Leadership

[Merlin]

If I wanted to be a "good soldier", I would have stayed in the military. What I am is a good employee. All I ask is that the powers above extend the same respect that they expect from us. My circuit worked their butts off getting all the late investigations current and our contacts above respectable. I know what some of you are going to say, "Well you should have been doing that all along, in my circuit....". I happen to work in South Florida where the turnover rate is very high. A lot of times, those officers who know they are leaving stop working and then BAM, your stuck cleaning up a mess, so for what our circuit did, it was a big deal. My point is, instead of taking the time to make this a moment to encourage the employees to continue to strive, all we got is a memo on how we needed to make sure all of TR movements are within 2 days or we will receive discipline. I'm not looking to be cuddled, but come on, if you want the dog to be loyal, throw him a bone once in a while.

I hear what you are saying. DOC certainly could use a lesson on the value of positive reinforcement with not only the employess, but the offenders as well. Just curious when was the last time you told one of your probationers he was doing a good job at his community service work site or something to that effect? I think most POs don't use positive reinforcement to manipulate motivation and it simply carries through till they become supervisors. Being surrounded by so much negativity and an environment of zero tolerance does have it's drawbacks.

What I don't get is that anytime DOC is in the press, it is always how they are trying to "fix" us. I think the powers that be don't get that sticking up for their employees and showing some level of trust is not bad publicity.

Listen to what the Secretary is saying. He says we are hardworking, dedicated, and honest. What he says he is fixing is not us but the coporate culture and public trust.

Lets hope that the stupid dicipline for minor things stops. It would be interesting if they gave letters of counseling, letters of repromand, Article 15's or court martials for every little indescretion in the military. The Secretary failed at his primary mission in Vietnam. He lost the village. One of his troops tried to kill (Or intimidate him with a gernade launcher) him and he had problems with substance abusers. He took no action other than to show leadership. It was not because he was not dillegent or weak in any manner. It was because the situation was against him. Did he get fired? No he was promoted and continued on to have a great career.

My point is that he showed loyalty to his men and they performed to the best of tehir abilities. The overall goal was not met but it was out of his control. We are in a similiar situation where things sometimes get out of control.

The main thing that needs to be fixed internally_ MORALE MORALE MORALE

[Merlin]

Lets hope that the stupid dicipline for minor things stops. It would be interesting if they gave letters of counseling, letters of repromand, Article 15's or court martials for every little indescretion in the military.

If you were on active duty you may remember the levels such as verbal warnings/counseling, verbal reprimands, written letters of counseling, written letters of reprimand and so forth. The problems I've observed is that DOC skips the verbals and goes directly to the written reprimand (punitive approach). LEAD LEAD LEAD people; that includes mentoring, educating, guiding, setting a good example, encouraging, counseling, etc. etc.

FYI - sending emails to the line staff with a three word statement, "Read and Comply" is not leadership. We have admin staff for that purpose IMHO.

[Darth Duck]

The secretary has written several books. One of them is on being a platoon leader. I would like to get a copy just to see what it says. There are alot of reasons a person retires at LTC. Much of it has to do with timing. The Army down sizes and positions become short. When I was in they had Lieutenant retention boards to 1LT. That is something that became an automatic promotion a couple of years later. I have no doubts about this secretaries integrity or motivation.

Well Merlin, thanks for writing. As a matter of fact, I do give positive feedback to my offenders when they deserve it. I have always been very matter of fact with them. I also absolutely agreed with the person who wrote about how discipline has eroded to just 2 steps- written and fired. I guess my questioning of the leadership is not directly aimed at the secretary, but at central office down through the regional and circuit administrators. I am lucky, I work for a good supervisor (I have done my time working for the incompetent ones) and I believe that many of the supervisors have been placed into a position that they feel a need to start discipline in order to save their own jobs. I have been with DOC for almost 10 years- I'm getting screwed out of the raise- and it wasn't until the Deltona incident that I have seen so many people fired and demoted. And for the first time, this includes supervisors and above. I just want the people who have control to understand that the majority of the employees are hard working people and to give us the benefit of the doubt. Jeez, even my offenders get a hearing and the judge has to find them WILLFULLY in violation before finding them guilty.

Platoon Leader is his first command in Vietnam. Great book and it should be read by anyone who becomes a new supervisor (hopefully supervisor and leader will become synonymous.) This gives some real interesting insight into the world of leadership. I suggest you read this one!!! I read this one in the early 1990’s and reread it after Secretary McDonough was appointed.

The other books are the defense of hill 781- this book is basically a walk through of the National Training Center. It has some good leadership comments. It is really about tactics and strategy for employing armor.

The Limits of Glory is about the battle of Waterloo. I am still reading it.

[Merlin]

I also absolutely agreed with the person who wrote about how discipline has eroded to just 2 steps- written and fired.

Proof positive leadership is absent. Maybe they should start sending us emails that say, "Read and comply or submit your resignation." :lol:

If you want positive reinforcement, go back to daycare! This is corporate America, if you need warm fuzzies work in a lint factory. Wake up people. Prove yourself and the accolades will come. Sharkman wrote "What you feed grows, what you starve dies." If you feed on all this negativity it will only grow.
By the way, for those of you who prayed BOBO was still banned, God has answered! The answer was NO! I'm back!!!

[mystikwarrior]

Lets hope that the stupid dicipline for minor things stops.

Who gets to decide what is 'minor'?
Curious how you feel about zero-tolerance for your cases. Same thing.

Prove yourself and the accolades will come.

Really? In corporate America if you're lower or mid-level, hard work will get you one thing. More work. Handling 100 cases with ease? That means your supervisor can dump 40 more on you when another PO goes on medical leave. Since you are so good you'll end up keeping those cases. They won't reward you for your hard work. They'll use you.