Why do bosses ask their workers to do this?

I’ve never understood why organizations ask their workers to do silly stuff that really has nothing to do with the kind of job a person can do, or has any relevance to the organization’s success.

 

Like expecting employees to attend various social events.  Why is this kind of thing so important?  Do you really need to feel liked by everyone in your organization?  Do you really think that camaraderie among people can be created? Not likely. If it’s going to happen it’s going to happen naturally. You can’t force it to happen. A better idea would be to have several events that might appeal to large group of people within your organization. Going to a basketball game, volunteering at some kind of activity, or having a day at an amusement park for people with kids are better than expecting people to hang out at the bar after work, or expecting people to donate money so you can “celebrate” every single person’s birthday at the office.

Along those lines, what’s the point of “team-building” exercises? You don’t need to know about an employee’s private life. You do need to know how to help an employee improve their performance on the job.  When hiring a new worker, you need to know if they can do the job in an efficient manner. Asking them what kind of an animal they would like to be isn’t going to help you to determine that.

A person’s private life is considered private because they don’t want the whole world to know about it. Getting to know someone too well can make me want to work with them less, not more. Team-building activities can make people too uncomfortable to work together, not work well as a “team.”  Discuss performance and results, not inner demons.

Another question is, why ask certain people to do someone else’s job?  John has a project to do but hasn’t finished it, so you ask Tom to do it since you know it will get done on time. That’s wrong. If you’re going to do that you better pay Tom a bonus.  Come one, deal with John and let Tom do his own work.

Maybe a lot of these concepts came to be because certain people in organizations didn’t have enough to do, and they felt like they needed to justify their salary. ….

Long-winded bosses, asking employees to evaluate themselves and their peers, and other American job nonsense

Ever have a boss who asks you to keep them on track, then when they start droning on about nothing at a meeting and then when you signal them to stop, they ignore you? I would think I’m not the only one.  I guess whatever the boss was saying (I don’t remember anything of what they were talking about) was just too critical for them to say, that they couldn’t stop talking. Some people just need to make themselves feel important, I suppose.

Can anyone tell me what the point is of having workers evaluate themselves? How silly. Someone who is doing an excellent job is going to wonder why you, as a boss, don’t already know that. Someone who is doing a lousy job isn’t going to give themselves a poor rating, obviously (or not obviously to people who think these things up). Instead of self-evaluations why not ask workers what the organization can do to help them improve their skills – which would benefit the organization as well as the employee.

Maybe worse are “peer” evaluations. It doesn’t matter if the evaluations are confidential or not, who wants to work with someone who is critical of them? That’s hardly the best way to develop a “team first” attitude among your workers.

Does anyone have any proof that the above concepts actually do produce positive results in an organization, and I’m wrong? Let’s see it…

Creepy employers who ask you to donate to their charity

I once worked at a community college in New Jersey where a creepy, high level Dean went around asking staff members to fill out a form and donate money to some social/political charity. I don't remember the name of the organization.  What's the point of pressuring employees to contribute to a certain charity? Just so you can brag to the world what a great boss that you are, that you got 100 percent participation of workers to contribute to a charity of your own personal or political liking? That's wrong. I told the Dean no, I have my own charities that I contribute to, and walked away. He left the office grumbling. I would think a high level Dean would have better things to do, like maybe helping students in some way. 

What employees do with their money is their own business. Why not offer to match whatever employees contribute? I would guess a lot of bosses are too cheap to do that. 

What's almost as bad is when your boss sends his kids to you to ask for money, for a fundraiser for their school or church. Come on. That's rude.  And unprofessional.

Keep the job separate from this type of stuff.  Please.

My crazy job search stories: Part I, Goldman Sachs

I’m sure lots of people have had strange experiences while searching for and interviewing for jobs. People who do the recruiting and interviewing of job candidates often have funny stories to tell. Sometimes I wonder though, if other people looking for a job have had anything similar to mine.
Once I went on an interview for a job as a college recruiter, with Goldman Sachs. This particular office was in lower Manhattan. The director of college recruiting was a guy named Mike. At the start of the interview he mused, “There’s mostly women working in college recruiting.” Hmm, maybe this gives me an edge, I thought. He didn’t ask me any questions though. He just rambled on for a couple of minutes about Goldman Sachs. Suddenly, he looked past me (his office was surrounded by windows).  He stood up, grabbed a stack of what look to be like tickets to a game or concert wrapped with elastic bands, and raced out the door. I turned around, but he had already fled down one of the hallways, disappearing from sight.

