Barley Literate

Lake Wobegon at Veterans Affairs

The Revolutionary War didn't end at Yorktown

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Lake Wobegon at Veterans Affairs

A while back the New York Times revealed that every one of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 470 senior executives had been rated “outstanding” or “fully successful” at least once in the last four years, and most of them got one of these top two ratings in multiple years.

In a one-year period almost 80% of the VA’s senior execs were rated “outstanding” or “fully successful.” About two-thirds of them got bonuses.

Over four years, none of the senior VA honchos received either of the lowest two performance ratings—not one of them, not once.

It's a miracle. Seems every one of them is above average....

This report says as much about a big organization like the VA as it says about the egregious failure of darn near everyone everywhere to implement a performance evaluation system that actually evaluates widely varying performance, instead of simply forcing supervisors to complete the hated chore of doing a once-a-year gloss of their subordinates' work performance that disguises the identity of all the poor performers.

This report also is another stupefying example of top executives being allowed to claim that "bonuses are vital to hiring and retention" without having to prove it. Of course, that claim can't be proved, because it's not true.

No bonus plan has ever been shown to materially improve discriminating selection of "the best candidates" or "retention of the high performers."

You know, it's the old "every Little Leaguer gets a trophy" mindset....

RichardSubber.com

The Revolutionary War didn't end at Yorktown

Are you a great manager?

Monday, October 10, 2016

The Revolutionary War didn't end at Yorktown

If you’re interested in early American history you probably recall that the British surrendered to George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette at Yorktown on October 19, 1781.

Hold it. The Revolutionary War didn’t end there.

In the two years following Yorktown, there were hundreds of skirmishes and combat encounters, largely in the American South, between soldiers of the Continental and British armies, and among pro-American and pro-British militias and many American Indian warriors.

King George III didn’t get around to issuing his Proclamation of Cessation of Hostilities until February 3, 1783.

On the high seas, after Yorktown, there were continuing naval encounters involving privateers and both Continental Navy and Royal Navy vessels as late as March 1783.

The war ended officially when the Treaty of Paris was finally signed on September 3, 1783.

News traveled slowly in those days. The last contingent of British troops in North America left New York City on November 26, 1783.

Read this review of Don Glickstein’s book After Yorktown: The Final Struggle for American Independence:

Are you a great manager?

Reading in the rubble

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Are you a great manager?

This started out as another one of those "Top 10 Ideas For...." but I whittled it down to three, for your delectation.

This was distributed by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), see their website here, and originally appeared on Edutopia as "Ten Big Ideas of School Leadership" by middle school principal Mike McCarthy.

I'm pretty sure Mike is pretty much on track, and his take on leadership is motivational and instructive for leaders or wannabe leaders in any organization. A few samples:

6) Take Responsibility for the Good and the Bad
If the problems in your school or organization lie below you and the solutions lie above you, then you have rendered yourself irrelevant. The genius of school lies within the school. The solutions to problems are almost always right in front of you.

I think of it this way: If you think only the folks below you are causing all the problems, and you also think only the guys above you can fix ‘em, what does the boss or your subordinates need you for?

7) You Have the Ultimate Responsibility
Have very clear expectations. Make sure people have the knowledge, resources, and time to accomplish what you expect. This shows respect. As much as possible, give people the autonomy to manage their own work, budget, time, and curriculum. Autonomy is the goal, though you still have to inspect.

I think of it this way: Be the boss, mostly by setting the tone, setting the example, sometimes setting the boundaries, setting the aiming stake in the right place, setting the time for the next team meeting, setting the “But We’ve Always Done It This Way” rule book on fire, etc………..and every so often check to make sure that nobody has set the factory on fire….

9) Consensus is Overrated
Twenty percent of people will be against anything. When you realize this, you avoid compromising what really should be done because you stop watering things down. If you always try to reach consensus, you are being led by the 20 percent.

I've found that most students--and most folks--usually think that “consensus” means that everyone has to agree. No, no, no. I embrace the idea that “consensus” means that every member of the group either stout-heartedly endorses the idea or at least acknowledges that she can live with it and support it as a reasonable alternative to her own favored decision/plan/concept. And yes, it’s true that sometimes the group or the boss must say to the high-principled or defiant holdout: “we respect your view and your input, but we’ve talked it through, we’re gonna do it a different way, and you need to support that.”

Reading in the rubble

Finches everywhere

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Reading in the rubble

Wars destroy bookstores, too, but human spirit can survive

The Glass Menagerie—relentless....

Finches everywhere

"Pants on fire!"

Friday, October 7, 2016

Finches everywhere

The harbor, in the mind’s eye,

finches everywhere, hoptoe beggars,

clouds visiting,

ice cream boxes with white tops….

Breezes, toujours,

now zephyr,

now lamb,

now colt,

skimming irresistible airs….

Nearly all is just that far away,

vaguest sounds,

l’eau, sur mer, surtout,

motion, in little speeds….

There are others, chance greetings,

face to face….

Hello.

G’day.

Ailo.

Sir.

Me.

Madame.

You.

A moment to gaze at you, between us,

gazing, always,

hunger, rapture, dream keeping,

aye, we are dream keepers,

with books,

belles livres,

we arm ourselves for solitude,

but coolly close them,

to open for each other….

Toll the hour, careless of the day,

sounds in seeming silence,

faint ends of words drift across the bay,

with birdsong raveling out….

The birds sing “today!”

and we murmur “yesterday,”

and tomorrow’s languid wing rises up, unseen,

and sweetly pushes down a twirl,

one smoothly eddied fan of lightest air,

to chase the changing shadows

where we stood awhile….

At Cambridge Beaches, Bermuda

1993

"Pants on fire!"