Whiplash - of the Philosophical Kind

In its response to crises, the Obama Administration generally focuses at the top of the tree.  The President identifies someone of like mind whom he trusts and asks that individual to establish the overarching framework for the reformulation of a particular industry.  The individual then becomes known as his (the President's) Czar for this, that or the other thing.  He’s done this now with the auto industry, identifying an Auto Czar Ed Montgomery; he’s done it with Afghanistan & Pakistan, TARP and cyber security to name a few.  There are other positions that he inherited - Czars for AIDS, Foreign Aid, Poverty, Energy, Drugs.  The list is fairly comprehensive.  What is troubling to me though is that while great attention is being paid to the top of the tree, far less seems to be being focused on the root system which sustains these trees.

We often sneer at the use of the words ‘bureaucracy’ and ‘bureaucrat’ but the fact of the matter is that it is bureaucracy that is the indispensable executing arm of this or any Administration.  To focus too closely on the leader of a particular system (tree top) and not focus at all on the sustaining system is, I think, a recipe for disaster.  Administrations establish philosophy and direction, but it is bureaucrats (aka federal government employees) who execute the established policies.  When they do so poorly, or not at all, chaos ensues.  

Take for instance, the horrible mess that is the Minerals Management Service – MMS. The approach to regulation and oversight during the Bush years was born of the Bush Administration’s attitude to same: less is good, none is better.  The agency inherited by the Obama Administration therefore, was functioning according to an approach to regulation that was on the opposite end of the spectrum from what the incoming Administration wanted.  That being the case, an immediate ‘intervention’ and culture change operation ought to have been mounted. That should have been the first order of business.  In hindsight of course, anyone with an ounce of organizational savvy can see this, but for some reason the effect of culture on execution of policy seems to have been overlooked in the heady days between the election and the current crisis.  Why is that?  That’s a question that’s not getting a lot of airtime, but probably should (for many reasons not the least of which is that I don’t think that MMS is the only Agency likely to be having this kind of philosophical whiplash).  

The mistake here wasn’t that housecleaning wasn’t done (witch hunting in the workplace is still illegal, ask former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez), but rather that no one seems to have taken the time to establish what the new rules of engagement were or to make clear that non-adherence to same would bring severe consequences.  If new rules were in fact outlined but were not followed, the failure of internal review mechanisms needs to be investigated as well, not with a view to firing anyone but with a view to identifying where the breakdowns in the system occurred and ensuring that they don’t occur again.   

Firing folk after the fact is a Pyrrhic victory.  We all may feel a little better once they’ve gone, but it solves nothing in the long run.  Moreover, a firing, much like a public execution, is really only a pretense that something has been done.  It’s the private organizational work that matters, not the public humiliation of a single person…even if the person really did need to go.

He did WHAT?

I'm trying to drum up some distress over the President's two hour vacation playing a round of golf on Father's Day.  So far, no luck.  I appreciate that others are getting their nickers in a twist, but really I can't imagine that President Obama taking two hours off has really set the course of American history back significantly.  I'm having much more success though getting pissed over General McChrystal's deeply ill-advised series of interviews with Rolling Stone magazine.  Good on ya, General.  Real classy.

When I read of the good general's complaints about the President, I say two things: first, he is entirely entitled to his opinions and second, he is free to express them.  I have no trouble with either his feelings or his expression of same.  I trust that if he gets fired, he won't complain that the President overreacted though because the President is as entitled to his opinion (negative from all reports) and his reaction (a firing I hope) as is the general.

We all want to be heard, as well we should, but with that freedom comes the uncertainty over how what we say will be received.  I'm almost hoping that the President sends the good general packing.  I appreciate that there is a need for continuity in the war effort, but this level of disrespect cannot go unacknowledged.  There is an alarming level of disrespect for this President (I won't suggest that it's because he's black but there are some who would) and it's really got to stop.  We have grown men in the house shouting that the President is a liar (and raising copious amounts of money in the immediate afternmath); you have the highest number of threats agains the person of the President in history; you have people refusing to meet the President when he comes to their state and now, you have the leader of the war effort making dismissive and disrespectful remarks not only about the President but also about the Vice-President and the National Security Adviser.  My question: are all of these people a problem really or are they a problem because they disagree with McChrystal?  Whatever the reasoning behind this most unfortunate event, McChrystal is so far wrong that I'm hopeful that he will tender his abject apologies and his resignation.  General, please close the door behind you as you depart, because it is most assuredly time for you to depart.