So I sat there for a few minutes, wondering what I should do. Wait until he comes back? Leave now? It started to dawn on me that I wasn’t going to get this job even if I stayed, so I was about to go when a girl named Kim walked in.

“Mike had to go, but I’ll finish the interview,” she said brightly. Then she proceeded to talk a little about the job. She didn’t ask me any questions, or ask if I had any questions about th position. She did talk at length about the bars in the area and how everyone in the department liked to go out for drinks after work.

After a few minutes she stood up and held out her hand. “It was nice to meet you,” she said.  For some reason I said thank you, nice to meet you too, instead of saying what I really felt, which was, why did you even bother to call me in….

I’ve thought that maybe they didn’t like the way I looked. If that’s the case, and I’m sure some interviewers consider that above all else (although they would never admit it), why not ask for a picture? A photograph with the resume on the back. It would save us all a lot of time and money. By looks, I mean beyond the blue suit/white shirt/red tie/polished shoes/clean shaven appearance.

Who knows. Maybe this isn’t as ridiculous as some others’ experiences. It feels like it was a waste of time and energy. On the other hand it’s given me something to write about, so maybe it wasn’t a total loss. Stay tuned for upcoming stories about job search…

A Super Bowl with the most pressure: Minnesota Vikings vs. Buffalo Bills

The Vikings and the Bills both have 0-4 Super Bowl records. What would happen if they met in the title game?

Losing a championship game - especially your fourth Super Bowl - can be pretty awful, but at least New England Patriots fans can take some solace in the fact their team has also won three Super Bowls. The Denver Broncos have two wins, somewhat making up for their four losses. However, the Bills and the Vikings don't have any victories to go along with their four defeats. Buffalo lost all four of their Super Bowls in consecutive years. Yikes.

So what would be a pressure-packed Super Bowl in 2013? Minnesota versus Buffalo. One would be the first team in NFL history to lose five Super Bowls. What's worse, the loser still would not have any wins in the big game. People would be talking about it for two weeks prior to Super Sunday. Television ratings for the game might go even higher than this past year.

For fans of the Bills and Vikings, the stress of this game would be immense, probably more so than for the players. I would not be surprised if many of the players weren't even aware of their franchise's history, and wouldn't know much about the significance of the game until after it was over.

But fans know. Players and coaches come and go, but fans remain. A fifth Super Bowl loss without a win for the Vikings or Bills might finally send some of us looking for something else to do with our Sundays in the fall.

Here's hoping for a Detroit Lions - Cleveland Browns Super Bowl matchup in 2013

We’re done with football for a while but some some fans will once again go through another very long off season. Parity in the NFL has resulted in most teams reaching the Super Bowl at least one time. The Jacksonville Jaguars, in existence since 1995, have yet to make it. Nor have the Houston Texans, but they’ve been around for only 10 years.

On the other hand, two established franchises still have never been to a Super Bowl. The Detroit Lions formed in 1930 and the Cleveland Browns in 1946. Neither have been to a Super Bowl. The last NFL championship for the Browns was in 1964, just before the first Super Bowl. The Lions? A NFL title in in 1957. Since the Super Bowl began? Merely one appearance in the NFC championship game, in 1991. Whew.

Management of these two clubs need to put some extra effort into making their teams competitive. Manage your salary cap better, sign some quality free agents, don’t get cute in the college draft. Some teams may not have won a Super Bowl yet, but at least they’re contenders during most seasons. It must be tough to be a fan of a non-competitive team, sticking with them year after year. I give you all a lot of credit.

Here’s hoping the Lions and the Browns have successful off-seasons and are able to put a winning team on the field come September. Their fans deserve no less.

Journalist and His Dog Hit the Open Road

Journalist and His Dog Hit the Open Road