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Dilbert
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Scott Adams has a keen sense of explaining management and the workplace. He gets into the heart and soul of it. Today's comic strip depicts exactly what is going on in our city. If you can't read the cartoon, go to Dilbert and read it.
We have a City Manager who has put out a weekly Report that includes information from her department heads. This Report has been received well within the City and very much appreciated. Her Directors have been complaining about the amount of time it takes to give her this information. Can you even imagine that happening in the "real" world...the corporate world? It would never happen. To even argue with your boss is unimaginable. You present a case; you do not argue. You never tell your boss you do not have the time.
The boss, on the other hand, needs to be above the argument and to handle diversity with professionalism not expletives. Correct the wrongs going forward. Value staff; encourage their input but correct them when they err. Getting to a middle ground from both Staff and our CM is needed. Perhaps a compromise of a bi-weekly or a monthly report is in order. Would this be a solution?
The CEO is the one ultimately responsible for the operations. If, in this case our City Manager, does not get the facts, she is responsible for the final outcome, like moving a parking lot at Bryant Park as an example. How much time does it really take for a department chief to report once a week to their boss to compile a newsletter?
We have the same citizens moaning and groaning and a couple of politicians (Varela and Maxwell) feeding into their frenzy. Putting politics aside, I believe that they mean well and are just trying to act on complaints. In the same token, the minority Commission must take the CM more seriously. We have some employees who just don't like change and now side with whomever will agree with them to get out of this or that dastardly "chore"-- accountability to their boss and to the taxpayer of Lake Worth. We have a city manager who is frustrated that her very process in running the city has been undermined and has resorted to alleged verbal behavior that has resulted in Staff's supposed emotional well-being and feeling of worth.
My solution: Have the Human Resource Director report to the City Commission as far as complaints against the City Manager. Right now the HR Director reports to the City Manager, the very person that some staff feels is the problem. This is a conflict of interest and very possibly the result of some employees meeting out of the city with a Commissioner in order to vent. They believe that they have no where to go. Let's stop the abuse from all involved--citizens, commissioners, the CM as well as staff.
To even consider for one moment of making this city less transparent and less accountable by the elimination of the City Manager Report is not acceptable. It is time for all to get back on track. In the end, it is the taxpayer that pays for this "store."
I am a tax payer here in Lake Worth,and that makes ME the boss of everyone in town ,from commissioners on down. If it were not for me, there would be no Lake Worth,and no Lake Worth employees.My employees here in Lake Worth need to do what their boss (my city manager ) tells them to do. If an employee refuses to do as they are told-they need to go. Again, note to staff- all of you can be replaced.If you can't do what the city manager tells you to do-LEAVE! DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE REAR! And good luck finding another job where you don't have to do what your boss tells you to do !!!!!!Does anybody out there piss and moan and tell their boss that they just have too much freakin work to do, so just back off ? If anybody DOES have this kind of job- please contact several Lake Worth Dept heads and tell them where to go.
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