet, each individual must be responsible for those parts of the organization that they fill and interface with.

I found out today that my bosses boss is my age, 47.  That puts him on a very fast track in the company.  I don't expect to follow in his footsteps.  While I am in management, my heart really isn't in my work.  Some people love what they do.  I cannot say that about my work.  It provides sufficient income to earn a livelihood and pay the bills, but that is not enough.  Though, I do like working with some of the people that I work with.  If only we could be working on things that truly make a difference.  As it is, there is not such a sense of urgency.  Rather than working with our contractors to try to achieve objectives and deliver needed systems, we seem to be in a constant struggle or battle.  The overall relationship is antagonistic and distrustful.  This can't go on.  It serves no one.  This gets back to the basic idea that people are trying to do the best that they can under the circumstances that they find themselves in.  This applies to organizations as it does to individuals.  The problem comes when the organization or company that you hire does not have the right skills to do the job.  Just as an individual might not have the right abilities/skills to do a job, so a company might not have the right processes and people with necessary skills trained in those processes to do a job.  More and more, this seems to be the case that we are facing at work with at least one of the contractors.

What is all of this teaching me about life?  How does this relate to building the foundations for a new world?  We have to be able to find the right people to do each element of the work.  Further, they need the appropriate processes in place to allow them to work effectively.  The processes should be flexible to allow for process improvement over time and to allow for tailoring to the unique conditions of special situations.  We harp on our contractors for not having documented processes that they follow, yet we do nearly everything on an ad hoc basis ourselves.  Something is wrong with that.  Remove the mote in your own eye, before you point out the splinter in your brother's eye.  Something like that comes from the Bible.  Clearly, we need to get our own house in order.

I am surprised by how many people that I work with who truly seem to love their jobs.  Perhaps "love" is a bit strong.  At least, they enjoy the process and have fun doing what the do.
 
 

I AM THAT I AM THAT YOU ARE!   Be Happy and Create Well!

LOVE,

Wayne

---

BEYOND IMAGINATION:  Creating the Foundations for a New World