Whitney, BP, Arlington. When will it stop?

It has been several weeks since last I wrote anything about BP or anything about anything for that matter.  Yet in the intervening span of time, not much has changed in Louisiana.  What has changed over the span, is that a new crisis, a new sign of poor management has arisen, this one at Arlington National Cemetery. Somehow, I see a connection between the oil spill of 2010 and the grave confusion at ANC.  To my mind, it's all about bad management, bad administration and the poor execution of professional responsibilities.  That's clearly something that's not the exclusive purview of federal government agencies.  Private and public organizations alike seem to suffer from that particular affliction.


There is an art to administration but where does one learn it? Business schools offer Bachelors', Masters' and Doctoral degrees in Business Administration but those degrees focus on Finance, Marketing, Organization Development, Human Resource Management and all manner of other thing.  What those degrees don't seem to focus on is Administration.  Those degrees don't focus on how to make stuff work efficiently and those degrees certainly don't focus on creating workplaces where the truth is spoken and incorporated into the daily activities of the workforce - truthtelling being a vital facet of adminstrative success. 


I realize that many of us like the lies we are told (and the ones we tell ourselves too), mostly because we would rather not have to deal with the truth.  Truth frequently makes us terribly uncomfortable and usually requires us to change something about ourselves.  Who wants to have to go there? 


Let's take as a case in point, the disastrous tour of Whitney Houston. Since she first appeared on Good Morning America more than a year ago, *singing* her hit song I Look to You, it was pretty clear to me that what we heard on the CD had been significantly manipulated to sound like the old Whitney.  I have no complaints about the work done in studio to beef up a weak voice, but having had to work so hard to produce something euphonious, perhaps someone should have told Whitney the truth and said, "No babe, you can't tour. Don't you think the rigors of touring might be too much for your voice?"  But instead, everyone went along and now, at venue after venue, at engagement after engagement, there are hundreds of dissatisfied fans.  Many of these fans may well cease being fans once this debacle is all over.  Why waste a comeback attempt, a CD that is well received, by doing a bad tour?  Is there no one in her camp willing to tell the truth?  Clearly not.


A good administrator it seems to me, recognizes that (s)he doesn't know everything that's going on in the organization.  How could he possibly?  Armed with this knowledge however, he seeks information from a variety of sources, making the effort to encourage a free flow of information across the organization - even negative information - so as to ensure that as many perspectives as possible are incorporated in decision-making processes.  And this is where Whitney, BP and now Arlington National Cemetery have something in common.  Clearly, the flow of information (especially negative information) is not free.  Clearly, Whitney's organization, like the BP organization, and now like the Arlington National Cemetery organization, have no tolerance for truth.  Indeed, with ANC we've already seen that the truthteller (aka whistleblower) was fired for 'stirring up foment' I guess, and then started blowing her whistle loudly once outside the gates.  While inside the organization, her concerns were not valued.  Indeed, so undervalued were her insights that she lost her job.


Until there is some broad movement towards teaching the rudiments of administration, this kind of thing will continue to happen.  All too often, companies are peopled by folk whose only goal is to climb the corporate ladder, good sense, good policy and good work be damned.  It's all about climbing, getting ahead, getting a bonus, getting a promotion, getting something.  Promotions are not frequently given to people who point out flaws in logic, flaws in policy, problems within organizations.  No.  What is saved for them is stagnation or termination.  Well I guess that works to save face but face saving inside the organization can result in gross embarassment outside the organization.  Ask Whitney.  Ask BP.  Ask the Arlington National Cemetery which now has lost hundreds of servicepeople's earthly remains and may spend the next decade trying to sort it out and regain any semblance of credibility.  But what do I know?  I'm looking for a job as a professional administrator and there just don't seem to be any takers.  I wonder why?