Making "Dysfunctional" Fun Again

My house has many masters:

I manage my projects
My boss manages my division
His boss manages all our divisions

My boss keeps us organized. He makes sure we don't waste our time or spin our wheels. Rather than the tried-and-true "carrot vs. stick" method, he applies a middle-of-the-road approach that's more like gentle goads. Prods to keep one on the path and away from the dropoffs.

His boss doesn't ask for much. It's an odd mix: she is laissez-faire most of the time, but occasionally gets hit with a spark of innovation. I'd call it "management by magazine" if these ideas weren't driven by a healthy dose of smarts: she's brilliant, she's driven, and she wants to keep all the ducks in a row.

Where the flock starts to scatter is when it comes to the direction. "Now, go forth and do," she says. Imbued with all the great faith that one could ask of a super-boss, off we go to fulfill that vision.

Each of us in separate directions.

I've seen every division head clumped together in the same room with her, raising the Go Team mentality to a full head of steam...and then seen them go out the door wondering what's for lunch in the cafeteria across the street.

It's a shame, really. Some of it is family feuds, but most of it is a lack of whatever "glue" an organization needs to make everybody pull together. I don't think they're jaded about Yet Another Clever Vision so much as they figure getting things done today is more important than making life easier tomorrow.

Tired of fireworks shows that fizzle (and no doubt wanting to put a gold star on the resume before planning an exit strategy), she's done something rather Machiavellian:

She's sidestepped her own managers. She's asked me to be part of a team of leaders. I can't tell if that means we're Vision Evangelists or Next-Gen Management, but either way, it puts as all in an interesting position: whom do we serve?

"ABDICATION, n. An act whereby a sovereign attests his sense of the high temperature of the throne."
--Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

(sourced from Project Gutenberg)