The Grapevine

There is a very famous song by Marvin Gaye entitled, "I Heard it Through the Grapevine." What is the meaning of the grapevine? When we hear something through the grapevine, we are learning it informally and unofficially by means of gossip and rumor. This information is usually passed from one person to another by word of mouth, text, or email. It is passed perhaps in a confidential manner among friends or colleagues sometimes with the accompanying statement, "Don't tell anybody I told you." Yeah, right. Thirty minutes later, because every person has a trust partner, everybody in the organization knows. But what do they know? Usually nothing because the grapevine mostly contains what happened but the reason it happened or the real problem that created the situation is missing. When these facts are missing, people make up facts to fill the gaps. Everybody wants to speculate or "juice" it up. The grapevine can also imply information obtained from overheard conversations or other anonymous sources. For instance "I heard through the grapevine that Jack got a nasty email from the boss and is considering leaving the organization." The grapevine can be a deadly virus in organizations. It has created enemies, lowered morale, hampered productivity, dampened spirits, broken confidences and created mistrust. Formal and official communication should be the antidote to combat the deadly grapevine. The top manager should prevent these negative consequencies by having the courage to either formally and officially communicate the truth or take steps to strip all the grapes off the vine thereby quelling the gossip and rumor.

Bypassing the Boss

The relationship you have with your manager is critical. It is your utmost responsibility to always meet your manager’s requirements. Unfortunately, this can sometimes place you in a very awkward position. Managers are not perfect and you don’t always agree with their requirements and decisions. When you have such a disagreement, common sense protocol tells you to discuss the matter with the manager and make well supported alternative recommendations. Unfortunately some managers are not reasonable. They think their way is the only way and tell you, “Do it my way, or else.” Now you feel trapped and think the only solution is to plead your case to higher authority. So, you bypass your manager and go directly to your manager’s boss. No, stop! This is one of the worst mistakes one could make in the workplace. Never ever bypass a manager and go to higher authority. This is the quickest way to get in trouble with your immediate boss. It sets up an element of mistrust that is sometime difficult, if not impossible to repair. When your manager wants you to do something and you have a different way of doing it, show how your manager will befit by doing it your way. If that fails, then ask yourself the LEM question: “Is my manager’s way of doing it Legal? Is it Ethical? Is it Moral?” If the answer to these three questions is “Yes,” then stop arguing. Just do it and move on to the next requirement.

The Butterfly

I have a spot in my home that is my dream spot. It’s a new glassed-in porch with lots of sunlight and a beautiful view into the back yard. Yesterday I was sitting on a comfortable chair looking out at this gorgeous plant with bright red blossoms. Out of the blue came a monarch butterfly that started flitting from one bright blossom to the next just sucking up the nectar from those beautiful blossoms. And I said to myself, “That’s just like a supervisor going from one alternative to the next trying different things to fix a problem that has not yet been identified.” Wouldn’t it be great if every supervisor could learn that the best way to fix a problem is to define it first and then it would be easy to find the one alternative solution and fix it. It should not be necessary to be like a butterfly flitting from one alternative to the next trying to fix a problem that has not been defined. What do you think? Please share your thoughts.

The Crab Cake Sandwich

What a wonderful day this has been. I had the opportunity of a lifetime. I had lunch with my grandson who is a chef at a popular restaurant in Washington, DC. We met at a very nice place that serves wonderful food. As we sat down to eat my grandson asked me, “What are you having?” Without blinking an eye, I said, “You know what Jay, I’m gonna have the crab cake sandwich.” Now, when he asked me that question, I was able to answer it instantaneously. And the thought occurred to me how many times I have been in a restaurant and watched people spend precious time agonizing over a 10-20 page menu trying to decide what to eat. And I thought to my self, there’s got to be a way that a person can walk in a restaurant and make a decision in a reasonable period of time what they’re gonna eat. And you know what? That will eliminate the waiter coming every 5 minutes saying, “Have you made a decision yet?” only to turn away in disgust because people haven’t made up their minds. There really should be a way to walk in and, in an instant make a decision. I can compare this to the task of being a supervisor or a leader in the workplace. Many of them take an inordinate amount of time to make a decision. The employee is standing there waiting and waiting and waiting. But the supervisor just will not decide. Just like selecting from the menu there should be a way that people could make decisions quicker. They have all the information they need and they are not gonna get any more. So what do you think? What’s a good way to make a decision quickly? Share your ideas with me.