Aug 20, 2009

Why I'll never maake Boss-man

I told Terry (a co-worker who is the technology clerk) the other day that i would not make a good Co-op Director or School Supt. See, that was last Friday around 3 o'clock. It was dead at work. We were basically milling about, doing enough to warrant keeping our jobs, but also enough to not be too busy. I said, "Man, this is why I can't be the boss. ever. We'd be so outta here." And that led to a discussion about my managerial style (if I had one) in general, and why I would never make it to be boss.

Closing early on Fridays when no one is there is just one thing. Another is the manner in which I would manage. Basically, I'm in the school of thought that goes something like this: Hire the people you know will do their jobs and let them do it. Now, before anyone goes running to my boss(es) saying that I said this or that about anything, let me be clear here: I am only talking about how *I* would do things. I am not talking about how anybody else may or may not do things, and I am not talking about anything related to how things are in my current employment. Capice? I like my job very much, and I like working for Phoebe and Lindy. Thank you. This is about dreaming of running my own organization or company one day... Er, well, given what you're reading here, more about why I *won't* be running my own... I digress.

Where was I? oh yeah. As the head honcho, my job is not (er, would not be) to know all the details of what my employees do or know how to do. My style would be something akin to this: I hired you, now do your job. If you aren't doing your job, I'll hear about it and we will deal with things as needed. How would I know if you weren't doing your job? Because I hired you to perform certain tasks and meet certain goals. Some of those may have specific deadlines. Miss the deadline, you're not doing your job. Fail to complete a task, you're not doing your job. See? Isn't that easy?

I would also not make a good boss because I am very laid back about most things. It really does take quite a bit to get me riled up. Now, once I am riled up, for the near future anything and everything can set me off, but getting to that point takes quite a bit. I hit that point during the summer. I'm over it now, back to "consistent Dave." Basically, this goes back to doing your job, I know. But it also goes to work life in general. I am very much a "whatever" kind of person.

I am also a very "time and place" kind of person. There is a time and place for dressing up (suit and tie for guys, dresses or dress suits for gals) and for dressing down (Fridays for sure, summertime, crawling around in ceilings or under buildings, for example). I also believe there should be a code for what employees can and cannot wear plus what they 'should' or 'should not' wear. Naturally, that all depends on where I would be this boss-man, but I think there are some basically universal guidelines. And, if there aren't any, I'd be setting them for my employees.

I would also not make a good boss because I'd be all about moving to the newest viable technologies. Why does that make me bad? Because, I would be the guy who wants to change things all the time. Well, maybe not ALL the time, but frequently enough to drive my folks crazy. Computers, cellphones, office phones, software, gadgets, you name it. We'd be on a three-year or five-year rotation depending on what the technology is. For example, office phones would be updated every five years. Yes, I know the system in place may be working fine, but the technology changes so much, we'd have access to new features and functions in five years. Cellphone would be updated/upgraded every two years. That's how long the contracts are, so once a contract was up, that employee would get a new phone (again, with the newest features). Oh, sure, right now, you're probably screaming something about the economy and budgets and such. Pshaw. As the boss, I'd deal with the budgets, or rather have the comptroller deal with it and let me know.

I would also make sure employees got paid twice a month. I've worked for companies that pay once a month and others that pay twice. I also worked where we got paid every two weeks or every single week. Okay, every week is way too much work on the payroll person. Every two weeks gives you at least two "extra" paychecks a year, and that's also too much of a pain for the payroll person. Aside from that, though, I believe everyone should be paid twice a month. If Fortune 500 companies can do it, so can I.

There are other things that would keep me from being the boss-man (should the position be offered, not that it would be), but I can't remember them off the top of my head. And, I'm sure you've read enough of this rambling in any case.

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