The Fearless Leaders
Well, where to begin? The Customer Advisory Group was created to bring about something called "One Stop Shopping". The idea was that when a telephone call for any kind of HR assistance came in, the poor slob that answered the call would be charged with finding the right answer for the joker on the other end of the line. All of us were Specialists in one of the various HR specialties - hence Specialists and not a Generalist. The process in the pure concept would be that the poor slob that answered the phone would either know the answer right away or would consult with a Specialist in that specialty and would be responsible for getting back to the HR generalist in the field with the right answer. The problem would come when that one answer would lead to another and the whole process would start all over again. Naturally, this failed right away. Not to worry, said the Fearless Leaders, this was not to be like a light switch but rather a rheostat with the learning process being tuned up a little bit each time. What a crock that was!!Who are the Fearless Leaders? First is Curley. He is a very short man with a bald head. In fact, he is very similar (both in looks and actions) to the pointy haired boss of Dilbert - but gets (and deserves) less respect. Curley is the poorest public speaker you could imagine and is extremely boring to listen to. You could fall asleep while he is presenting you with an award! Secondly, we have Carol. Not a bad looking chick at all but once again, way out of her element as a leader. She does not have a knowledge of all the facets of HR but tries to cover by asking you questions when you ask her a question. The trick is to avoid her at all costs or you will have to do extra busy work just to justify your original work. The third Fearless Leader is Barb. Try to imagine a Barbie Doll on a mega caffiene rush! She is quite short with carrot orange hair and also wears Coca-Cola bottle glasses. Barb is the brightest of the Fearless Leaders but this leads to her being dangerous, too. Since Barb knows something about HR, she is going to try and come up with all sorts of off-the-wall possibilities for each scenario and you have to be able to find the answer for each possibility. She is also a tough slave driver with her team of Specialists working extra hours each week with no overtime or comp time.
I bet this makes you wish you worked for my Agency, doesn't it? If you were competent as my team was, you learned to work by yourself without involving the Fearless Leaders in any projects. I managed to do this and stayed pretty happy all of the time. I have a friend in another agency whose mantra is, "I hate my job and my boss is an idiot." I did not hate my job but ...
posted by Ex-Fed @ 7:07 AM
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