"MEET THE NEW BOSS - SAME AS THE OLD BOSS"...

Hi Friends!

"Meet the new boss - same as the old boss" - The Who

My "informants" at a certain organization whose stated mission is to help the poor, disabled and elderly - but which in reality only serves to promote the careers of those bureaucrats savvy enough to navigate through the maze of red tape - tell me that the new folks in charge are at it again.

So…as a public service - here's a memo to "The Replacements":

REMINDERS!

It is the responsibility of upper management to:

1. TREAT all employees - INCLUDING lower level management officials - equally and without regard to race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation and/or ability to "suck-up" to those in charge.

2. PLACE subordinates in a position to succeed. That means providing - among other things - adequate training, sufficient resources, and time to do the work.

3. OWN their own work (ie. accept responsibility AND take appropriate steps to solve organization-wide problems /issues instead of coming down on local managers who do not have the resources to solve such problems ON THEIR OWN.

4. RECOGNIZE the dedication and hard-work of managers and employees who do NOT have the tools to get the job done - but work like hell to do the best they can under odious and problematic conditions.

5. PRIORITIZE GOALS in such a way that a) the public can be helped with world class service AND b) employees and managers do not have to allocate limited resources and time to handle workloads with "competing" or "contradictory" goals.

6. ADOPT reasonable expectations of work performance and RECOGNIZE the following INCONTROVERTIBLE statement: employees CANNOT interview the public, answer telephones, AND adjudicate complicated cases ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

7. UNDERSTAND that employees cannot regularly switch to ever-more complicated computer systems and/or read/understand DOZENS of daily E-mail instructions while STILL producing the same amount of work,

8. EXPECT that a staff of 15 people CANNOT process the SAME amount of work - or more- that a staff of 30 handled just a short time before. And- computer systems can go only so far in replacing a workforce who must deal with the public in person or on the telephone.

I am positive that you all (ie. "The Replacements") appreciate my candor and suggestions/reminders based upon a very successful thirty years of work for your organization. I sincerely hope that my memo assists to perform your job in a more compassionate and productive manner…and maximize the stated objective of helping the American people.

Sincerely, your old friend, Stevenn

ps. I would also NOT recommend calling any of your future initiatives "VisionXXXX". It has been my experience that all initiatives with "vision" in the title are doomed to fail. Thanks in advance...

OK. Made my point…lol

Till next time…be safe….Stevenn